Vacation Bible School

In February I was asked to step in as the co-coordinator for VBS. It sounds like a big job but because of the organization from previous years and the amazing volunteers we had in key positions, my job was pretty easy :-)

My biggest job was organizing all of the adult volunteers and helping get ready for the week by working on decorations and supplies. There were many hours spent on painting/drawing/cutting to create an incredible set in the sanctuary and precious decorations to be hung all around the church.

The theme this year was High Seas so everything was based on a "pirates ship" and all the animals and accessories that go with it.

Our VBS is offered for children finishing Kindergarten through finishing 5th grade. If you volunteer, your nursery/preschool kids can come for free! The preschool program is a mini-version of the real thing. I am truly amazed at how God works on even these little ones. It is worth helping out for the week just so the kids can have this experience.

Each morning the kids would meet in the sanctuary in their crews with their leaders. The drama team would put on a skit based on the bible point for the day. This group practiced many hours before the week of VBS and it showed. They are fabulous actors and they really got the kids attention.
A favorite of the skits was the parrot. He would spend the rest of the morning walking around entertaining the kids. He put up with A LOT from everyone throughout the week but he was a trooper. He was met with tons of high-five's from the older kids and plenty of tears from the little ones.

During opening time while the kids were singing songs and Pastor Mike was giving a short inspirational talk, we would pull out the volunteers to circle up for pray time. This was something new we did this year that turned out to be a powerful couple of minutes with all of the people that worked so hard to make VBS a success.

After opening, the crews would break off and go with their leaders to different stations. This is music time. The VBS CD is one that we listen to quite often in the car. The kids can do all the hand motions with most of the songs. Even Carter shouts out a few of the key words.

Games was run by Pastor Ray who was definitely a favorite of the kids. He didn't really stick to the "curriculum" but what he did was not only fun and entertaining for the kids but also meaningful.

Each snack went along with the bible point for the day. Nothing is better than M&M's, ice cream, pie filling and all sorts of goodies that can be related to God's word. A memorable moment from behind the scenes was watching the church interns search all around Houston and make blue jello for 600 kids (no Cisco does not sell individual blue jello cups.) Each day the kids were asked to go home each night and find a "God sighting" they could share with their crew the next day. In crafts, the crews would write down their "God sightings" on a sticker. (Laurel is a 3 year old girl at our church who has cancer. They found this horrible news out 12 days after their second child was born in February.)

Then they put the sticker on...

..a map. This map showed the kids that God's work is being done all over the world. The map was the entire size of one wall in our fellowship hall and was completely covered with "God sightings" by the end of the week.
One of the crafts was to tie together these blankets. Each crew put together a blanket to be donated to a local children's home.
Thursday night Pastor Mike made delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough that some of the volunteers baked on Friday morning. As a part of the service projects the 5th graders did throughout the week, we had them pass out warm cookies to each of the volunteers. Is there anything better than fresh, warm cookies to say how much we appreciated all the help?Our mission project for the week was to raise money to send kids to Frontier camp. If the kids met the specified goal by Friday then we would "whale snot" Mr. Beaker who is another kid favorite because he walks around all week being silly and having lots of fun. As you can
see, we exceeded our goal!!!

I had an incredible week. It is indescribable to walk into a sanctuary filled with almost 600 kids and 100 volunteers singing praises to our Lord.. I was overwhelmed at how smoothly everything ran the entire week thanks to everyone coming together for one cause.

The #1 reason I love VBS: The other day I overheard Aubrey and Emery telling Lily not to be scared/worried about something because "God is always with you." That was one of the bible points from the week.