Easter

With Easter now a month away, many churches are preparing for their upcoming services. And to help, the website ChurchMarketingSucks.com is providing tips, branding designs, billboard ideas, card and flyers for churches to market themselves for Easter.

The website states, "More people are willing to come to church on Easter than any other day of the year, so why not go all out, right?"

But some, who have their finger on the pulse of church culture are not so sure. more >>

A megachurch pastor from Texas is asking people during the season of Lent to consider how they would behave if they knew this time period before Easter was their last days on earth.

Pastor Kerry Shook, and his wife, Chris, are challenging their congregation of more than 15,000 during this season to accept the reality of their mortality, and to learn to live a more intentional and meaningful life without regrets.

To do that, they are using their book,  One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life, which was released in 2008 and recently updated in a new paperback version. more >>

A Christian can't become a spiritually mature person or experience ongoing wellbeing without learning to forgive, says a pastor and author, whose recently released book The Four Laws of Forgiveness reflects the process he learned while experiencing the devastation of making wrong choices in his life.

Brad Johnson, pastor of Life Change Community Church in Agoura Hills, Calif., told The Christian Post that although learning to forgive may be a painful process, it is a necessary one to move forward in life.

"Forgiveness doesn't erase the past, but it also doesn't change the past. It does change the future," Johnson said. "You begin to move on and forward through the process of forgiveness." more >>

Stop believing the lie that you can earn salvation or your way to heaven, said the pastor of a Dallas, Ga., megachurch on Sunday.

Speaking to thousands at West Ridge Church, Brian Bloye stressed in his sermon that "nothing outside of Jesus will work" and that the only way to be truly forgiven and receive eternal life is to trust in Jesus Christ as your savior.

"Your salvation is not based on you" but rather on "what Jesus did," he told the congregation and those watching online. more >>

The season of Lent begins not only for millions of Catholics by having placed a sign of the cross on their foreheads with ash on Wednesday, but with many Christians in and outside of denominations vowing to mark the season with acts of faith.

Though Lent is often seen as part of the Catholic tradition of fasting for 40 days (calculated sometimes to exclude the weekends in the days leading to Easter), many Christians view this time as serving as a reminder to the importance of getting closer to God.

Christine Smith, founder of the online site Womens Bible Cafe, wrote on Tuesday, "Throughout biblical history we see 40 days of testing, waiting and drawing closer to God." more >>

Despite appeals from religious freedom groups, Chinese authorities continued their crackdown on a prominent house church, stopping hundreds of Christians from holding Easter services outdoors on Sunday.

Dozens from the 1,000-member Shouwang Church, one of Beijing's largest unregistered Protestant churches, were detained while at least 500 were confined to their homes, according to China Aid Association.

"We are deeply disappointed that the Chinese authorities chose to disrupt peaceful worshippers who were simply celebrating Easter today," said China Aid founder and president Pastor Bob Fu in a statement Sunday. more >>