There’s not a more deserving subject for this week’s feature. Jesus, the One who has changed more lives than anyone else who ever walk on the earth, including mine. After reading, be sure to play the video at the bottom.

May God bless you all. – Joe Burgess

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Today is Easter and celebrated many ways throughout Monticello. Children enjoy the candy received from new-found Easter eggs. Spiral ham, mashed potatoes and fresh rolls are served at many family gatherings. Much of this happens after a time of reflection and celebration at one of the 50+ Christian churches in the area. The Holy One that is celebrated on this holiday isn’t a local, but Jesus Christ is found in the hearts of many Monticellonians. This is His story.

Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Israel. Roman historians subsequently used the birth of Jesus as the dividing line of history using A.D. (Anno Domini, which is Latin for “the year of our Lord”) to mark the coming of Christ.

Jesus was born into humble circumstances. His mother’s name was Mary who was of the Israelite tribe of Judah. At best, the circumstances of his birth were complicated. Mary was engaged to marry Joseph, also of the tribe of Judah. Joseph could trace his lineage back to Abraham. Jewish lineage and ancestry was sacred to the Israelites. However, before they were married, Mary confessed to Joseph that she was pregnant but claimed that the pregnancy was a result of news she had received from an angelic messenger.

Of course, Joseph was not only skeptical but immediately began to make plans to divorce Mary. (A divorce was necessary because a bethrothal in Jewish society was binding as marriage). However, Joseph too received an angelic visit soon after and became convinced that this pregnancy was of God. They proceeded with the marriage, in spite of public ridicule and disbelief. The New Testament records that Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth and her husband who was a priest believed Mary. When Mary went to stay with Elizabeth and Zachariah for a time, Elizabeth claimed that her own unborn baby “in my womb leaped for joy.”

Joseph and Mary moved to Egypt for while when Jesus was about two years old. The relocation was due to a warning received from God about King Herod’s intentions to find and kill Jesus, whom he believed to be the Messiah. Herod and many Jews believed the Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom and reign from Jerusalem. That obviously conflicted with Herod’s own political ambitions. Kill the Messiah; preserve his reign, was his reasoning.

After Herod died, Joseph and Mary and Jesus moved back to Israel and settled in a small town called Nazareth, where Joseph continued his carpentry business. The young Jesus learned from his earthly father the trade as well. Because Nazareth was so out of the way, many believed that all its residents were insignificant and unlearned.

Jesus was raised like other Jewish boys, being taught the Books of the Law and the Prophets. The most important command in all Judaism was called the shema, and is found in Deuteronomy 6.4-9:

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Jesus’ early interest and awareness of his role and identity is evident from his encounter with the religious leaders and teachers in the temple when he was 12 years old. His parents had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover, but after its conclusion had started on their way home with a large caravan of family and friends from the same area. Believing Jesus to be somewhere in the caravan with friends or family, they didn’t realize that he wasn’t until after the first day of travel. Upon their worried and frantic return to Jerusalem, they discovered Jesus in the temple, sharing and questioning with the religious leaders.

Jesus’ response? “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

No one knows exactly when Joseph died, but his absence becomes obvious in accounts of Jesus’ life. At age 30, Jesus began a very public ministry. His teaching immediately attracted followers because he spoke with such passion and authority about God the Father. He selected 12 men to be his disciples (other Jewish rabbis also selected a limited number of close follower/students.) For the next three years, Jesus and his disciples, men from small towns and lower social classes managed to turn Jewish society upside down.

Everyone was talking about Jesus, his ministry of love, and his miraculous deeds. As his popularity grew, so did the hatred of existing religious leaders. Because Israel was under Roman rule, they began to seek ways to prosecute Jesus, to eliminate his influence with the people. However, they could find none other than their understanding that Jesus claimed to be one with the Father, which was blasphemy in Jewish law, punishable by death.

Everything was brought to a climax during the Passover celebration when Jesus was 33 years old. He apparently knew that a showdown was coming and began to teach his disciples that the Messiah “had to die and be raised again.” This was new and strange information to God-fearing Jews who assumed that the Messiah would establish an earthly kingdom and bring supernatural peace to the world and nature. In fact, his disciples seemed to totally overlook his teaching about the Messiah’s death.

