A pastor defended the idea of holding multiple Easter Egg drops during the Holy Week as a way to reach people.
The Christian Post reported the 7 Hills Church, a multisite church based in Kentucky, held its annual Easter Egg Drops in celebration of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Based on the report, approximately 200,000 easter eggs were dropped in multiple locations of the congregation in which nearly 3,000 children participated and 700 volunteers helped in organizing the event.
Kyle Waid, an associate pastor, "Every year, 7 Hills Church tries to make fun Easter memories for families. Over the years, we've dropped eggs out of hot air balloons, had professional skydivers, fireworks, and even shot people out of cannons."
Despite Easter Egg Hunts being a secular practice, Waid quoted 1 Corinthians 9:22 to support the idea of churches holding the Easter event. As Paul wrote, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."
"Our church carries that same mission. We have become all things to all people with the same goal as Paul: that someone would receive the message of Jesus," Waid said. "The egg hunt is an afterthought. The goal is to reach people."
"Following every Easter service, we hand out admission tickets to the egg hunt. We hope that through the 10 minutes of hunting eggs, families can create a fun memory together. It's our prayer that through the hour and 15-minute service, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, sisters, and brothers can find a forever friend in Jesus."
In addition, Waid pointed out that 7 Hills Church recorded "almost 500 salvations" during Easter weekend. He also noted that their Lead Pastor Marcus Mecum "has always invested heavily in the next generation, including making church for children fun and engaging."
According to a local news outlet, the church has been doing extreme egg hunts like this one for the last several years. In this year's Helicopter Egg drops, dozens of families were dressed in their Easter best. After the church's service, the kids patiently lined up and waited for the helicopter to drop and release thousands of eggs from the sky.
Felicia Hubbard told WLWT News that she raced to Florence Yall's baseball stadium with her daughters, Felicity and Finley to pick up candies and treats dropped from 500 feet above the field. "They were so excited when they saw the Helicopter drop all the eggs and the Easter bunny," she said.
Luke Dibenedetto of 7 Hills Church also said the unique Easter drop matched the church's mission. "We believe that church is so much more than what happens inside of these four walls of this church," he said.
"You look around the world, there are problems everywhere. We don't want to contribute to the problems of the world. Instead of shouting what's wrong, we want to proclaim the solution. That solution, on this sunny spring day, might be found with laughter dressed in pastels and smiles. The spirit of renewal is packed tight in a plastic egg dropping from the sky like hope from generation to generation," he continued.
