Choir, egg hunt planned for Easter

To celebrate Easter, one church will bring together a choir, another will host a community Easter egg hunt and at a third, a pastor will deliver his first Easter sermon since coming to the church.

A 10-member choir at Journey Church in Maricopa, meets at Maricopa Wells Middle School, will sing Easter morning.

The choir only performs on Easter.

“Easter is a little easier to do special events because at Christmas, people travel,” Brown said, adding there’s a need for a choir on Easter because the “Christian church is built around the resurrection of Jesus.”

Founded in 2009, the United Methodist church started in a home and has grown into a congregation of more than 100.

“We welcome everyone,” Brown said. “We have all ages, a number of races – it’s a real blend of folks of different backgrounds.” 

Journey Church will hold Easter services at 9 a.m. 

Community of Hope Church will hold its 8th annual Easter Eggtravaganza for the first time at the UltraStar Multitainment Center 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 30. More than 1,000 egg hunters are expected, said Pastor Rusty Akers.

The event will be on the lawn north of the theaters and will include inflatable bounce houses, a petting zoo and games. The egg hunt is split up by age groups. Children hunt plastic eggs and exchange them for bags of candy. There is a hunt every 15 minutes. 

The community event started at Rancho El Dorado before moving to Pacana Park. 

“We really want to connect with the Ak-Chin community in Maricopa,” Akers said of this year’s event.

Akers refers to Easter Sunday as the “Super Bowl of the Christian Church” and said he knows more than a few attendees are not regular churchgoers, and that’s why he incorporates the egg hunt.

“We know everybody isn’t looking for a church, but the egg hunt is just a way of having fun.” 

“We always have large crowds,” Akers said. “And we want to put our best foot forward.”