Easter services and events leading up to them are some of the biggest events for attracting new people to our churches. This year we had an annual Easter Eggstravaganza planned for the Saturday before Easter. This is a big event for us that draws hundreds of people to our campus each year. The week leading up to it, the weather looked threatening.
We continued to monitor the weather all week. Saturday was calling for rain and winds to be 20 miles per hour. This would make our Easter Egg Hunt too soggy and unsafe. We knew we had to decide by Thursday, so we could communicate with our volunteers and the community.
We prayed and the idea came up to make it a drive-thru event. It sounded outside the box, but doable. We already had 13,000 eggs stuffed and snacks purchased.
As cars drove into our parking lot, we had volunteers directing them in one of four lanes. As the cars pulled up we handed each child a bag full of eggs with candy inside and parents got snacks as well! Best of all, we got to pray with every one of the 250 cars that drove through.
In the end, the event went very well. The parents were happy their children got treats and they didn’t have to be outside in the weather. Our volunteers had a blast handing out candy and getting to pray for so many of our neighbors in one day. We consider any chance to pray for that many people a win. We are now looking to add a drive-thru event for Halloween this year.
The bottom line is God always has plans better than ours. What would have been a disappointment became an opportunity for God to release his creativity.
In considering your next outreach event:
- How might God be inviting you to get creative or change up your plans?
- How willing are you to let go of your plans to do what the Father is doing? Pray that your heart would be ready to listen and give up control.
- How could you use the resources and opportunities God is putting in front of you right now?
I wish you good luck as you continue to love your community and reach your neighbors.
Tony Portell serves as the Lead Pastor of Life Church a Vineyard Church in Indianapolis with campuses in Indy and Brownsburg. He has planted four churches prior to Life Church which was adopted into the Vineyard in 2007.
He has degrees in counseling and biblical studies. He serves as a chaplain for the Indianapolis Fire Department and with the State of Indiana’s Crisis Response Team. He is passionate about church planting and equipping leaders to find and fulfill their place in God’s Kingdom. He and his beautiful wife Lori reside in Indianapolis and has two grown children, Clayton, and Faith.
