Churchgoers, church leaders celebrate Easter Sunday

BALTIMORE - Christians across the world started Easter with a Sunday morning service to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Pastor David Anderson, at Columbia's Bridgeway Community Church, said they went all out for the holiday.

"We kick it up again on Easter with videos, dances and spoken word," Pastor Anderson said. "The most important thing, Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and on Easter Sunday, rose again from the dead"  

Families and friends, young and old, celebrated Easter together.

The church held two services, equating to thousands joining online and in person.  

"It doesn't matter your background history, we are all the same at the foot of the cross," churchgoer Carolina Montenegro said. "That joy that comes from celebrating together is just a beautiful thing."

Just down the highway in Gwynn Oak, the celebrations continued at Christian Life Church.

Pastor Hugh Bair said like the beginning of spring and Easter symbolizes new life.

"Just like how the flowers are blooming, God's people will bloom and flourish as they hear the good news that he's not dead," Pastor Bair said. "He's alive and he lives inside of us."

And for a child attending the service, the holiday is an all-time favorite.

"We go to church and we go egg hunting and my grandmother makes baskets for me and my cousins and it's really fun," churchgoer Charlee Burrell-Jones said.

The service incorporated music, interactive narrations and more, and a message of inspiration.

"And because he gets up, any situation that life may give us, we can get up from," Pastor Bair said.