Christians Celebrate the Renewal That Is Easter

IRVINE —  With their eyes closed and their arms outstretched, about 5,000 people attending a Mariner’s South Coast Church Easter service Sunday opened their hands in unison as an offering to God.

They offered their worries, problems and sins.

“Take what is dying or dead in your life--whether it’s a business, a career, a marriage, a relationship or pain and hurt--and give it to God,” the Rev. Kenton Beshore told the audience filling UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center for the church’s 10:45 a.m. service. “Ask God to breathe life into it.”

At that moment, Dan Loveless’ hands twitched. While in deep concentration, he offered God his pain.

“My aunt just died of a broken heart,” said Loveless, 38, of Costa Mesa. “She died because my uncle died a couple of months ago and she could not go on without him.”

Dale Sprowl, 43, of Newport Beach, offered God her daily struggles. Her 78-year-old father suffered from a stroke 15 years ago and his health has been deteriorating ever since.

“He’s always getting worse,” Sprowl said. “I’m upset because I can’t visit him every day . . . . I’m too busy taking care of my young family.”

In one of Orange County’s largest Easter observances, a total of nearly 9,000 offered God similar troubles in their lives during the two Easter services hosted by Mariner’s, a nondenominational evangelical church based in Irvine and Newport Beach.

Dressed in their Easter best, the worshipers came to be inspired by the biblical story of Jesus rising from the dead three days after his crucifixion. During the religious ceremony, they learned the meaning of Easter--that Jesus brings life to dying things.

“It’s a day to us that signifies new starts, fresh beginnings,” Beshore said.

“It’s so sad those 39 people ended their lives to live with aliens,” Beshore said about the Heaven’s Gate cult members who committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe last week. “Heaven for us isn’t going to live with aliens. It’s to live with our family, our friends, our home in heaven.”

The crowd quietly listened to Beshore’s short sermon and expressed their joy by singing and clapping to the music.

“Let’s lift the name of Jesus to the ceiling, right out of this room, to all of Orange County,” Mariner’s Pastor Bob Gunn shouted into a microphone as his fingers danced on a keyboard.

As church-goers sung with exhilaration, dancers dressed in pastel blue and purple costumes performed on stage.

“The music draws everybody whether they are Christians or not,” said Carin Wassen, a choir member.

Church officials said the 200-member choir and a 20-piece orchestra lure people to Mariner’s Easter services. The event grew so large that the church moved those services to UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center in 1996.

The church’s Irvine campus seats 2,000 and its Newport Beach campus seats 1,400. On regular weekends, it hosts five services to accommodate its estimated 6,200 members.

During the main services, school-age children watched “Rockin’ Resurrection.” Performed by 300 volunteers, the play tells the story of Jesus Christ for children.

Another university facility was reserved so the church could provide child care.

“There is so much energy that comes from all these people being together in one room, “ said Gina Maurie, 32, of Corona Del Mar. “I just can’t think of anywhere else where I’d rather be.”