In an effort to make the celebration of Easter a worldwide interactive experience for people of all faiths, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is launching a three-day advertising campaign, April 6-8, in conjunction with Easter.
According to a news release the purpose of the event is for others to learn that members of the Church are Christians.
“The focus is to help those not of our faith understand that we believe in and follow Jesus Christ,” the release said. “The campaign features members of the Church sharing their beliefs about the Savior.”
Mormon.org has designed a page to act as a conversation platform over the Easter weekend. The page has been created as a place where people can share why Jesus Christ is important to them, learn more about Church members’ beliefs in the Savior, download Bible video apps or order a free Bible.
In addition to the actual mormon.org site, a minimum of 15 million people are estimated to view the promotional videos (to be launched April 6-8) on YouTube. The videos will also provide people with the link to the interactive site.
The final online arena the Church is using in this campaign is Facebook. Visitors to the mormon.org Facebook page are also encouraged to share their feelings about Jesus Christ on the wall.
The Church is hopeful Christians around the world will personally discuss the blessing to have come into their lives from having a belief in Christ.
J.R. Rochester, from Atlanta, was raised Southern Baptist in a Protestant Christian home. Spending 10 years of service in the military and having traveled to Iraq multiple times, Rochester was grateful to have knowledge of God as he went into basic training.
“It was very interesting for me when I went to basic training to hear the stories of where these kids came from and it made me cherish my faith and my strength in my faith,” Rochester said. “It was a little depressing but it kind of excited me to have that opportunity to show them what true love was.”
Salt Lake City native and member of the LDS faith Cheri Barrett, studying elementary education, is grateful for the reminder Easter is to her of the presence of Christ in her life.
“Easter is a time to not only reflect on the death and sacrifice of Christ, but to emphasize that He lives again and is a resurrected being,” Barrett said. “He is very much a part of my life everyday. The living Christ means that he still lives and is still a working part of my salvation … He helps me, loves me and edifies me daily.”
According to the news release, the Church is hopeful Christians will be proactive and involved in discussing online how Christ has strengthened and blessed their life.
“It is hoped that thousands of Church members and nonmembers will express their testimonies of Jesus Christ during the Easter weekend,” the news release said.
Non-denominational Christians, like Rochester, are grateful for an understanding of Christ in their life and do not let the questioning words of others affect their religious stance and beliefs.
“Of course there are skeptics or people who mock me and mock my faith – a lot of that is fear, in my opinion,” Rochester said. “But my faith has been something that I can cling to.”
