“An Easter Together” – a collaboration of pastors and worship artists coming together for an evening of praise, prayer and preparation for all the Easter events around Orange County – will be held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine Thursday April 17 at 7 p.m. The community is invited.
“I think one of the most amazing things I’ve seen and the biggest blessing I’ve received through these events are the support and connectedness between different pastors and different church congregations,” Jadon Lavik explained. “We will have 20 pastors from churches all over Orange County on stage. They’ll work along side other pastors, standing and praying together arm in arm. That is certainly unique. It’s huge statement to everyone; it says we may have varying degrees of theological differences, but we’re all there for Jesus. We’re on the same team.”
“Also unique is the way the theme of unity is reiterated through the worship artists supporting one another,” he continued. “We’ll have one backing band to support everybody, but the artists all support one another according to the needs, either playing an instrument or singing background vocal for the others. All the artists are pretty much present for each other, visually on stage. It’s a team effort from top to bottom.”
Jadon and his wife Stephanie are the producers of the event.
“This will be our third year doing “An Easter Together,” Lavik said. “It’s similar to ‘A Christmas Together’ which we started four years ago. We feel like both Easter and Christmas present unique opportunities to hold multi-church events since the common focus amongst evangelical churches during those calendared times is the same: the birth of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter. Jesus prayed that His followers would be unified, and we hope to reflect that. Jesus’ desire to have His followers pursue unity was the driving force behind the vision for the two events. Our love for both the local church and the broader “Church” is why we’ve coordinated these events.”
“I’m the worship arts pastor at Shoreline Church in San Clemente and have been in Christian music for 10 years,” he continued. “I called up my buddies who have amazing musical gifts and song writing abilities, have great ministries serving their local churches, and are great family guys, and we put this together. We’ve had a huge response, which just continues to grow. It’s exciting to watch.”
Lavik explained that he and his wife have formed Better Together Ministries, a nonprofit organization to help fund the event for reoccurring years.
Local churches represented are Grace Fellowship, Mariners, and Rock Harbor.
Drew Bray, Minister of Outreach at St. Andrew’s, has been involved since the first “A Christmas Together” album and tour.
“I’m involved because I love anything that unifies the Church, particularly around such critical celebrations like Christmas and Easter,” Bray said. “I believe God relishes in showing up at events where His Church is represented with such variety and unity. When we step back far enough to see our place in a much larger story of God’s people, our worship of Him can only expand. It is perhaps one of the highest honors in life to be a part of directing the affections of God’s people to Him.”
“If you have no church home or no plans on April 17, there’s no place else you should be other than the Verizon Amphitheater for a free concert with impeccable talent and a gifted speaker,” Bray added.
General Admission is free, or $20 for preferred seat which includes a CD and preferred parking. General parking is $10.
For further information, go to aneastertogether.com
Cindy can be reached at cindy@onthegrow.com.
