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God has wired me to dream big when it comes to brainstorming ministry events. When it gets to the point where the response from fellow brainstormers is usually “but how could we ever pull that off,” I know we’re right where he wants us to be.

Case in point, the pre-Easter ministry event we held this past weekend at all of The Chapel campuses, Kids Day. This was the second annual Kids Day, but we were looking for a bigger draw than last year — the remarkable factor.

“Gibby” from iCarly?

For the past year or so my wife and I, and our two year old, have been watching Nickelodeon’s iCarly. About eight months ago, just by happenstance, I found out Noah Munck (Gibby) is a professing Christian. God immediately laid it on my heart we needed to bring that guy to Chicago for Kids Day.

The Ask

After a little more digging I found out Noah’s dad, Greg, is the Executive Pastor at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills, CA. I got in touch with Greg, and he was very gracious we wanted Noah to help with a Kingdom event. (Found out later this was Noah’s first big public meet and greet, etc. It’s really cool that it got to be for ministry!)

Greg had Noah’s agent get in touch with me, and we worked out all of the details and sealed the deal.

Testimony

Someone at each campus location held a 15 minute Q and A session with Noah. The questions were fun and eventually funneled down to a chance for him to share his testimony and how being a Christian influences his work.

We got great feedback from this. One mother said, “My kids and so many of their friends were really inspired by ‘Gibby’s’ story.”

Meet and Greet

After each Q and A, Noah signed autographs (on glossies we had printed with his website and our church logo and website) and had photos made with kids and adults alike.

Indoor Carnival

Noah’s appearance was just one part of Kids Day. Another big draw was the free indoor carnival. Each campus had several inflatables in the worship area, games, reptile petting, cotton candy, and popcorn. Kids were given passports to have stamped at each activity station. The first 100 to fill up their card got a free t-shirt.

Promotion

Here are the various ways we got the word out about Kids Day.

• Word-of-mouth
• Corporate sponsors hung posters and gave away flyers.
• Websites made for Kids Day at each campus:  Example: http://www.libertyvillekidsday.com. They include one-click options for sharing on Facebook and Twitter, and email a friend.
• Facebook ads for each Kids Day website.
• We got into most of the school districts. This meant we were able to put a rave card in every child’s hand. Some schools only have a “digital backpack,” so our event was listed on their website. (We were denied access to a few also.)
• Town websites posted Kids Day on their community calendars.
• Newspaper event listings in print and online.
• We got in touch with all of the local mommy blogs and mommy groups (some through meetup.com).
• Noah gave it love on his twitter account.

The numbers…

It was a great day all around. Noah is a cool kid with a huge heart for ministry. His parents were awesome too.

Across all five campuses, and void of “pastor math,” here are some key numbers from Kids Day. Not bad considering it snowed more than two inches the morning of.

• 4,000 people in attendance including children, students, and adults.
• Over 2,000 attenders who weren’t Chapel regulars.
• Over 2,000 clicks from Facebook ads.
• Noah signed approx. 1,500 autographs.

Extra Goodness

• Noah taped the audiences for the Kids Choice Awards while he was here — See it on YouTube.
• Sample Poster from our Libertyville Campus. (The look was created by Lauren Murrell, Eric’s very talented wife!)
• Banner at the Barrington campus
• Kids Day iMix on iTunes.
• Several folks posted their experiences to YouTube including this person who attended the Lake Zurich event.