Human Easter Hunt

Overview

The Human Easter Hunt is a fast paced outreach that motivates students to invite their friends. Instead of searching for Easter eggs, teams search for people who match categories on a point sheet. Students text friends, meet up with them, and bring them back to the event location to earn points. The more friends they bring who match the categories, the more points their team earns.

When everyone returns, the group gathers for snacks, a fun game, a student testimony, and a short Easter message that explains the gospel. Because the activity naturally involves inviting friends, it often results in many students attending who have never come before.

This outreach should take place outside school hours.

Leader Prep Checklist

Choose the event location, house, church, or meeting space
Create the point sheet
Prepare snacks and drinks
Recruit adult drivers if needed
Prepare a student testimony
Prepare a short Easter message with gospel message
Print comment cards and bring pens
Choose a prize for the winning team

Outreach Tips

Empower student leaders to help design the categories and lead teams.
Encourage students to text friends ahead of time and arrange meet ups so people can easily join the hunt.
Make safety a priority by encouraging adult drivers and minimizing unnecessary driving.
Remind teams that the goal is not just earning points but bringing as many friends as possible back to the meeting.
Offer a fun prize like gift cards, snacks, or a small trophy for the winning team.
Make sure the meeting time is clearly communicated so everyone knows when to return.
Keep the meeting portion short and engaging so guests feel comfortable staying.

Students are far more likely to invite their friends to something interactive and fun than to a traditional meeting.

Sample Outreach Schedule

6:45 pm -Gather students, explain the rules, and divide into teams.
7:00 pm – Human Easter Hunt begins.
8:15 pm – Teams return to the meeting location and turn in their score sheets, then hang out, eat snacks, and talk with their friends as the scores are counted and people arrive. You may also want to have a fun game everyone can play while they wait.
8:25 pm – Fun upfront game to get everyone laughing and engaged.
8:30 pm – Student testimony.
8:35 pm – Short Easter message and gospel explanation.
8:45 pm – Comment cards and refreshments.

Example Point Sheet Categories

Example categories might include:

A varsity athlete
Someone wearing Crocs
A student with dyed hair
Someone in drama club
Someone who can do a TikTok dance’
Someone taller than six feet
A pair of twins

You can create your own list based on your school culture.

Download a printable point sheet here

Activity or Game Explanation

As teams begin returning, have a clear plan for what happens next so guests feel comfortable and engaged. First, collect the score sheets and begin tallying points. While leaders count the scores, allow students to grab snacks and hang out with the friends they brought. This is also a great time to play music and allow students to mingle. Some groups choose to have a simple Easter themed activity available, such as a quick Easter egg hunt around the room or campus area.

After most teams have returned, gather everyone together and start a fun upfront game that everyone can watch or participate in. This helps guests relax and creates a fun atmosphere before the testimony and message.

Once the game ends, briefly celebrate the winning team and transition into the testimony and Easter message.

Upfront Game

Start a fun game that everyone can watch or participate in. The goal is to help guests relax and laugh.

Possible Games

Egg Toss
Pairs toss a plastic egg and step farther apart each round.

Marshmallow Toss
Partners try to catch marshmallows in a cup.

Egg Stack Challenge
Students race to stack plastic eggs.

After the game, briefly announce the Human Easter Hunt winning team.

Because the activity naturally involves inviting friends, it often results in many students showing up who have never attended before.

Short Talk and Gospel Transition

After the teams return, gather everyone together and celebrate the teams that brought the most people. Then transition into a short Easter message. You might say something like:

“Tonight you spent the evening searching for people who matched the list on your sheet. In a way, Easter is about searching too. People spend their lives searching for meaning, purpose, and hope.”

“Sometimes when people do Easter egg hunts there is a golden egg hidden somewhere. It is the one everyone hopes to find because it contains the best prize.”

“In life we search for many things, but Easter points us to the one place meaning and hope are truly found. The message of Easter is that Jesus died for our sins and rose again so we could have a relationship with God.”

Briefly explain the gospel and invite students to begin a relationship with Jesus or talk with a leader afterward.

Comment Cards

Comment cards help identify students who want to learn more about Jesus or stay connected with your group. Ask everyone to take a minute to fill one out before the meeting ends.

Ready to Print Commend Card
Editable Comment Card

After the Event

Follow up with students within 24 to 48 hours. A simple text thanking them for coming is a great start.
Invite interested students to a Bible study or your next gathering.
Invite any student who indicated a decision for Christ to a follow-up meeting to help them take their next steps with Christ
Make sure someone connects personally with students who indicated spiritual interest on their comment cards.

Next Step

Talk with your student leaders about running a Human Easter Hunt, choose a date and location, and start building your point list together.