The religious leaders were able to locate Jesus when he was away from the crowds, with the help of Judas, one of his disciples who agreed to betray him for money. The evening after the Passover meal, soldiers arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was brought before Jewish authorities and tried that very night, after being passed back and forth between the religious leaders, King Herod Antipas (son of the first King Herod), and the Roman governor, Pilate.

The Jews demanded his death by crucifixion, and in spite of Pilate finding their charges against Jesus baseless, he gave in to the political and crowd pressure and surrendered Jesus to them. He was crucified on Friday, with the priests’ worriedly hoping that he would be dead by the beginning of their Sabbath (sundown on Friday).

Jesus was buried that evening by his followers, and the Jewish leaders, concerned about his followers possibly trying to steal his body, insisted that Pilate post a Roman guard at Jesus’ tomb. However, by the morning of the third day, something dramatic had happened. Some of the Roman guards fearfully made their way back to the Jewish authorities asserting that an angel had appeared and rolled away the stone. Jesus was gone.

However, as his disciples learned of Jesus’ “disappearance” from some of the women who had gone to properly prepare his body for burial that morning, a different realization occurred. He was risen! Within the next several hours, fantastic stories of amazing appearances by Jesus became commonplace. By that evening, the remaining 11 disciples had all seen Him, including Thomas, whom Jesus coaxed to touch the places on his wrists and side where he had been pierced.

Eyewitness accounts as recorded in the New Testament say that Jesus spent the next 40 days teaching his disciples from the Old Testament about his identity as the Messiah and helping them to understand the concept of a suffering Messiah that would pay for the sins of the Jews and the Gentiles, for all people. Undoubtedly, he used passages like Isaiah 53, Daniel 9.25-26, Psalm 22 and others to help them see that the military Messiah they hoped for was not the Messiah the type of Messiah that God had promised His people. The apostle Paul says that Jesus even appeared to more than 500 people at one time.

Jesus ascended into heaven and commissioned his disciples to “make disciples of all nations.” Followers of Jesus Christ have been continuing that ministry, in his spirit, for more than 2000 years.

For Monticello, Jesus has had an incredible impact. One can say that without Christ in the hearts of many believers, Monticello would lack compassion, service and blessings. Because so many put their trust in Him and live according to His promises, Monticello experiences His presence. Although life is not perfect in Monticello, it is by the grace that Jesus gives that many receive blessing after blessing. However, the best way to know Jesus is to find out for yourself. His life here on earth was for each person individually. And it is faith in Him alone that one can experience Him best. May Easter find you amazed in the Holy One – Jesus Christ, one Monticello life.

We deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve the community in this way. We hope someone else will take up the mantle of MonticelloLive, but if not, it’s been a great season of life.

One of the primary reasons for turning loose of MonticelloLive is simply the high expectations it’s generated among so many. We simply can’t live up to it!

Another reason, and probably more meaningful, is that as a local pastor, I can no longer afford to divide my focus and time in the way I have with MonticelloLive. Being bivocational, I initially began the website as a hobby and possible source of supplemental income. It quickly – almost dramatically – surged to become a community icon. I simply was not prepared for the time demands – with meetings, interviews, deadlines and the need to justify all the investment by seeking advertising for revenue. I simply didn’t want to be seen as a “reporter” or as attempting to sell ads when folks saw me coming.

Therefore, we’re putting MonticelloLive up for sale. We’ll consider all offers. Please use the contact form to inquire. I will offer website support and full training. It really is a wonderful opportunity for someone, and it’s a vital source of community news and information. For someone who can give it more time than I, its future is indeed bright!

If no one expresses any interest, we’ll simply phase the site out. It will remain online for reference and archiving purposes.

We’re grateful for all the support, kindness and participation of our readers. We’re also very grateful for our regular banner advertisers that made the work more worth it. Thanks to Parkway Bank, A&B Rentals, and Union Bank & Trust.

Last month was the first month that our traffic decreased…. by 5 total hits. In May, the site saw 12,450 pageviews, down from 12,455 hits in April! We continue to be grateful for your participation and help in making MonticelloLive your community site.

We’re offering 50% off on all advertising during the summer months. Just look at the advertising page and figure 1/2 off. With between 400-500 hits per day, that is still the best ad money you can spend in the area. While we expect that traffic will decrease as posting is scaled back, you may want to seriously consider placing an ad with ML over the summer.

We also encourage you to send us news stories, announcements, engagements and wedding information. Your continued participation may provide the “fix” that some MonticelloLive addicts need to get through the summer! ;)

Again, thanks for helping make this site fun and interactive! Oh, and as always, if you’d like to make a donation, you can do so by clicking the donate button on the main page.

