One big happy family invited for Easter in Findlay

FINDLAY — College First Church of God is bringing everyone together this Easter. While the North Main Street church typically holds three separate services on Sunday mornings, lead pastor the Rev. Kirk Schneeman has decided on one combined service at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts on the holiday. The service begins at 10:30 a.m. and is open to the public. "Easter will be one service with blended music, with an orchestra and a choir and our full rock band all together," he said. "It's really three gatherings coming together." But the real purpose, he said, is to invite the community as well as create a space for people who aren't connected to a church, those who are afraid of going into a church building, and for the spiritually curious. "We want to let them know what Easter's about and let them know what Jesus is about because that's what we're all about," said Schneeman. He said the spark for the idea came from a friend who started renting the Stranahan Theater in Toledo. Schneeman and his wife both worked part-time there so they knew the theater well. "And my friend is on staff at the church there in Toledo. Rhey said, let's rent the Stranahan on Easter, and it was a huge success. And they did it again last year, and it was an even bigger success. And they're doing it for the third year this year," he said. Schneeman said he thought about doing something similar last year, but it was his first Easter in Findlay, and he was new to the community. Then his wife was hired by MCPA where she's the ticket manager and oversees all of the house managers and ushers. And Schneeman has been volunteering at the theater since they moved to Findlay. "So we've both developed relationships with everyone on staff, and we love the staff there and the people. And we both are artists ourselves so we love the whole atmosphere," he explained. Schneeman inquired about renting the space for an Easter service. "And after months and months of planning and preparation and getting a contract together, we said, let's go," he said. The center seats 969 people. For the three church services each week — two traditional services at College First and a contemporary service at Winebrenner TLB Auditorium — about 450 attend. "I would love to fill it," he said. "But obviously Easter is our Super Bowl. I just hope there's enough room for everybody." Yard signs are appearing in the community, and Schneeman said there will be a couple of digital billboards to advertise the service. But word of mouth will bring in the most people. Printed cards are also being passed out to encourage people to attend. "What excites me about this opportunity, I mean many things excite me, but one thing is there's no threat to other congregations because if you're connected to a church, one day you're going to go to that church is Easter," said Schneeman. "This is an opportunity for us to welcome unchurched people, who are unchurched for whatever reason, to come and check it out," he said. Those who attend can come as they are and wear what they want. The service will last no more than an hour. "No experience is necessary, and of course it's totally free," he said. "People have ham and chocolate bunnies waiting for them, so we have to get out of there by 11:30 so that everybody can be home by noon." College First has an orchestra for Easter and Christmas services. "We'll have an orchestra and our choir which is fantastic, directed by SeaHwa Jung, who leads the community choir and the university choir. He's our choir director," said Schneeman. The Winebrenner Band will also play. "They'll all be together so it will be a nice hybrid of music, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "One big happy family with an open invitation for everyone to join the one big happy family." If the event is successful, he said, it could become an annual event. "I would love to make it a tradition," Schneeman said. "I'm expecting to have a celebration of Jesus, a celebration of life." A unique sermon topic on Handel's Messiah that began at Christmas will continue. "Each week we would feature a different song from Handel's Messiah, and of course there was the community performance of the entire thing," he said. "But Handel's Messiah lyrically is taken, word for word, out of the Bible. So I thought it would be an interesting thing to take those scripture passages and study them and speak on them and perform them." It started during Advent. "There's three parts to Handel's Messiah — the incarnation, Advent, baby Jesus you might say. And then parts two and three are related to Holy Week — the death and resurrection, and then the ascension of Christ and the future," said Schneeman Easter will actually be a continuation of the Advent sermon series, and it will continue over the next several weeks, he added. "It's always interesting to experience Handle's Messiah at Christmastime because so much of it is about Eastertime. But it's December typically when we experience it because the first part is all about Christmastime," he said. "So we hit pause, and we return to it." The MCPA, 200 W. Main Cross St., has parking, elevators and is handicapped accessible. Childcare will also be available. "We'll have the best doughnuts in Findlay and coffee and we've got a little treat for everybody as they leave," said Schneeman. "It's a celebration, and everyone is welcome."