BUNNIES, BOUNCING & BAIT
Yesterday was the day before Easter. A few months ago, in a moment of insanity or inspiration, I'm still not sure which, I mentioned in a staff meeting that we should rent the local football stadium, hire a helicopter and drop a few thousand Easter eggs out of it. Yesterday we did it...with a few exceptions. We dropped 30,000 eggs. We had 15 inflatables. We had games, face-painting, popcorn & cotton candy. We gave away thousands of dollars of prizes. And it was all free.
We really didn't have any idea what to expect. I mean, we'd never done this before. Initially, we thought if 1,000 people showed up it would be a success. Then we reassessed and revised our expectations. We hoped for 1500.
I don't know how many people showed up yesterday. I know that after the parking team had parked 5000 cars they quit counting. I know that we caused such a traffic jam in Pearland that the Pearland PD had to dispatch 5 units to handle the traffic backups we caused for miles. (sorry!) I know there were people everywhere.
There were bleeps and blunders and things we would do differently. Like I told the guy from the Chronicle when he asked me if this was the First Annual Great Pearland Egg Drop, this was the first. Whether or not it's annual will be determined later.
What happened? We gave a gift to the community. Free...absolutely no strings attached. We invited them to join us to celebrate Easter in one of our 4 services, but we gave. At Easter, when we celebrated the greatest gift ever that was freely given to us with no strings attached, what else could we do, but give freely in return?
We really didn't have any idea what to expect. I mean, we'd never done this before. Initially, we thought if 1,000 people showed up it would be a success. Then we reassessed and revised our expectations. We hoped for 1500.
I don't know how many people showed up yesterday. I know that after the parking team had parked 5000 cars they quit counting. I know that we caused such a traffic jam in Pearland that the Pearland PD had to dispatch 5 units to handle the traffic backups we caused for miles. (sorry!) I know there were people everywhere.
There were bleeps and blunders and things we would do differently. Like I told the guy from the Chronicle when he asked me if this was the First Annual Great Pearland Egg Drop, this was the first. Whether or not it's annual will be determined later.
What happened? We gave a gift to the community. Free...absolutely no strings attached. We invited them to join us to celebrate Easter in one of our 4 services, but we gave. At Easter, when we celebrated the greatest gift ever that was freely given to us with no strings attached, what else could we do, but give freely in return?
P-Tiddy -
ReplyDeleteFor every upset grumbler there was an elated parent or child who had a great time. I heard lots of feedback on both ends and think that as a first year event that had numbers turn out as if it was a 10 year event - it was a success. So, hah - there is some words of encouragement from someone who cares and is beaming with pride over her God and her church!
It was a great idea, in theory. And yeah, I'm sure there were tons of people who were pleased. But for those of us who were separated from our children because of a lack of planning, ask us how the event will be remembered. It's hard for me to believe that a large turnout wasn't expected. When I was in Webster, I saw an advertisement for it. If this IS to be an annual event, please make safety your number one priority, and secondly concentrate on some organization.
ReplyDeletePastor Tom,
ReplyDeleteAfter all of the feedback i received, both positive and negative (and both sides equally passionate) I wrote a post on my blog about what I think. I hope it sums it up accurately, but feel free to comment on what you think about it! Love my church and my Pastor and the God that we serve!
Thanks to all of the folks who worked so hard to make this event possible. It is so easy for some people to find all the things that went wrong sometimes. How about thanks for the hard work and the free water, tea, popcorn, cotton candy, bouncers, face painting, helicopter, etc...!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
I had to come back to this post to see if anyone else had commented on their experience, and I see in your previous post another parent did. I'm actually quite shocked that the above commenter would pretty much dismiss parents' VALID concerns over safety issues as people looking "to find all the things that went wrong". Yeah, I'd say children being trampled and parents looking for their children for 10+ minutes something that went wrong! Oh, but there was the free water, tea, popcorn, etc. That makes it all better. Ask any of the parents or children whose safety was compromised what they would rather have, the free food or their safety. I think all people are looking for here is for someone to say "Yeah, we messed up, we will address those issues next time" not "Well, you should have been grateful for the free stuff."
ReplyDeleteYou comments are completely valid. We were not prepared for 20,000 people. I adamantly admit it. We just didn't know. It was our first time and we hoped for 5,ooo. I believe we were greatly prepared for that number. Just not for 20,000. I understand you said we should have expected that amount, but how? The fun and the safety of the children is our only priority. I am very, very sorry that you were seperated from your child and we will work harder in the future to make this event excellent. Thank you for your input.
ReplyDelete