This Saturday, Charlotte Observer columnist and editor Michael Gordon wrote on the front page of the paper’s Faith & Values section that “If Google Earth grabs a satellite image [of Whiteville] on Easter morning, you’ll find a spiritual exclamation point in the heart of downtown.”
In this clever opening to a thoughtful column about our upcoming Easter event, Walk With Jesus Sunrise Service and New Testament Writing, Gordon latched
In this clever opening to a thoughtful column about our upcoming Easter event, Walk With Jesus Sunrise Service and New Testament Writing, Gordon latched
onto the excitement that is building for our ambitious effort to write the entire King James Version of The New Testament using chalk on sidewalks throughout Whiteville.
Since we plan to accomplish all this in less than an hour, and remove it all later that day, he referred to our efforts as “an explosion of art, Scripture and communal joy,” That powerful phrase has made its way around the state and piqued interest in newsrooms from Raleigh to Wilmington.
I can’t keep up with the phone calls coming in as people from around the region hear about our exciting project and want to know more. I enjoy hearing their voices change as I describe the magnitude of what we will create on this Holy day. I tell them about the 15,000 pieces of chalk we have bought, about the miles of sidewalk I have examined, the streets we will close, and the three-quarters of a million characters we will write, by hand, on a beautiful morning for Columbus County.
And by the time I tell them about the 15-foot cross covered with flowers made by area children, they’re asking for driving directions.
Imagine that! People around here have long complained that people not from around here only come here for two reasons; to report on something bad that has happened, or to pass through on their way to the beaches.
But April 8 will be different. On that morning, visitors to downtown Whiteville will see something that has existed nowhere else in the world.
It will all begin with an inspiring sunrise service on the lawn of the BB&T main branch. Janice Young has worked hard for months, organizing a beautiful half hour of music and Bible verses involving pastors from several denominations. We’ve been impressed by the many people who realize that Columbus County deserves to have a community Easter sunrise service like so many great communities do. It’s something that can bring us all together in spiritual fellowship for one beautiful morning each year.
Then the writing will begin. We have organized everything so thoroughly that you will simply take a sheet of paper with some verses, grab a few pieces of chalk, and go to the sidewalk square with the number on your sheet. Then kneel and write. We expect this will be a very communal time for some, as they talk with friends and family, and it will be very solemn for others as they absorb the spiritual meaning of the words they write and the beautiful creation they are a part of.
As the world watches us that day, we will revere this extraordinary document in two ways. First, we will place it only on sidewalks, and not in streets under vehicle traffic. Second, we will create a thing of beauty, and will remove it while it is still beautiful. So, we will rinse the chalk off Sunday afternoon using low-pressure water and brooms.
We have 27 churches or families who have volunteered to lead the efforts on each book, and they will welcome anyone who walks by and offers to write. There is no need to preregister, so please come join us. With the writing finished by 8 a.m., you will have plenty of time to attend your church’s service.
Please take many photographs that morning to show everyone at your church, as they will all surely talk about their Walk With Jesus, and how they brought the New Testament to life, as Gordon wrote in closing his column, “in letters red, green, orange, yellow and blue.”
Since we plan to accomplish all this in less than an hour, and remove it all later that day, he referred to our efforts as “an explosion of art, Scripture and communal joy,” That powerful phrase has made its way around the state and piqued interest in newsrooms from Raleigh to Wilmington.
I can’t keep up with the phone calls coming in as people from around the region hear about our exciting project and want to know more. I enjoy hearing their voices change as I describe the magnitude of what we will create on this Holy day. I tell them about the 15,000 pieces of chalk we have bought, about the miles of sidewalk I have examined, the streets we will close, and the three-quarters of a million characters we will write, by hand, on a beautiful morning for Columbus County.
And by the time I tell them about the 15-foot cross covered with flowers made by area children, they’re asking for driving directions.
Imagine that! People around here have long complained that people not from around here only come here for two reasons; to report on something bad that has happened, or to pass through on their way to the beaches.
But April 8 will be different. On that morning, visitors to downtown Whiteville will see something that has existed nowhere else in the world.
It will all begin with an inspiring sunrise service on the lawn of the BB&T main branch. Janice Young has worked hard for months, organizing a beautiful half hour of music and Bible verses involving pastors from several denominations. We’ve been impressed by the many people who realize that Columbus County deserves to have a community Easter sunrise service like so many great communities do. It’s something that can bring us all together in spiritual fellowship for one beautiful morning each year.
Then the writing will begin. We have organized everything so thoroughly that you will simply take a sheet of paper with some verses, grab a few pieces of chalk, and go to the sidewalk square with the number on your sheet. Then kneel and write. We expect this will be a very communal time for some, as they talk with friends and family, and it will be very solemn for others as they absorb the spiritual meaning of the words they write and the beautiful creation they are a part of.
As the world watches us that day, we will revere this extraordinary document in two ways. First, we will place it only on sidewalks, and not in streets under vehicle traffic. Second, we will create a thing of beauty, and will remove it while it is still beautiful. So, we will rinse the chalk off Sunday afternoon using low-pressure water and brooms.
We have 27 churches or families who have volunteered to lead the efforts on each book, and they will welcome anyone who walks by and offers to write. There is no need to preregister, so please come join us. With the writing finished by 8 a.m., you will have plenty of time to attend your church’s service.
Please take many photographs that morning to show everyone at your church, as they will all surely talk about their Walk With Jesus, and how they brought the New Testament to life, as Gordon wrote in closing his column, “in letters red, green, orange, yellow and blue.”