The lockdown comes just a week after an incident at Drew Central Schools was determined to be a “childish prank.” Last month, a University of Arkansas at Monticello employee was arrested after making threatening comments and spitting on law enforcement officials.

The high school office related that everyone is “ok,” and that after a thorough search of the school, no weapons had been found. The students who reported seeing the individual were interviewed thoroughly and assisted officials by providing a description of the individual.

While police did find an individual meeting that description, no weapons were found, and the lockdown was lifted before school was dismissed. Officials will continue looking into the incident to ensure the safety of the students.

According to Assistant Superintendant Tommy Tyler, the principals of the schools had just completed a revision of the district’s crisis plan last week, and it allowed all officials to proceed smoothly through today’s incident.

“We were not going to take it lightly. The police responded great. We’re thankful,” said Tyler.

Pines Broadcasting announced that it plans to provide more local news, weather, and sports, as well as offering six different music formats to listen to on the stations.

Cablevision provides cable television to 27 South Arkansas communities and both cable television and high-speed Internet services in Monticello. Cablevision was founded in 1973 and was owned by the late Paul Q. Gardner, Jr. until his death in June 2006. His widow, Donna Gardner and sons, Chad Gardner and Paul (Chip) Q. Gardner III, assumed control of the company at that time.  Community Communications Company still remains the largest independently owned cable company in Arkansas.

An official press release has been promised by the new management, and MonticelloLive will publish it as soon as it’s released.

Monticello leaders of Twenty for the Future had a busy morning today as they met with four different congressional leaders in the span of four hours.

While Representative Marion Barry was unable to meet due to scheduling conflicts, the group from Monticello met with his chief of staff as well as with Congressmen Mike Ross, John Boozman, and Vic Snyder.

Bennie Ryburn III was the spokesman for the group in all meetings today as he shared Twenty’s eight-point priority list. The group received a positive welcome from the delegation, and the congressmen pledged their support in many of the projects.

Representative Mike Ross said, “It’s a done deal, as far as I’m concerned,” in reference to the need for a north-south connector from Highway 278 to Jordan Drive to alleviate traffic around the hospital and schools.

Representative John Boozman said, “We’ll help you in any way we can.”

Members of the Congressional delegation and their staff remarked consistently what a positive impact the Monticello group is able to make by having such a large group of concerned civic, business and educational leaders present to advocate the needs of the community.

MonticelloLive is proud to present you with the podcast from the group’s meeting with Representative Mike Ross today:

Pictures of Tuesday’s Washington activities can be found here.

Crews from the National Weather Service were on the scene in Drew County on Monday to survey the damage and confirm whether the damage sustained was characteristic of a tornado or high velocity straight line winds. A tornado track was discovered that had a path length of 15 miles stretching from 4.5 miles north of Monticello to 3.5 miles southeast of Garrett Bridge in Lincoln county.

To put the scale of an F2 tornado in perspective, the tornado that struck Dumas Arkansas on Saturday has been classified as an F3 Tornado. National Weather Service officials stated on Monday that the people of Drew County are very “lucky.” The tornado struck a mostly rural area of the county damaging only a few homes and outlying buildings.

The tornado tracks in Drew and Desha County were eerily similar to the February 24, 2001 tornado outbreak.

In addition, February has already become ML’s highest traffic month. As of yesterday, the site had already had more than 7,158 pageviews this month! We look forward to growing with you in the days ahead.

As usual, we depend upon you for help with stories and ideas, so keep ‘em coming! Many of the stories you read were ideas submitted by others.

Next Monday through Wednesday, we hope to present you with an exciting feature. More about that soon! We’ll be sending out an email alert with the news about the feature in it first. If you’d like your business or group to advertise in the email newsletter, it’s only $25 for the ad! It’s also limited to the first two advertisers.

Again, thanks for your participation in MonticelloLive! It’s truly a community website!

After being devastated by one and possibly two tornadoes on Saturday, Dumas sought to begin the long cleanup and restoration process Sunday. Members of at least half a dozen churches and other organizations from Monticello headed to Dumas Sunday morning to lend their encouragement, tools, and labor to the relief effort.

More pictures of the Dumas tornado destruction and relief effort here. (If you have pictures that you’d like to submit, please do so at jeff [at] monticellolive.com.