Posted on 04/19/2014 6:23:29 AM PDT by Gamecock
A church in Grapevine, Texas, is getting into the Easter spirit this week by creating a giant chalk-portrait of Jesus Christ in their parking lot.
Fellowship Church is led by Pastor Ed Young, who started the evangelical Christian church in 1990 with about 150 people in Irving. They now have 10 church campuses worldwide. His father is Dr. Ed Young, the head of Second Baptist here in Houston.
According to church spokesman Andy Boyd, the 17,000-square-foot drawing of the face of Jesus took 700 volunteers over 9,100 man-hours to create. They also used 6,700 individual pieces of chalk and 125 bags of charcoal, for the black parts of the drawing. The creation is little under half the size of a football field.
The project was only days in the planning stages, Boyd says. Pastor Young woke up with the idea and set out to make it a reality.
"He got the idea a week ago to create the world's largest chalk Jesus," Boyd said. One week later, volunteers showed up to make it happen.
"Work began at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning and worked until the sun went down that night," says Boyd. It took a little over 12 hours to create.
It can be seen from planes flying into and out of nearby Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
It's a part of the church's Art of Easter celebration, based on the pastor's current sermon series, which runs through this weekend. Boyd said Young will be painting as a part of his sermons this weekend.
Easter and Christmas are the two biggest holidays when people who don't have a relationship with a church go looking for one, Boyd said. The drawing is a way to create interest in the church.
Local stores let the church buy the chalk at below sale price, he said.
Is the church worried about rain washing away the drawing?
"It actually rained a bit yesterday, and we are expecting some rain on Sunday," says Boyd. "If that happens we'll just have the world's largest abstract portrait."
Boyd said the church is rather unique in the fact that they have embraced projects like this and they have also keyed into social media with their flock.
'We have Selfie Sundays where we encourage church members to take pics of themselves in church," Boyd says.
Ed Young’s church in Grapevine is a fine one and he is a solid Pastor. Biblically based.
I think their real concern is that someone is having fun in church. Frosts their cookies, ya know......
My Baptist church has had the stations of the cross for the last two Easters and a huge number of people go through it. It is wildly popular.
The pastor is Ed Young Sr., btw.
He must be good!
Why else would he have a corporate jet and and 8,000 square for mansion?
Well, all you killjoys are decrying this really clever testimony, but the bottom line is that we are now talking about Jesus in a public forum.
Pretty good outreach.
No. We are talking about megachurch pastors and what they are doing.
If it makes people think of Jesus from picture then while thinking say a pray with meaning. It is a good thing. I asked when I was young for God if he is really there could he show me where I will know that I know for sure he exists. The things that preceded after that were miraculous. Just amazing. The littlest pray with conviction can lead to Heaven . Amen. Praise be to Jesus.
Then find out what they are doing. Most mega churches are conservative and that is why they are popular, not because the teach a prosperity gospel. They don’t.
They are also filled with Christian activists who are coming up with new outreach projects, some of which a a lot of fun.
I think its non-denominational, but it looks to me, also, to have a Catholic tilt............
They are Southern Baptists and the reason they have large congregations is that they go out and witness the old fashioned way.
“We are talking about megachurch pastors and what they are doing.”
Let’s talk about your church. What is it doing. How many people have you invited to church?
Drunks don’t usually make much sense, do they?
It sure is!
Have you been to St. Peter's at Vatican City? Impressive also, in a different way.
It is the exact location where St. Peter died--crucified upside down. His bones are inside, one story down.
I often wondered, were the high school sports teams known as the Big Effing Hammers?
It has a Catholic tilt now because it is being renovated to become an Orange County cathedral. It's due to re-open as a Catholic cathedral in 2016.
The Catholic Church in Orange County bought it in 2012 when the former owners (Protestant ministry) went bankrupt.
Google it for more details.
These are only the things I am aware of, there are many more, perhaps hundreds more
We support 5,000 missionaries around the world on all 7 continents.
We support Houston missions for the homeless .
We support missionaries in apartment complexes around Houston and we have a waiting list of missionaries. My wife and I are missionaries in this program and it is simply amazing. There are more than a hundred people in the field from our church and more from other churches. This program is only a year old in our church and it could become massive.
We have the best children’s program in the country.
Vacation Bible School is running 3,000 in attendance each year and is continuing to grow.
Several orgs support soldiers in the field with large boxes of stuff to make their lives a bit easier. We’re talking about hundreds of boxes.
We took care of 5,000 refugees from Katrina. We were with them in a public facility feeding and taking care of their material and spiritual needs.
Volunteers build several churches in South America per year and I think the total is above 250.
The church is Biblically based and is filled with activists looking for their next outreach project.
This is a very active church looking to bring mote people in from the darkness into His light.
And I will say that if you are an activist the church is an absolute blast. The most fun you can have while bringing more families to Jesus.
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