Easter Sunday morning saw only a few narrow clouds painted across the northern and eastern horizons. Behind and above them, the sky began to lighten, and promised that a brilliant sun would soon emerge from behind those strips of cloud.

A more fitting morning could not have been at hand for Easter.

Just east of Mineola up FM 1801, members of New Hope Baptist Chuch were readying the Fellowship Hall to host the sunrise service. A whole second crew had already been in the kitchen the day before to prepare the breakfast which was to follow. 

Twenty minutes before the service was to commence, the sunrise service venue was chock-full of worshippers. Men brought out more chairs and did a little rearranging. Still people came. Three large overhead doors were opened in the building to allow the crowd to spill over onto the adjacent grass south of the hall. And still folks kept coming.

The official count came in at 203 attendees. 

The overriding feature of the crowd at New Hope Baptist on this Easter morning was the number of families with children. New Hope is a growing church. 

After an opening hymn led by music director Preston McCallum, brother James Schafer recited a Scripture reading from John chapter 20, detailing the initial events of the resurrection.

Following the reading, Schafer stressed the sense of joy which surely was in the hearts of Mary Magdalene and the disciples when they first saw the resurrected Jesus.  

Schafer appealed for God’s love to penetrate the hearts of all, just as it had in those first moments of the resurrection.

“This is resurrection Sunday,” he stated. “Every Sunday is resurrection Sunday with our living God.”

Powerful renditions of the traditional hymns “Power in the Blood” and “He Lives” followed. 

Bunky Fortner stepped up and read from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which describes some of the initial appearances that Jesus made to people on earth after the resurrection. As stated in chapter 15, verse 6, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time.”

Following these things, Pastor Michael Mize took the podium. His initial prayers were prayers of thanksgiving: for the day that is celebrated as Resurrection Sunday, for the worshippers who came to praise, for the power of the heart of God, and for the amazing sacrifice and grace given for and to us.

Mize’s message was one of acknowledgement that Jesus is each person’s personal Savior, and that each person who trusts Him has been, as stated in the First Letter of Peter, “born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

The pastor also stressed the repeated counsel of Jesus: “Do not be afraid!”  Mize shared that we should each be running to church to rejoice in the gift that has been given us through Christ’s sacrifice. 

Mize concluded his sermon with the exclamation, “He lives!”

Following a closing hymn, the crowd adjourned to the hall and to a breakfast of sausage and eggs.  

Philip Stephens, whose great-great-grandfather W.R. Phillips pastored at New Hope from 1907–1910, and again from 1927-34, was on hand. Stephens, who spent much of his life working in Houston stated, “When I left Houston, I knew exactly where I was coming back to church: here to New Hope.”

Cody Francisco, recently affiliated with both Christianity and New Hope Baptist Church, was ready to relate how the fear of the Lord, and the gospels, had changed his life.

On the wall in the Fellowship Hall is a comprehensive display depicting the history of the church.  It is easy to see how the church might nurture such a following. 

Several church members commented on the verse-by-verse method of Pastor Mize in communicating his message.

“Even my teenage son can track along to the message,” commented Terri Valek.

Back in the kitchen, the crew was cleaning up from breakfast. The consensus among them was that the inspired leadership of Pastor Mize and his methodical approach to learning the faith were great strengths of New Hope Baptist.

It appeared that the focus on youth was also an integral part of life at New Hope. Member David Curry looked around the hall and commented, “See the babies? See the little kids? This church is alive.”