Egg-citement on the Hilltop (Photo by Lindsey Perkins, The Daily Campus)

Though Easter is not until Sunday, SMU’s The Vine ministries began celebrating the Easter holiday early with an Easter egg hunt on the main quad yesterday. All students and faculty were welcome to participate in the hunt.

Inside the eggs were candy, Bible verses and some lucky eggs contained gift cards from Starbucks, Blockbuster and Virgin Megastore.

“Each egg contains candy and a small strip of paper which includes either a Bible verse or a quote about Easter, so every participant has an opportunity to hear what we believe about Easter,” said The Vine Director JoAnna Hoyt.

The Vine is the Baptist student ministry located on campus. It is made up of students who live the college life together and help each other as they seek to follow Jesus Christ.

The Vine has helped many students like Donna Phillips, who leads the women’s Bible study, build a strong support group. “Many of the friendships that I have made will follow me after college,” she said.

The Vine does not “force their beliefs on participants,” but they want to encourage and help support the SMU community in any way possible.

“We, as Christians, celebrate Easter because it is the celebration of when Jesus Christ came back to life and provided an opportunity for everyone to be forgiven and have a new life, and the Easter egg hunt is a small way for everyone to celebrate that victory,” said Hoyt.

Though the students involved in The Vine do not believe that you need to leave campus to find a place to share Christ, opportunities to serve others in the community and outside of it are available through monthly service projects.

Through the service projects they work to meet the physical needs of others, while looking for opportunities to share Christ with them.

Junior Erin Dunn has traveled with The Vine to minister in San Antonio and Portland. “It’s quite a culture shock leaving the South and still staying in the U.S., but it was a great learning experience,” she said.

Weekly gatherings are held every Thursday at 8 p.m. in Promenades A&B of Hughes-Trigg. Women’s and men’s Bible studies are also held weekly and are available to all students. For more information about The Vine, check out their website www.smuvine.org.