Starting Spiritual Conversations

Bringing up spiritual topics can be hard, but it’s one of the most important steps in reaching your friends. If no one starts the conversation, most students will never talk about their faith.

Solarium: A deck of picture cards to help you start conversations about life and God.

Sharing Your Testimony

Your story matters. Sharing what God has done in your life can open hearts and help others realize that faith is personal and real.

How to Share Your Story (article): A step-by-step guide to help you talk about how Jesus has changed your life.

Sharing Your Faith

The gospel is powerful and your friends need to hear it. Learning how to clearly explain the message of Jesus is a huge step in making your faith your own and helping others follow Him.

How to Share the Gospel (article): a step-by-step guide to help you share the gospel with a friend.
Connecting with God Booklet: A short, simple booklet you can read through with a friend to explain how they can know Christ.
The Four Wristband: A wearable tool with four simple symbols to help you talk about God’s love and how to receive Christ.
GodTools App: A free app with interactive ways to share your faith in different languages and styles.

“You don’t have to be perfect to start reaching your school.”

Following Up a New Believer

When someone accepts Christ, they need help knowing what to do next. Helping a new believer grow in their faith is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Thrive Studies App: Includes the START series—four Bible studies for new believers.

Leading a Small Group

Small groups are a powerful way to build community and help students grow. If you can lead a good conversation, you can lead a small group.

Thrive Studies App: Includes dozens of studies on real-life topics and built-in leader training.

Campus Ministry Training

Reaching students on your campus is one of the most strategic ways to share your faith. Learning a few simple principles can help you start conversations, gather students, and take steps toward building a movement at your school.

Campus Training Videos – Short, practical videos to help you learn how to reach students on your high school campus. These eight trainings cover key topics like meeting students, starting conversations, sharing your faith, and taking simple steps to build a movement.

Other helpful tools

Everystudent.com: articles to help students learn about faith
Gotothecampus.com: ministry training and tools to help you grow your ministry

Next Step

Pick one tool and take a step this week to start a conversation or gather a few friends.

Ask a Coach – Tips from an Expert

Starting a ministry on your campus is an exciting step, but it can also raise a lot of questions. What should you do first? How do you find students who are interested? What if your group is small or things do not go the way you expected?

This is where a coach can help. A campus ministry coach is someone who has experience helping students and leaders start and grow ministries on high school campuses. They listen to what you are facing, help you think through wise next steps, and connect you with helpful tools and resources along the way.

Throughout the Reach Your School Playbook, you will see short insights from coaches who have spent years helping students reach their campuses. This page gathers more of those tips in one place so you can learn from their experience and keep moving forward.

Below are practical coaching tips from leaders who have walked this road before. As you read, look for what applies to your situation right now and take your next step. You can get your own coach by emailing us at coachingcenter@cru.org. We’d love to help.

Starting a ministry on your campus can feel overwhelming, but you do not have to figure it out alone.

Coaching Tips

Ask a few non-Christian friends how they would respond to your ideas, then process those same questions with Christian friends to sharpen your thinking.

Evangelism is the engine of your ministry, and helping students influence others is how you build future leaders.

You don’t have to figure this out alone, there are people with experience who would love to help you gather students and get the word out.

You have rights on campus, learn them, then live them out with confidence.

Many people are looking for something bigger than themselves, so give them a vision worth joining.

You may be walking past someone God is preparing, start a conversation and see what He does.

Pray Scripture, if God says it, you can pray it, and keep prayers short so more people can participate.

Invite a coach to join your team early, it will help you move faster and avoid common mistakes.

Use the tools available to you, there are helpful resources for sponsors, leaders, and teams if you ask.

When meeting with school leaders, bring others with you so it’s clear you’re building something together.

Be curious, kind, helpful, and bold, those four traits open doors.

Work with your school, not against it, staff can often help you more than you expect.

Teams help you reach more people, save time, and build momentum.

If your school allows non-curricular clubs, they must allow a Christian club too.

Use tools and visuals that help people remember and apply what they learn.

Create environments people actually want to be part of, whether on campus or off.

Use social media, simple graphics, and personal invites, everyone plays a role in getting the word out.

Have a clear process for identifying and developing student leaders.

Work within school expectations for roles, but organize your team in a way that actually helps you function.

Start outreach where you already have relationships, teams, clubs, and shared interests.

Use response cards or forms to follow up, gather feedback, and invite people into next steps.

If God is nudging you to take a step, go for it, but bring others with you.

Parents can be powerful allies, don’t be afraid to involve them.

Always have a next step ready so you can invite people while they’re still engaged.

Next Step

Do you have any questions for our coaches? If so, ask your question here, or request a coach for your ministry by emailing us at coachingcenter@cru.org!