Submitted by Emily Chisolm, member of Crossett United Methodist Church
For the past several years, every Fall, the United Women in Faith at First United Methodist Church of Crossett would have a “foodless food fair” to raise money for our local missions. Instead of our UWF members donating the amount of money it would cost to cook something if we did have a food fair, we did something new… an Escape Room.
What started as a fundraising idea for our local missions, using empty rooms in our church became truly a chance to do what all Christians are charged to do…make disciples of Jesus Christ. We hoped opening our doors and showing radical hospitality would create a relationship with the strangers we call neighbors. The age-old preconception, and unfortunately sometimes the truth, that Christians are judgmental and stuffy, was hopefully shattered for those who walked in our door. I am optimistic that extending a hand and offering sincere conversation can lead to a relationship with our guests, whether short or long-term. And showing the love of Christ to them is more important than any money we could raise.
My mom, Nicole Chisholm, and I had the idea. We were talking about trying new things at church that would bring some excitement and encourage younger people to get involved. It’s a funny story, though: another member, Justin Reed, had mentioned having an escape room in our recently vacated daycare wing to our pastor’s wife, Rhonda Daniels. The night I presented the idea to the UWF Night Circle, Rhonda told us Justin had the same idea. So before we went any further, I texted Justin to make sure he was okay with us pursuing creating an escape room for UWF. His hilarious response was, “Absolutely! Jesus will probably come back before we get started on it!”
The United Women in Faith made it a reality. However, it was truly a church-wide effort. We needed some muscle to move furniture, donations, and “testers,” so almost every active church member had a hand in the escape room.
The theme was “The Vanished Scouts,” so the escape room was staged to resemble a Boy Scout Hut.
Because this was a fundraiser, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money. For years, a local Boy Scout chapter met at our church. When they combined with another troop in town, they left a lot of their stuff. So we raided our “bus barn” (storage) and pulled their scouting stuff: workbooks, posters, chests, grills, life jackets, tents, etc. Once the theme/plot was decided, the next step was coming up with the clues and puzzles for people to solve to “escape.” Of course, like any event, we also had to advertise and figure out the logistics.
We made this clear to our patrons and even had a bulletin board made by Kay Johnson and Pat Hopper as they walked in, showing them what they were supporting. We contribute money to the Greater Crossett Area Food Panty, Compassion Ministries (a Crossett-based outreach—they work with the Salvation Army, Angel Tree, and any local needs), Monticello Boys Home, UAM Wesley Foundation, and Camp Aldersgate.
I would say it was a HUGE success!! We raised over $700. We met new people, made new friends, and had some fun! The only hiccup we had was that one of the locks in the room broke. Thankfully, we had backups.
As I explained to my church family, “An escape room is not dangerous or scandalous.” An escape room is a fun game where a group of people are “locked” in a room and have to solve a series of puzzles within a certain amount of time to accomplish a goal, typically finding the key to unlock the room.
Due to the limited number of people who could fit in a room and the time limit of one hour to “escape”, customers had to book a specific time slot. We used a free resource, signupgenius.com, where people could select the date and time they wanted to participate. We posted the information and signup genius link to our church’s Facebook.
Our escape took place over two days: Friday, February 9th, and Saturday, February 10th. We offered four time slots on Friday, with the first starting at 4 p.m. and the last ending at 9:30 p.m. On Saturday, we offered six time slots, with the first starting at 11:30 a.m. and the last ending at 8:00 p.m.
We had 30 minutes between groups so we could reset the escape room. You basically have to “trash” the room to find everything you need to “escape.” First-time escape room participants are so cautious about moving things. We had to encourage a few to open drawers, look in cabinets, etc.
Once they solved their way out or the timer ran out, the groups were escorted back to the waiting room, where we took their picture in front of a beautiful backdrop hand-painted by member Sarah Stagg. We also posted their escape time and group name on a bulletin board.
The group then left, and our volunteers spent the time before the next group resetting the escape room.
One of the most memorable comments to me was, “Out of the 8 escape rooms I’ve ever done, this one is in my top 3.” As an amateur, I was very flattered.
We have talked about opening it back up when other events are going on in Crossett, like the Wiggins Cabin Festival. We have also already scheduled another church’s youth group to come. We have told people to contact us if they want to come, and we can schedule something just for them.
