Jackson Area Pastors Celebrate Easter

(April 12, 2020 7:00 AM) Following Governor Whitmer’s Executive Order suspending public gatherings, First Baptist Church of Jackson Pastor Dallas Flippin wondered how he could do something special for Easter beyond online worship services. That led to a project involving 32 Jackson area pastors collaborating in the creation of the Jackson Pastors Easter Video.

Rev. Flippin told JTV, “It felt like the city, and the world, was grieving the loss of each other’s presence. In the midst of that, I felt it would be really meaningful to show Jackson a glimpse of how this physical time apart could also bring us spiritually closer together. And so I knew I wanted to try and get videos of pastors in the area to share with the city for Easter. At first, I thought just giving Pastors a short time frame to say something to Jackson would be nice. But for a lot of reasons, I pivoted when I realized that the thing that unites us on Easter is the Easter story. So I settled on asking local pastors to read John 20:1-18, a lectionary reading for Easter.”

On March 23, Flippin sent emails to several pastor friends who he met through the Jackson Area Ministerial Association. He asked them if they had any interest in joining him on the project. Everyone he contacted was enthusiastic, and with their support, he began the process of starting the project.

Flippin made an online sign up sheet for pastors and emailed them to two local ministers’ groups, JAMA and SEMA (Southeast Ministers Alliance), and to other pastors as well. Those who signed up received instructions for the video and were asked to submit the video by Monday, April 6. 32 participating pastors from the area from a wide variety of traditions appear in the video.

“The diversity of pastors is what made the video so powerful to me as I was putting it together, “said Flippin. “It wasn’t just the big diversity categories, but also the little things like the different Bible translations that were read from, the different rooms in the background, and the different clothes worn which all contributed to seeing the variety of Pastors in our area.”

“While our pastors are diverse, the impact of hearing them read the same Bible story was moving to me,” said Flippin. “I’m so grateful to those who participated and helped make the video a reality.”

Rev. Flippin said many of the participating churches plan to share the video within their Easter worship services.

The video was created and edited by Dallas Flippin, drone footage of Jackson by Maury Page, Mevo Creative Studios, with music, “Pastor Pads: Ambient – Emotional – D” by Andy Blake Walker.

Participating pastors and churches:

Andrew Walker, Lead Pastor, Encounter Church

Andy Merritt, Lead Pastor, Rivertree Church

Fr. Chas Canoy, Pastor, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Parish

Chris Murphy, Pastor, Horton Congregational Church

Cyle Young, Lead Pastor, Heart O the Lakes Church

Dallas Flippin, Pastor, First Baptist Church

Daniel Kidder McQuown, Rev., St. John’s United Church of Christ

David McDonald, Lead Pastor, Westwinds Church

Devin Robertson, Pastor, Cornerstone Christian Church

Fr. Dusan Koprivica, St. Demetrius Orthodox Church

Gerry Grueling, Pastor, East Jackson Church of the Nazarene