Mr. Hardy, his wife, Lynne, and their children moved to Budgeree from Melbourne in 1993 to pastor the Morwell congregation.

Budgeree didn’t even have a church (building), that is not until April 15. On that day, the seldom used community hall was turned into a church and the people came—38 of them (including 10 WCG members).

One family were Christians new to the area looking for a church home. The rest included lapsed Christians and others who had come to see what this was all about.

In addition to the Hardys, two newer members of the Morwell congregation (Grahame and Margaret Flynn) live in Budgeree and two more (Greg and Helen Seales) are about to move into the area.

Easter Sunday was decided upon as being an appropriate time to conduct a service, and the planning got under way. They booked the community hall and posted a sign a month in advance to announce the service.

Two weeks before Easter, they put 58 flyers in letter boxes around the community. When you add the six Worldwide Church of God Budgeree members, about one third of the community attended the multi-denominational service. Two individuals and a family sent their apologies for not attending because they would be away for the holidays or had to work.

"The atmosphere was positive and exciting," Mr. Hardy said. "It was a most exciting occasion to witness," said Mrs. Hardy.

A survey showed that everyone wanted more services, varying from just Christmas and Easter to weekly. Many responded positively to the message in which the following questions were posed and addressed: "Is Jesus alive?" and "If he is, what does it mean for us?"