As Americans open their wallets to spend a projected $24.9 billion on Easter this year, some churches are thinking beyond Easter eggs and Passion plays, budgeting for helicopter rentals, skydiving Easter bunnies, and record-setting drone shows.
Many churches see Holy Week as an opportunity for community outreach, in some cases the bigger the better. Church leaders say they hope the spring-themed fun will serve the community, glorify God, and attract new Easter-weekend visitors to worship.
Compass Church in Monterey County, California, hosted its Easter egg drop at a local sports complex on March 28. A helicopter dropped 100,000 eggs on Rabobank Stadium in two separate egg drops, and the event also included a skydiving Easter bunny.
At Cultivate Church in Alabaster, Alabama, leaders expect their April 4 Easter outreach event to draw around 20,000 people. A helicopter will drop 20,000 eggs in three cycles for children of various ages while church members grill thousands of hot dogs to give away. They’ll also provide bounce houses for children. The event is scheduled the day after Cultivate Church holds a Good Friday night of worship.
Cultivate Church’s senior pastor, Brandon Matthews, told Christianity Today that the church began the community Easter egg drops in 2012, when it first launched.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic and occasional bad weather have forced the church to cancel the event, he says the community looks forward to it every year. “We do this to let the community know we want something for them, not something from them,” he told CT.
Though Matthews would love for unchurched attendees to find their way to Cultivate, he said the goal is ultimately for them to attend any church on Easter and beyond.
The River Community Church in Cookeville, Tennessee, will be the site of another big event: an Easter drone show sponsored by the local Christian radio station, 107.7 Grace FM. The church’s property includes a 100-plus-foot white cross visible from nearby Interstate 40, and on Good Friday, hundreds of illuminated drones will soar above the cross, creating a visual display that tells the story of the Resurrection. Viewers can tune in to Grace FM to hear narration accompanying the lights. The event will conclude with a fireworks display.
In a message on Facebook, Steve Tiebout, lead pastor of The River Community Church, said over 20 area churches had joined together to put on the event. He urged congregants to invite unchurched friends to join in watching the drone show and to tell them about God’s work.
“Bring people that never go to church. This will be something they’ll want to see, and then you can have those conversations afterward to share with them what Christ has done in your life,” he said.
In Manvel, Texas, The Church on MastersRoad has led a coalition of churches in putting on another drone light show telling the Easter story. Beginning on March 27, the nightly gatherings have drawn between 6,000 and 10,000 people per day and feature a rotation of worship leaders and speakers. The evening ends with a narrated drone display telling the story of each day in Holy Week. Each night’s show is bigger, starting with 5,000 drones. By Easter evening, the display will have 10,000 drones.
Manvel mayor Dan Davis announced on Facebook that the drone show broke the record for the largest drone show in North America. Jason Lee, pastor of The Church on MastersRoad, said the event is not about promoting specific churches. Ministers from 30 churches and about 300 volunteers are on hand each night, but visitors will not see a sign for any one congregation even though the event takes place in a field adjacent to four churches.
Lee said getting visitors to attend The Church on MastersRoad is “not even an objective” of the event. He said if visitors want to learn more about local churches, they can scan a QR code to find a church list.
“It’s not about the church and making one church more important than other churches,” Lee said. “We want to make it about Jesus and getting people excited about the Easter season and going to church somewhere.”
Lee challenged church members to rack up 10,000 cumulative miles of walking on the field to pray for the event. One lap around the perimeter of the property is about one mile, and as of March 31, participants had walked 4,500 miles, he said. Visitors could also stop by the testimony tent to record stories of God’s faithfulness in their lives.
“We defeat the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony,” Lee said in a video posted to Facebook.
Matthews of Cultivate Church said when the community sees the congregation serving its neighbors, it makes those neighbors curious about church.
“We have found these events make it attractive for people to want to know more,” he said. “As long as we are pointing them to Jesus when they want to know more, then we see life change out of it.”
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