Area churches showed their versatility last weekend holding egg hunts on Saturday and services on Sunday.
Plymouth Haven Baptist Church held their first-ever egg hunt Saturday morning on the grounds of their church. Children in colorful outfits participated in egg hunts, face painting, egg and spoon races and a sock race.
Susan Johnson, wife of the Rev. Tom Johnson, opened the morning's events with a prayer. She was instrumental in organizing the events for the children, who participated in three separate egg hunts, according to age. With 20 children and 400 eggs, they all had pretty full baskets.
Over at Wesley United Methodist Church, there were plenty of children and adults on hand for their Easter Festival. The Easter bunny was delivered via hook and ladder by Firefighters Clarke Slaymaker and Chip Sweeny and Lt. Tony Jackson from Station 24. Children anxiously gathered around to greet the bunny and then lined up for the egg hunt. There was a moon bounce and other activities for the guests, as well as refreshments.
Over at Aldersgate, parishioners took part in the traditional Guarding of the Tomb. Men took turns dressing as Roman centurions and guarding the tomb, which was opened on Sunday morning to represent Jesus Christ's resurrection.
SUNDAY MORNING, there wasn't much sun, but area churches still held their traditional sunrise services. According to Kevin McLaughlin, the Good News Baptist Church has been holding their service at Riverside Gardens since 1988.
Rev. Ed Manners presided over the services; T.C. and Shady Pickney distributed copies of "The Passion of Jesus Christ," by John Piper.
"We have people from the church, but there's also a lot of people who aren't from the church who like to come," said Laughlin. "We hold it in the rain, unless it's pouring."
They got lucky; their 6:30 a.m. service ended just as it started to rain. The service at Mount Vernon, however, started just as the rain began. Undaunted, people huddled under blankets and umbrellas as they sang hymns and listened to an Easter Message by the Reverend Byron R. Wilkinson, Sr.
This was the 26th annual Easter sunrise service held at Mount Vernon. It was sponsored by The Rotary Club of Mount Vernon and President Jo Butler was on hand for the Words of Welcome.
Scouts from Troop 993 provided usher services. The Scout troop is sponsored by Wesley United Methodist Church, which also held a pancake service for guests of the sunrise services from both Woodlawn Plantation and Mount Vernon.