Fisherman’s Chapel Annual Chili Cook-off Winners
3rd place – Ricki Mckinney; 1st place – Catrina Ragan;
2nd place – James Gallie

I hope you read this article in time to join everyone in Port O’Connor’s Annual Easter Sunrise Service on King Fisher Beach at 7:00 a.m. It is sure to be a glorious occasion.

Following the 11:00 a.m. service at the Chapel, we will be having an Easter Egg Hunt. This is a time for parents and grandparetns to get some of the cutest shots of the year.

The Chapel’s Retreat Center is getting quite a lot of use. We have hosted a men’s group from Bastrop and a University Chi Alpha group. We have several more scheduled before Memorial Day and then the empty dates are almost all filled. The Lord has blessed us with these facilities and we are excited that folks are using them.

We are already looking forward to the May activities, including the Warrior’s Weekend where we will be cooking and serving the Saturday morning breakfast tacos. We always look forward to serving those who are serving in our Armed Forces for us! Being a Veteran, I see the young men and women who are committing their lives to keep America free. This is just one small way that we can display our appreciation. You are welcome to come to the Friday Night Egg Cracking Party and to the VERY EARLY Taco cooking event!

Mothers’ Day is huge on our calendar of events. This year, each mother present will be presented a special gift for their attendance. There will be special activities and Pastor Joane will be ministering the Word of Life. Our year can not be complete without celebrating our mothers with tender love and care. All mothers are welcome to come and the husbands and children can come along to help in the grand celebration!

May 31 will be here before we know it and Captain Robert will be back at the Chapel to begin another Captain’s Class. It will run through June 7 and will be an excellent opportunity for those seeking their Captain’s License to take the course. Captain Robert can be reached by calling 361/785-6184.

Fisherman’s Chapel is an interdenominational congregation that seeks to assist we pilgrims along our journey from earth to Heaven. You will find a warm welcome at the Chapel and are urged to, “Come, grow with us”!

Happy Spring!  It’s finally here and things are really getting busy in Port O’Connor.  Easter Sunday morning at Kingfisher Beach, the sunrise service will be held at 7:00 a.m. Hundreds come every year to attend this beautiful and moving event.  If you have never attended, it’s time to start a new tradition.  Pastor Erny McDonough from Fisherman’s Chapel will be bringing the Easter sermon this year and the choir from FBC will be singing.  Bring your own chair or come in your golf cart. I guarantee it will be an experience you will never forget.

First Baptist Church has a new interim pastor.  Robert Penley and his wife Sandy have come from New Home, Texas, to lead our congregation until a new pastor is hired. We are happy to have them with us and look forward to getting to know them while they are here. Saturday, April 20, at 2:00 p.m., is our annual Easter egg hunt for all youth from babies up to sixth grade.  Lots of candy filled eggs will be waiting to be discovered! So have your cameras ready!  Afterwards, join us in our Fellowship Hall for cookies, cupcakes and juice.

Teachers and students are counting the days until school is out.  At FBC we are counting the days until Vacation Bible School begins!  The first week in June, 3rd – 7th, will be a fun time at our church.  Five days of Bible study, music, crafts, exercise and great snacks. On day 5, there is the “all you can eat” hot dog lunch!  Don’t let your youngsters miss this. All youth from preschoolers through 6th grade are welcome.  Don’t forget to let them save their pennies to donate to the Youth home.  Every year the boys challenge the girls to see which group can raise the most money and every year, the youth home is gifted with several hundred dollars, all donated by VBS children!!!!

Remember that we are always ready to welcome you to any of our services.  Our drivers are always happy to come by and pick up you or your youngsters.

Is Easter just another date on our calendars each Spring, or is it the powerful, spiritual foundation for our faith? What is Easter really about? Is Easter about different music, egg hunts, family gatherings, and Sunrise Services, or is it about the story of the miraculous resurrection power of God that has to be told? Why are so many people drawn to Easter Services who infrequently or never attend the months before or after? Why so many “CEOs” (meaning “Christmas and Easter Only”!)

Do those in our families or neighborhoods go to church on Easter because they got new clothes and need somewhere to show them off? Is it truly a special day on the church and community calendar? Do we decide to go because it is a tradition or because someone makes the effort to invite them? I think many come simply because they consider going to church on Easter is the “Christian Thing to do,” and still many claim to be Christians, even though they show no other evidence of it during the rest of the year.

Easter can never be ignored! Even those who would never admit they believe in miracles want to celebrate Easter. There is something so compelling about the resurrection that people’s hearts are drawn to at least give the Easter story an honest hearing. Non-church people are not sure what they believe, but deep down in their hearts they want to believe that death is not the final reality! They are listening for some Good News. Death is mysterious, uncomfortable, and commonly dreaded. Each home and family has been touched by its dreadful reality. As a result, most everyone has felt some measure of their pending mortality, and that is disconcerting and unsettling.

Then Easter Comes! Easter offers a brilliance of hope, not just a glimmer, but brilliance. Standing in that brilliance is Jesus – suffered, crucified, and gloriously risen! Death seems not to have the final word. Maybe the church that seemed less relevant to them on previous, busy Sundays but has a message of life and hope that alters their view of the future. Easter provides real, genuine hope!

Were I God, I believe I could have made Easter more spectacular! Jesus personally appeared to over 500 people in varied settings and numbers, and they were predominantly believers. That is not how I would have handled the resurrection! His death was excruciatingly public, probably personally witnessed by multiple thousands are a citywide event. Why not make Jesus resurrection as broadly witnessed as His death? Make the fact as undeniable as it should be! Why a host of angels singing at His birth and a mere trump of two angles at the Tomb? The soldiers officially guarding His tomb, the only ones who could have been eyewitnesses, passed out even before the most miraculous event of history occurred! They had no idea what happened, except that the tomb was unexplainably empty and they were bribed to give a plausible cover-up story!

But God’s ways are not our ways! Here is what I have concluded about Easter. The fact of the Resurrection is hidden until the effect of the Resurrection is seen in the everyday lives of those who have experienced the power of the Resurrection! When we read the New Testament, the Resurrection is the single most prominent and recurring theme of the Church’s lifestyle and message. They preached Jesus, crucified…buried…risen!

Those who believed staked their faith on that single truth, and many were martyred for their faith and testimony because they refused to recant their belief in Jesus Christ and His bodily resurrection. They told everyone, however unpopular and unbelievable their testimony seemed – until hundreds became thousands, and thousands became multiple thousands, until today thousands have become hundreds of millions found in every country in the world.

There are many within the circle of your daily influence that you could persuade to join in Easter celebration at the front beach and in our local churches. Plans have been made and all that is lacking is your attendance. Easter must become more than what it has ever been before – it must become the center of our everyday lives, the center of our every activity! It is a fact that Jesus was not martyred for our satisfaction or curiosity, but He died for the sins of the world! Make Easter personal by allowing the Lord of Easter to become your personal Lord this Easter season!