Good morning and welcome to our celebration of Easter, the most important day in the history of humanity, the day when Jesus Christ rose from the grave, defeated the power of death, and secured for us eternal life. Christians all over the world begin their celebration this day by loudly proclaiming some variation of the word “Hallelujah!” which means “Praise the Lord!” So, I invite you now to say it with me—“Hallelujah!”

It's a powerfully moving thing to think about churches all over the world in nearly every tongue celebrating Easter in their own unique way. But not every celebration turns out the way we hoped. A few years ago, the editors at Relevant magazine asked readers to send them stories of Easter disasters at their churches.

A young man named Chris Pochiba told how his church be…