Watch and Share “Because He Lives” Easter Video

Contributed By Ryan Morgenegg, Church News staff writer, and Camille West, ChurchofJesusChrist.org Church News

• 27 March 2015

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“This Easter season gives each of us a personal opportunity to discover His sacrifice, embrace His teachings, and share His joy.” —Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve

In honor of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Church is encouraging members to participate in a campaign this Easter season to share their witness of the Savior. The campaign is called “Because He Lives” and the Church is providing exciting and inspiring content members can share on social media.

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote specifically about the Easter initiative in the March issue of the Ensign: “As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ in these, the latter days, we have also been charged with testifying of the realities of the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection. This Easter season gives each of us a personal opportunity to discover His sacrifice, embrace His teachings, and share His joy.”

One of the farthest-reaching proclamations to the world of the Savior will be a video that plays on the YouTube masthead during Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The video has the potential to reach more than 240 million people.

The “Because He Lives” video shows images of the Holy Land and Jesus Christ with statements about how He changed things wherever He went, but that the greatest miracle was yet to come. The video can be viewed, shared, and downloaded beginning March 28 from HeLives.mormon.org in 21 languages. The website also provides a day-by-day recounting of the last week of the Savior’s life.

Members can get involved by going to the website Helives.Mormon.org to view the video and share a testimony of the Savior using the social media hashtag #BecauseHeLives. There are also eight social media memes in several languages that can be shared online.

In regards to missionary work, the campaign is designed to increase interest in the Church and increase teaching opportunities for the full-time missionaries. Displays at visitors’ centers in the U.S., at the Mexico City Temple, and the Hyde Park Chapel in London, England, will have information about Christ and new pass along cards from the online store or from local missionaries go along with the theme and can be shared with others.

Another part of the campaign encourages people to print out a graphic of a red pin drop with the words “He Is Here.” Church members and others are encouraged to take a photo of themselves with the marker. The instruction is to “Show us where in the world you find the influence of Jesus Christ. Cut out the marker. Take a picture with it. Share it online using the hashtag #BecauseHeLives.”

This past December the Church launched a similar campaign inviting members to share the “He Is the Gift” video. According to the Church Missionary Department, members enthusiastically responded by sharing content over 1 million times on Facebook and the hashtag was used 250,000 times on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Recent statistics show the video was viewed 33,816,579 times worldwide from 198 countries and territories and over 22,000 cities, resulting in 4.4 million visitors to the Christmas.mormon.org website.

“One of the most significant of all scriptural phrases is found in Matthew 28:6, ‘He is not here: for he is risen,’ ” wrote Elder Nelson. “Given by angelic messengers near an empty tomb, this proclamation declared that the Lord Jesus Christ had overcome death through His Atonement and Resurrection. Later He appeared to His Apostles and charged His followers to declare their witness to the world that He lives (“Because He Lives” March 2015 Ensign).

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