Netcast Egg Hunt 2013 Video

Netcast Egg Hunt 2013

Why did Christ have to rise? (Easter)

Easter Sunday is the most exciting day in the Christian Faith. Of all the things that Jesus did; loving his neighbors, changing the course of our calendar, the miracles, etc...Nothing compares to His resurrection. His Resurrection is the crux of the entire Christian Faith. But why? Why did he have to rise? Wasn't his death enough? What did his death accomplish for us?

In the introduction to Peters first letter to Asia Minor, he records the answer to this question. 1 Peter 1:3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

In these three verses we see that through faith in the resurrection of Jesus, He has opened up an opportunity for us to receive Mercy from God, New Birth From God and an Inheritance from God. This is great news. No longer do we have to strive for perfection in order to receive these things, but instead we simply trust in Christ's perfection which has been given to us through faith. This is grace, and grace is a gift that must be received. So today, receive God's grace by trusting in the resurrection of Jesus and make this Easter the best Easter you've ever had.

To all who joined us for the Netcast Egg Hunt.

Thanks for joining us at the Netcast Easter Egg Hunt. I think we learned that next year we'll need about 10,000 eggs and probably lots more parking.

I want to send you a quick invite to our Easter Service at Briscoe Middle in Beverly, this Sunday at 10:30am. It will be a great time for the kids and I'm sure the adults will even enjoy themselves. If you are wondering who we are, you can watch our 120 second video at www.whatisnetcast.com

If you have any pictures from the egg hunt, we would love to see them. Email any photos to info@netcastchurch.org. Also, if you have any questions, comments or concerns for me, feel free to email me at matt@netcastchurch.org.

Have a great weekend.
Matt

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Matt Chewning
matt@netcastchurch.org
Netcast Church
www.whatisnetcast.com

Why an Easter Egg Hunt? (An Angry Email)

Netcast will be hosting an Easter Egg Hunt for the community on March 31st at Lynch Park. Because of an angry email that I received from a complaining Christian, it is necessary that I address why we would support an Easter Egg Hunt when Easter is obviously about the resurrection of Christ and has nothing to do with Eggs, Bunnies and Candy. Please take a moment to read the email I received as well as Netcast's stance below that.

Pastor Chewning,

I saw a note on the North Shore Facebook page that you are sponsoring an "Easter Egg Hunt" to be held at Lynch Park.

I am curious why a Christian church would be sponsoring an Easter egg hunt. Easter is NOT about easter eggs, bunnies, baby chicks or other things like that. It is not about Easter baskets. Easter is about the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who broke down the dividing wall between God and man.....To me this is such a wrong thing for a Christian church to do. I understand that perhaps part of your reasoning to do this is neighborhood evangelism....a way of reaching out to the community. But to do so using Easter egg hunts to me is so very wrong.

I know that no one asked me how I felt about this, but I just wanted to let you know how at least one person feels about this. Yours Truly, "Disclosed Name"

In many cultures around the globe eggs and rabbits have been cultural symbols that resemble fertility and new birth. In most of the world, and particularly here in the States, the "Easter Bunny" has become a commercialized marketing tactic and the origin of that is so old that there are no real trustworthy documents that can shed any light on its true origination.

One thing that Netcast is passionate about is being Culturally Liberal and Doctrinally Conservative. In other words, Netcast will always fight for the things that scripture fights for; yet for the cultural things that scripture is unclear about, we will leave up to the matter of personal conscience. The other thing that Netcast is passionate about is our philosophy of mission. In many churches, missions is defined by going across the country or to another nation to bring the gospel. Yet, often when we do that, we neglect to remember that we live in a mission field. No longer do we have to leave the country to spread the gospel, but now we just have to walk across the street. Netcast is passionate about walking across the street.

What does an Easter Egg Hunt have to do with that?

Netcast has a desire to bring the Kingdom of God to the Communities on the North Shore. In order to do that, we have to stop thinking of how to get more people into church and rather how we can send the people from our church into the community. During Easter; bunnies, eggs and candy are a wonderful cultural bridge that allows Netcast to love on, interact with and potentially minister to the community. The Apostle Paul used this specific tactic in Acts 17 when he partially affirms the religious beliefs of the Greeks in order to use those beliefs to teach them the gospel of Christ. Easter Egg Hunts are no different, it is a way to partially affirm our culture in order to create a bridge to bring the gospel to our culture. Rather than standing on the outskirts of our culture yelling at it, lets enter the culture and minister to it.

As a believer in Christ; If you don't have a clear conscience about utilizing tools such as “Easter Egg Hunts” to be a blessing to the community, please don't. Follow the Holy Spirit as He guides your conscience. For those of us who's conscience is clear, I look forward to locking arms with you and blessing our city with eggs, face-painting, candy, bunnies, games, and some awesome family fun. We will do this in order to bring good to the community and use that to tell the good news of Jesus Christ.