Pleasant Times

News from Mt Pleasant Christian Church - http://mychristianchurch.org - April 2011

A Second Glance…
by Cortney Walcott
Pastor Jon and his wife, Vickie, first attended Mt.
Pleasant in December of 2004 when Jon was invited to be
a guest speaker. They enjoyed the friendliness of the
congregation and shortly after their first visit Jon began
preaching at Mt. Pleasant in January of 2005. Prior to
that, Jon and Vickie attended Calvary Baptist Church in
Bloomington Indiana. Jon was baptized when he was 16
years old by Pastor Rodney Wallace at Stanford Baptist
Church. Vickie was invited to Life Church by her aunt
when she was 14. She was baptized there by Pastor Tim
Dyson.

Pastor Jon graduated from Eastern High School in 1992

and later earned a Bachelor’s Degree in religion from
Liberty University. Vickie graduated from Bloomington
North High School in 1994. She went on to earn a
Bachelor’s Degree in psychology with a minor in women’s
studies from St. Mary of the Woods. She continued her
education by earning a Master’s Degree in Professional
Counseling from Ambridge University. She now works as
a Family Resiliency Therapist at Cummins Behavioral
Health Systems in Indianapolis.
Jon and Vickie were married in September 2000.
Vickie contacted Jon through email and a relationship
grew. Shortly after, they were married in a retirement
center where a resident there played the
piano for the ceremony. Jon has a 16
year old daughter named Ashley and
together Jon and Vickie have six children.
Tyler and Eli are 15, Tyann is 14, Caleb
and Trevor are 13, and Ambyr is 11 years
old. Jon and Vickie stay busy
homeschooling their children, working,
and pastoring the church but occasionally
they still make time for themselves. They
both enjoy vacationing, reading, and
spending time with their family.

The Miller family also enjoys special

holiday traditions that have been passed
down from generations before. They
have a special Easter tradition that Vickie
participated in as a child. Her father
taught her a Mexican tradition of “blowing
eggs” rather than hard boiling eggs and coloring them. Months before Easter they begin collecting eggs and blow
the yolk and the white out of them by poking a hole in the top and the bottom of the egg. Once the eggs are
empty they need to be washed out. The eggs are then stuffed with hand-made confetti and colored. On Easter
the eggs are used in an Easter Egg Hunt. When an egg is found it is broken over someone’s head, quite like
playing tag, and the confetti spills out. The breaking of the egg symbolizes the death of Jesus Christ while the
confetti symbolizes His resurrection.

He’s Alive!
by Pastor Jon Miller

During Jesus' ministry he made some of the most shocking statements about God and Himself that had ever been
spoken in human history. The statements were so out of the box to normal thinking that some people thought he
had gone mad and had a demon, while others thought that he was blaspheming the God of Abraham (John 8:58-
59). C.S. Lewis said that for Jesus to have made such astonishing claims about Himself he had to be either a liar,
a lunatic, or Lord. If Jesus purposely made these statements to deceive people, than he was liar. If he said them
and just thought they were true than he had lost his mind. If he said them and they were true than he was Lord.
This is where the resurrection is so important to our Christian faith. Jesus rising from the dead puts the Father’s
stamp of approval on everything Jesus said. Everything that Jesus said about himself was verified in the fact that
God raised Him from the dead, declaring to the world that Jesus was not a liar or a lunatic, but He was Lord of
Lords and King of Kings. Because the entire foundation of our faith in Christ is built upon His resurrection it would
do us good to take another look at the resurrection, its purpose in our lives and the evidence we have for it being
a historical fact.

Most Christians can tell you that Jesus died for their sins, but I have noticed that when it comes to explaining how
the resurrection is instrumental in their salvation they have a bit more difficulty. Biblically a person can believe that
Jesus died for their sins and still not be saved. Saving faith found in scripture focuses on the resurrection, not the
cross. Paul said, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17). The Bible also
says that in order for us to be saved we must confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts
that God hath raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). It all goes back to the argument that C.S. Lewis
addressed. Jesus could have died on the cross and still been a liar or even a lunatic but since he rose from the
dead there is no other logical conclusion outside of the proclamation that He is Lord. Liars and lunatics cannot
bring themselves back from the dead, only God can do that.

Since the resurrection is the very foundation of the Christian faith God has also allowed it be the most
documented event in human history. In this article I want to share just a few facts concerning the resurrection that
validate its authenticity and prove that Christ is Lord. We are told in the gospel accounts of the resurrection that
the women were the first eyewitnesses to both the empty tomb on the first day of the week and also to the risen
Lord. Had the disciples stolen the body of Jesus and the Gospel writers attempted to deceive the world they
would have never written the story with women coming to the tomb. In Bible times the testimony of women was
not considered valid and could not even be used in the court of law. The reason that Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John tell us that the women were the first ones to the tomb is because that's what really happened.

