So, I suppose it was a boneheaded move on my part to start the blog as I headed into Easter‚Äö

Resurrection Sunday is perhaps the busiest day of the year for North Country Fellowship, even more so than Christmas. This is partially due to the fact that in the weeks prior to Easter we have an organized outreach effort to connect with folks in the community. We went home to home, leaving information about the church and a small gift (a bag of popcorn to encourage family time) on 1000 doors in Carthage. We also have a Community Egg Hunt as an opportunity to meet new folks face to face, and let them know about our church. Finally, Easter services are held not in our own building, but at the Carthage Elementary School, which has been a great way to get folks out who “wouldn’t step foot in a church.”

Needless to say, taking part in all that went into planning and execution of those “special events” required an exhaustingly busy few weeks. Regardless, I believe God blessed our efforts and that He was glorified throughout the weekend. A number of people made decisions for Christ, and we are looking forward to discipling them.

As a new pastor, this weekend taught me a lot. I learned about effective communication and how important clarity and is when you’re dealing with teams of people. I learned about managing the logistics of moving equipment and doing setup/teardown at a large event (and was blown away how a handful of soldiers can integrate with a team of civilians and make the process much smoother and more efficient). I learned a lot more, but everything I learned could easily take a number of blog posts, so I digress, for now.

By the way, the cartoon panel above was done by Johnny Hart, the creator of the comic strip B.C., as part of a controversial Easter strip run in 2001. Hart was based out of Endicott, which is just a few miles from where I spent my time at Davis College in Johnson City, NY. Hart passed away the day before Easter.