Will it be worth it?
Part of our culture at TXC is doing all we can to connect into the greater culture of the community. One of the ways we do this is by being involved in community events. This gives us a chance to rub shoulders with other people who are also a part of the same community, but we may not have had the opportunity to meet them otherwise.
Yesterday we were involved in the Celebration of Community. And to be honest, we weren't sure if we were going to do it again next year. This was completely an experiment. We spent enough money that we really don't have in order to make being at our booth a great experience. I was a little nervous - afterall, who would even want to come to a church booth (maybe it helped that people had to ask what we were cause church is nowhere in our name!) But we pushed ahead and decided that the risk was worth taking.
We ended up getting a money spot for our booth (it pays off to show up early I found out!) It was in a high traffic location and we were all by ourself. The potential to have a really boring booth that people would probably equate to the vibe of our church was high, so we tried to make the whole thing as interactive as we could for this year. Some of the experiment included:
1. -- Thousands of pieces of candy and chocolate in a massive bowl for people to take for free. The kids absolutely loved this. We had so much candy that we were telling kids "You can only take 5!" Their parents started to laugh and we would say "No...serious - take 5!" What do you think the parents did? That's right! "Okay...take 5!" What was funny was people's reaction to the word "Free!" They were asking, "What do I have to do for the candy?" What do you have to do? Huh? So we would play along and ask them to do some Criss Angel stuff and totally confuse them...little did they know, their confusion was enough for us to want them to take some free candy :)
2. -- A fish pond for kids to "go fishing" (Yep...the cheesy carnival type game with the "fish" attaching high end toys to the clip (a.k.a big sweaty guy attaching cheap little toys to fishing rod...okay...I'm joking about the cheap little toys) This was a huge hit! Dave, Charlie and their grade 1 class weren't too sure about their paintjob on the high class cardboard "pond" that they created, but in the end, no one cared! We had close to 600 toys and we got rid of all of them! Towards the end of the day, a lady came up to our booth and said "Do you realize that your booth is the talk of the park? The kids are so a happy!" Now I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it sure is nice to hear...makes you wanna give 'er even more...well not really cause I was spent by the end, but it makes everything you've done up until then worthwhile.
3. -- 2 free movie tickets to SilverCity every hour, on the hour. I can't take credit for the first two ideas - that would be props to Charlene. But this one was one of those experiments that paid off. Originally it was just two movie tickets but then I thought it would be cool to get people coming back to our booth every hour...and if we gave away two movie passes they would for sure come back...Sure enough...they did. Every hour, we would have tons of people put their name in the draw. And on the hour, they would all come back, hang around our booth, waiting for their name to be called. I think this created a "Hey what's going on over there? It MUST be cool!" vibe about our table.
4. -- Church @ the movies postcards and Sneak Peek cd's. This was just to get our information into the hands of everyone. This went really well and people seemed happy to take the cd. If they watch it, I guess we'll never know! However...today, we had one of the families that came to our table show up at our Worship Gathering. And to me, that made yesterday all worth it. she said they'll be back next week so I'm stoked about that!
All in all, the day was incredible. We are already dreaming about what next year will look like. We're going to add some more things to the mix that will help us connect with people easier...make it easier for people to find our table.
After yesterday, it was just confirmed in me even more that we are in the right place at the right time. I really do love this city. It was also nice to recently hear that Donovan is moving to Mission and Dave and Charlene are going to be moving here in the near future as well. I'm stoked...we are only getting started!
Like I said before...we are fools...because we really do believe that God is leading us to do something that others will think cannot be done...I guess the God that I follow is also bigger than their opinion! :)
Yesterday we were involved in the Celebration of Community. And to be honest, we weren't sure if we were going to do it again next year. This was completely an experiment. We spent enough money that we really don't have in order to make being at our booth a great experience. I was a little nervous - afterall, who would even want to come to a church booth (maybe it helped that people had to ask what we were cause church is nowhere in our name!) But we pushed ahead and decided that the risk was worth taking.
We ended up getting a money spot for our booth (it pays off to show up early I found out!) It was in a high traffic location and we were all by ourself. The potential to have a really boring booth that people would probably equate to the vibe of our church was high, so we tried to make the whole thing as interactive as we could for this year. Some of the experiment included:
1. -- Thousands of pieces of candy and chocolate in a massive bowl for people to take for free. The kids absolutely loved this. We had so much candy that we were telling kids "You can only take 5!" Their parents started to laugh and we would say "No...serious - take 5!" What do you think the parents did? That's right! "Okay...take 5!" What was funny was people's reaction to the word "Free!" They were asking, "What do I have to do for the candy?" What do you have to do? Huh? So we would play along and ask them to do some Criss Angel stuff and totally confuse them...little did they know, their confusion was enough for us to want them to take some free candy :)
2. -- A fish pond for kids to "go fishing" (Yep...the cheesy carnival type game with the "fish" attaching high end toys to the clip (a.k.a big sweaty guy attaching cheap little toys to fishing rod...okay...I'm joking about the cheap little toys) This was a huge hit! Dave, Charlie and their grade 1 class weren't too sure about their paintjob on the high class cardboard "pond" that they created, but in the end, no one cared! We had close to 600 toys and we got rid of all of them! Towards the end of the day, a lady came up to our booth and said "Do you realize that your booth is the talk of the park? The kids are so a happy!" Now I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it sure is nice to hear...makes you wanna give 'er even more...well not really cause I was spent by the end, but it makes everything you've done up until then worthwhile.
3. -- 2 free movie tickets to SilverCity every hour, on the hour. I can't take credit for the first two ideas - that would be props to Charlene. But this one was one of those experiments that paid off. Originally it was just two movie tickets but then I thought it would be cool to get people coming back to our booth every hour...and if we gave away two movie passes they would for sure come back...Sure enough...they did. Every hour, we would have tons of people put their name in the draw. And on the hour, they would all come back, hang around our booth, waiting for their name to be called. I think this created a "Hey what's going on over there? It MUST be cool!" vibe about our table.
4. -- Church @ the movies postcards and Sneak Peek cd's. This was just to get our information into the hands of everyone. This went really well and people seemed happy to take the cd. If they watch it, I guess we'll never know! However...today, we had one of the families that came to our table show up at our Worship Gathering. And to me, that made yesterday all worth it. she said they'll be back next week so I'm stoked about that!
All in all, the day was incredible. We are already dreaming about what next year will look like. We're going to add some more things to the mix that will help us connect with people easier...make it easier for people to find our table.
After yesterday, it was just confirmed in me even more that we are in the right place at the right time. I really do love this city. It was also nice to recently hear that Donovan is moving to Mission and Dave and Charlene are going to be moving here in the near future as well. I'm stoked...we are only getting started!
Like I said before...we are fools...because we really do believe that God is leading us to do something that others will think cannot be done...I guess the God that I follow is also bigger than their opinion! :)