Some of the greatest evidence we have for the resurrection of Christ is found outside of the gospels in the
writings of the Apostle Paul. In the book of Corinthians, which dates about 20 years after the resurrection, Paul
gives some very persuasive facts to baffle the skeptics. After Christ was resurrected he stayed on the earth for 40
days before He ascended up into heaven. During those 40 days he was seen by different people and according to
Paul he was seen by more than five hundred people at the same time (1 Cor 15:6). Skeptics of Christianity often
say that the disciples and the women in their sorrow just hallucinated seeing Jesus and he wasn't really standing
in front of them. It is impossible for five hundred people to hallucinate the same thing at exactly the same time.
Paul goes on to say in this passage that many of the five hundred people are still alive when he is writing this
letter which means that their testimony can be verified.

A very obvious piece of evidence for the resurrection is the empty tomb. When they placed the body of Christ in
the tomb, they rolled a large stone to close it off and then put a Roman Seal on the stone. Just to be careful they
also placed Roman guards in front of the tomb to make sure that no one tried to steal the body. With all these
precautions in place, the tomb was still empty after the stone was moved on the first day of the week. Even more
convincing than the empty tomb is that the enemies of Christ could not deny that His body wasn't there. It is
recorded that the guards went back into the city and told the chief priest everything that had happened and the
elders gave a large sum of money to the guards to lie and say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away
while we were asleep” (Matthew 28:11-13). Had the tomb not been empty they wouldn't have had to come up with
the plan. This proves that even the enemies of Christ had to admit that the body of Jesus was no longer in the
tomb on the first day of the week.

There are many other pieces of evidence that could be mentioned if space would allow. As Christians the main
thing for us to remember this Easter is that belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential to our faith
and salvation. Since it is essential God has given us the evidence to prove the reality of the resurrection. God
does not ask us to have a mystical faith based on our emotions. Our faith is to be securely placed in the reality of
empty tomb. A tomb that proves Jesus was not a liar, or a lunatic but that He is Lord. A tomb that gives all
believers a hope that goes beyond the grave and into eternity.

In Loving Memory:
Sharon K. McCarty Wilson

Sharon K. Wilson went to be with the Lord on December

12, 2010 after fighting a battle with cancer since 2008. She
was born on April 24, 1945 in Pensacola Florida and moved
to Indiana at the age of 7 where she was adopted by E.P,
and Anne McCarty. She had worked with Purdue University
and Monroe County since 1992. She was also a member of
the Mt. Pleasant Christian Church.

She is survived by two sons Don Novak & Tom Cooper,

and her husband Stephen Wilson.

A memorial service will be held at Mt. Pleasant Christian

Church on April 17th at 3pm, soup and sandwiches will be
served in the fellowship hall following the service

Bible study begins Wednesday April 6th at 6pm. We

will be studying what the Bible teaches about Angels.
 Special Thanks…

The “Marriage Built to Last” bible study held its last session on March 20th. We would like to give a special
“Thank You” to Claudia Jackson and the Miller children for providing nursery care during the small group
meetings. We would also like to, again, thank the women of the church who donated their time, money, and effort
into providing meals each week for the couples attending.

Why Is Easter So Late This Year?

Every year we hear people making comments about how early or late Easter is. The method to calculate the date
for Easter is complicated because it is linked to the Hebrew calendar. We know from Scripture that Jesus was
crucified just before Passover was celebrated. The Jewish Passover is always celebrated the 15th of the month of
Spring. Since Jewish months start when the moon is new, the 15th of the month always has to be after a Full
Moon. Therefore Easter is always celebrated the first Sunday after the “official” Full Moon either on or after March
21st.

Luke and Marylin Carlos will be with us on: Sunday April the 10th during the morning service. They
are currently raising support to go back to the Philippians and serve as missionaries. There will be a
special offering taken up after the service.

Good Friday Service will be: April 22nd at 7:00pm Circle of Friends will be singing.
April 24th, Easter Sunday

There will be two services:

7:00am Sunrise Service, followed by breakfast

The Choir will be doing a Cantata during the Sunrise Service
9:30 am Sunday School
10:30 am Second Service
No Evening Service on Easter

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Mt. Pleasant Christian Church
3191 W. Burma Rd.
Gosport, IN 47433
812-876-9149

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