GOSHEN —
The rain held off Sunday morning for Father’s Day, but that didn’t keep a group of men from getting soaked at Grace Community Church.
DadFest 2011 pitted dad against dad in a series of five challenges — all set in a pond near the church.
As the competitors fought to be among the last two, about 1,800 people sat pondside clapping, laughing and egging on the men. Directing the challenges from a pontoon in the middle of the pond were a smiling pastoral staff, including Pastor Jim Brown, worship pastor Jeremiah Olson and Next Gen pastor Jeremy Byng.
After having such a successful DadFest last year, Olson said, "We knew we were going to be doing DadFest again in one way or another." But the staff knew they couldn’t recreate last year, so they needed a new idea.
"We decided to go a different route," Olson said. "We had a crazy idea of doing it around the pond. We questioned whether we could pull it off or not."
Pull it off they did.
The day started with an 8 a.m. motorcycle ride and the Christian Motorcycle Association joined in.
And then instead of the usual three morning services, the whole church and guests set up chairs around the pond just outside Grace.
As Pastor Brown pointed out that morning, the idea of preaching from a boat is not an original idea — Jesus did it.
But first, it was time for the men to get wet.
Dads lined up on one side of the pond and when released, raced to the other side to grab an inflatable frog. Those who nabbed a frog got to move to the second challenge.
Competitors had to fight to the finish for five inner tubes. The two four-man winning teams moved on to the next heat — a canoe race. Both canoes got water logged and had to be dragged from shore to shore by the teams.
The winning four-man team then faced each other. They had to run into the middle of the pond to grab a greased watermelon, take it to the other shore and then smash it with a mallet.
The first two to finish the task headed to the final challenge — the platform joust.
Olson explained that a couple of 50-gallon drums were submerged in the pond. Platforms were placed on top and the men were given long jousts. The two finishers, Kevin Castetter and Mike Turner, had to try to knock each other into the pond two out of three times. Castetter won.
What was the prize? "A really ugly deer mount," Olson said.
"There’s something about adventure that appeals to guys," Olson said in explaining why so much action for DadFest. "We tried to put in a little danger and adventure."
Other prizes won during DadFest didn’t require nearly as much testosterone — just a ticket.
Prizes included various camping and fishing gear, a kayak, a canoe, a side-by-side gas and charcoal grill, gift cards to Hoosier Harley Davidson, a shotgun and a cooler of meat.
But the biggest prize of the day wasn’t anything that could be bought.
After the DadFest competition and after Pastor Brown gave his message on being a father and how it’s never too late to take the mantle — many men made a commitment to be better dads.
"It was an absolute blast," Olson said. "It was just so different. It was a day of sunshine and breeze and hearing the birds and dancing around the pond and worship time — throwing off all the typical constraints and enjoying it."
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