The Easter sunrise service at Stone Mountain Park returned Sunday after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Flocks of people ascended to the top of the world’s largest granite monolith as a message of faith was delivered on the holy day.
While some paid to ride the Skyride to the top of Stone Mountain, many others trekked by foot to the top before the sun rose at 7.
The service has grown over the decades to become a popular religious tradition for many metro families, drawing thousands each year. The diversity of this year’s large crowd was reflected with the guest speakers: the Rev. Bryant Wright, founder of Right From the Heart Ministries and retired senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, and the Rev. Crawford Loritts, founder of Beyond Our Generation and former senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell.
The annual tradition began in 1944 when Stone Mountain First United Methodist Church congregant Lucille A. Lanford suggested the church’s youth group climb to the top of Stone Mountain on Easter morning to watch the sunrise.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
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