“Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!”

This is the heart of the Easter message... the reason for our hope and our faith. This is also the central message heard by the multitude of unchurched people who walk in the doors of your church on Easter Sunday.

“People may never be more open about spiritual life issues than they are during Holy Week,” says John Ortberg, Teaching Pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Yet what happens after the Easter services are over? How can we keep the Easter message alive in the minds and hearts of spiritual seekers?
“Easter is one of those times that people show up to church,” says Erin Kerr, Pastor of Evangelism at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. “Some are spiritually interested, some are skeptical. We wanted to help them take a next step.”

So, as a gift to all who attended their Easter services, Mariners provided a free copy of The Case for Easter by Lee Strobel. In all, Mariners ordered 15,000 copies of the book. “We probably could have used more,” says Jim Russell, Executive Pastor at Mariners. “We knew this was a resource our members and Easter visitors would use.”

This 95-page paperback book from Willow Creek Resources and Zondervan looks at evidence for the Resurrection. It is in the same style as Lee’s best-selling books The Case for Christ and The Case for a Creator.

“We had The Case for Easter available for anyone who wanted them,” says Diane Kohler, Pastor to New Believers at Mariners. “We had a sticker inside that said this was a gift from Mariners Church. It encouraged them to read the book and gave our contact information for follow up. We also encouraged them to pass the book along to a friend after they’d read it.”
The Case for Easter examines and challenges three key areas of the Easter story:
The Medical Evidence (“Was Jesus’ death a sham and his resurrection a hoax?”)
The Evidence of the Missing Body (“Was Jesus’ body really absent from his tomb?”)
The Evidence of Appearances (“Was Jesus seen alive after his death on the cross?”)
The outcome? The reader is challenged to reach his or her own verdict. And, as Lee says, “there’s a lot riding this verdict.”

Like Mariners, Menlo Park also utilized The Case for Easter last year, ordering 5,000 copies of the book. “The book has a really strong message,” says Trudi Barnes, executive assistant at Menlo. “It was effective in helping challenge people to come back to hear more about Jesus.” This year, Willow Creek Association-member churches can take advantage of a special deal on The Case for Easter. Each lot of 20 books is available at a 20-percent discount ($47.84, or about $2.40 a book).
By giving the books out as part of your Easter service, you are helping keep the Easter message out there beyond March 27.

“The Case for Easter was a great outreach tool for our church,” says John Ortberg. “It played a significant role in our spring outreach,” adds Jim Russell. “It made an impact for Christ in our community.”


Willow Creek Association, PO Box 3188, Barrington, IL 60011-3188
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