These pastors, all members of the Evangelical Ministerial Alliance, will carry a cross much larger than the one they are shown here with during a Good Friday Cross-Walk. The men will carry a large heavy cross from the parking lot of Wal-Mart to Veterans Park on Homestead Rd., where a service will be held at 6:30 p.m. They are from left to right, Carlos Otero, Michel Porzio, David Soden, and Steve Cecil. Photo by Mel Toadvine

Ministers belonging to Lehigh’s Evangelical Ministerial Alliance will take up the cross and carry it three miles on Good Friday from the parking lot at Wal-

Mart to Veterans park, a distance of at more than three miles.

Good Friday this year falls on April 10 and pastors belonging to the organization want to get the word out so people in Lehigh can come and be a part of the “Cross-Walk” to the park. The Cross-Walk will begin at around 5 p.m. Services in the park will be at 6:30 p.m.

The theme of the Cross-Walk is being called “Follow Him,” and the ministers are hoping that a large crowd will meet them at Veterans Park when they bring

the cross to the back of the site at the pavilion on the pond where it will be erected. There are picnic tables and benches inside the pavilion which will

accommodate those who come to hear a half-hour program.

Steve Cecil of the Church of the Nazarene, is the chairman of the Cross-Walk program. He said the carrying of the cross will change hands from time to time among the ministers who will be taking the cross to the park. In a tentative plan, Cecil says they will need approximately six people to physically carry

the cross one-half mile each. He said they will need the same number of people to walk along with the cross-bearers, carrying a sandwich-sign inviting the

community to attend the Good Friday service at the park.

“We believe this is the first such march of its kind in Lehigh on Good Friday,” said David Soden, president of the EMA.

Some of the ministers posed for a photograph in front of Christ United Methodist Church this past week but the cross that they are standing behind is

small compared to the big cross that clergymen will be carrying to Veterans Park.

“It’s up in the attic of the church; we’ve got to get it down. It is very large and may be of solid oak and eight to nine feet long,” said Carlos Otero, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church, and treasurer of EMA.

He said it would take more than a few men to carry the cross because of its weight. Someone will have to be at the foot of the cross instead of dragging

it over cement.

While there won’t be official stops, there will be stops along the sidewalk where the ministers and church members who accompany them can refresh with a bottle of cold water and make a change to others who will bear the cross.

An official stop will be made at New Image Ministries Church on Homestead Rd., still a quarter of a mile perhaps from Veterans Park where several more people are expected to assemble. There is a parking lot near the pavilion.

The ministers said people should not confuse the site. It is not at the large outside stage when you first enter, but in the rear of the park.

Once in Veterans Park, David Soden, pastor of Richmond Avenue Baptist Church, will offer the opening prayer beginning at 6:30 p.m.. EAM Vice President Michael o attend the program at the park. Their next project will be on the National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May.

A program will be announced in The Citizen prior to that event. Porzio will present a mini-devotional on Simon of Cyrene. Steve Cecil will head up a musical drama with the song, Watch The Lamb, and Kenneth Wright, pastor of Metro Christian Ministries, will offer a five-minute program in the Word.

Music during the service will include When I Survey, Oh the Wonderful Cross, Amazing Grace and My Chains Fell Off. Carlos Otero of Christ United Methodist will also offer five minutes in the Word. Chairman Cecil will finish the program with a prayer

and the last piece of music will be Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus.

“We’re hoping for a large crowd of people at the park for the Good Friday services,” said Soden.

The ministerial group formed last summer and held its first meeting on July 14. It meets monthly at Lehigh Regional Medical Center where members have a meal and hold devotions and then conduct a business meeting.

Members say the mission of the new minister’s group is to bring Lehigh together spiritually. They hope the march will also bring in new members,

pastors from other churches in the community. They are inviting members from all the churches in the community to attend the services. Each church will holds its own Easter services on Sunday.