Good Friday was not a good day for the Man from Nazareth who had to carry His own cross up ancient Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa to the hill of Golgotha. Though bloodied and broken from a Roman scourging of 39 lashes, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, did carry that cross and then laid down His perfect sinless life upon that cross for us.
And when He died on that cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and arose from the grave three days later, all of mankind would forever know that lonesome, excruciating walk of the cross took place not just on a “Good Friday,” but the best Friday ever.
To remind others of that first and best Good Friday, more than 50 men from Crosspoint Community Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, will make another “Cross Walk” this Friday, April 18, 2025. According to all accounts, this walk is a sight to behold.
This annual CrossPoint Holy Week event began two decades back, when Dean Register was the Senior Pastor of CrossPoint, a position now filled by his son Pastor Wes Register,
Along with beloved friend Pastor Clemon Ector of New Season Family Worship Center, this father-son duo of Dean and Wes Register will join over 50 other men from CrossPoint, as they once again carry a heavy wooden cross (weighing over 100 pounds) from the parking lot of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in West Hattiesburg back to the CrossPoint campus, a trek of almost seven miles along the bustling U.S. Highway 98.
Here’s the amazing part: This Friday, April 18, as they each take turns bearing that old wooden cross, these brothers in Christ will encounter a low-ball estimate of 10,000 people on their cross-carrying journey alongside Highway 98 – and probably many more people than that. Hopefully, those 10,000+ viewers will be instantly reminded of the first and best Good Friday of all time.
But for the men of CrossPoint, who have faithfully carried that cross on its 7-mile trek each Good Friday for the past 20 years, that instant reminder is not their only motivation, nor their most important. Most of all, these men of God, from all ages and all walks of life, simply desire to bear witness to the fact that Jesus bore that unbelievable burden for each of them – and for every one of us, even the people driving down U.S. 98 who may never meet those men or attend their church.
Truly, the men of CrossPoint want to let people know that it was not just a heavy, wooden cross that Jesus bore upon His bloodied, broken back that Good Friday long ago. It was our sin.
They know that as the Son of God, Jesus willingly gave His life for us, and in doing so, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God took every sin of every human from every moment of history (past, present, and future) upon Himself.
Jesus carried our sins to that cross and forever destroyed sin’s yoke and hold upon us. He paid our penalty for all time. That is the life-changing, world-altering message that the men of Crosspoint Community Church will carry with them as they take their annual Cross Walk.
But here’s the rest of their cross-carrying story: Their message of salvation, bought and freely paid for by the Son of God, was the same message that Dean Register carried in 1978, the very first time he took a Good Friday walk alone – with a 180-pound cross on his shoulder.
Back then, he was a very young pastor at First Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia, and a policeman stopped him that day 47 years ago, as he lugged the cross through the busy downtown streets. When that officer asked Register for his parade permit, the young pastor answered, “It’s not a parade. I’m bearing witness for Jesus.”
Wow. “Bearing witness for Jesus,” the King of Kings who bore witness for us all – long, long ago on the best Good Friday of all.
Now, I know; I know. Most of us do not have the time or the resources to bear witness for our Savior by taking an entire day off work and lugging a gigantic cross down the streets of our local towns and cities. It is just not feasibly possible.
Plus, very few of us will be in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, this Friday, April 18, to witness the men of CrossPoint as they bear witness for Jesus along the corridors of U.S. Highway 98.
But the truth is, we can bear witness for our precious Savior every single day of our lives by carrying His selfless, sacrificial love to those around us, even the ones who might not love us back.
After all, on that Good Friday long ago, the crowd along that Via Dolorosa did not love Jesus either. Even most of His followers denied, betrayed, and abandoned Him before the sun went down that day. But after the sunrise of Resurrection Sunday, the realization of the “goodness” of that Friday changed everything.
So, take the time to share the Good News of Jesus, the risen Savior, with someone this Good Friday – and every day.
