Ground-breaking 45,000 Easter-egg drop event declares “We Heart Ottawa”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

There are few times our culture sets aside their shield of secularism and waltzes into a church. One local group plans to break through cultural walls with an unprecedented Easter-egg hunt that has the city talking.

We Heart Ottawa is the outreach brand for a local church called Kingdom Culture, pastored by Shawn and Michelle Gabie. They booked the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum and rented a helicopter to drop 45,000 Easter eggs at a free family event on Saturday, April 15, 2017.

“In 10 days, just through social media, we had 5,500 people register online,” Shawn Gabie states. “We had to shut down registration. We didn’t expect that to happen. We thought we would have a couple thousand people show up, registering up until the last week.”

The surge of interest shocked city officials. Gabie says they had to get several new permits and it became a huge leap of faith.

“I feel like this will shift paradigms of what church looks like and what other churches feel like they are capable of.”

“Even the city said it is unusual how fast people responded. This is definitely one of those events where we are in over our head. It’s a step of radical faith, but I believe big steps make big breakthroughs. It is going to be one of those awe moments in Ottawa.”

We Heart Ottawa planned the event to play off the Canada 150 celebrations and to bless the city. They wanted to do something fun for families, open to everyone, and something completely unprecedented. While there have been egg drops in Canada, the largest dropped around 5,000 eggs; nowhere near the 45,000 Gabie’s team plans.

“We have three different drops, with four age categories. One of the age categories, for 0 to 2-year-olds we will already have the eggs planted. Then we have three different drops for ages 3 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 12. We also have a whole kids activity area and food vendors.”

“If we can create life and expectation, it may inspire people to think about what they can do for their city.”

Because We Heart Ottawa doesn’t advertise that it is a church brand, they managed to recruit 15 different sponsors. In addition to the drop they will have carnival games, bouncy castles, and a princess meet and greet on site. They also have 3,000 eggs with vouchers for special prizes—everything from chocolate Camino Easter bunnies to memberships for Star Gymnastics and a few big surprises.

“I feel like this will shift paradigms of what church looks like and what other churches feel like they are capable of,” says Matt Campbell, one of the organizers. “We will push the envelope of going big, going outside the idea of having a barbecue on the church grounds.”

The event won’t have an overt gospel presentation and the website has no mention of church, but the group believes this event will have a powerful impact in the city. Part of that, Campbell says, is simply by going outside the box of fun and generous activities in Ottawa.

“Easter is a time where people who never come to church will come.”

“If we can create life and expectation, it may inspire people to think about what they can do for their city. What can I do for the 2000 homeless people living in my city? What can I do to change the life of my boss?”

Every family will also get a welcome bag with coupons from the sponsors—the biggest of which is Kingdom Culture.

“Everybody who comes will get an invite to our Easter service, which is the next day,” says Gabie. “Easter is a time where people who never come to church will come. We will also have teams there wearing We Heart Ottawa hoodies and equipped to get into those conversations.

“It won’t have a traditional time where you get behind a mic and preach the gospel, but the preaching of the gospel will happen through conversations throughout the day and the day after. It’s going to create a massive amount of ministry moments.”