VBS at Parma Heights Baptist Church Rocks!

I always enjoy spending my vacation helping with Vacation Bible School at Parma Heights Baptist Church because it is so much fun, and so BIG, and so well organized!  Once again, we had another fantastic week and kudos to our two summer interns, Ben and Camilla, who helped with so much to make it great for the children.  Thanks to them (and the help of the youth group), the church hallways were transformed into what looked like a deep sea aquarium.

Not only did they head up planning all the decorations, but they also took on the job of scientists, conducting amazing experiments in our lab for grades 4-6.  We had over 800 children attend through the week and over 180 workers each day.  The children brought in $1,780 for the Chain of Love orphanage in Brazil and $1,134 worth of hygiene products for our youth to take with them on their missions trip next week to assist Kids.inc in Indianapolis. 

I was especially blessed helping in the fourth grade group by being a small group leader of nine very energetic, enthusiastic and cooperative boys.  In our small group time, we help the kids memorize the daily verses, review the Bible story and emphasize personal application.  The verses were not the same ones we usually have that so many are already familiar with so I was very pleased that all the boys in my group made an effort to learn them each day.  Even new ones who came on Tuesday, also said Monday's verse to help our team stay in first place.

Two highlights for me in our small group time was when one of the boys said he wanted to pray to receive Jesus as his Savior and I was able to pray with him one on one.  It is not enough to just know that God loves us and Jesus died in our place to save us from the punishment we deserve for our sins.  Each one must accept his gift of eternal life by asking forgiveness, and trusting in Jesus as his/her personal Savior, thanking him for dying for them and be willing to live for him by obeying his word with God's help.

The second highlight was when we applied Psalm 28:7 in our small group by asking the Lord to help us all memorize that verse which is:  

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.  My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

When I first saw it, I thought the boys won't be able to do it and that's exactly how they felt when they saw it too!  (I let them know I felt the same way.)  It was unfamiliar to all of us, but the Lord answered our prayer and each one did learn it!  After that, the boys were so encouraged and amazed they did it, they were ready to go all the way and learn the last two of the week as well.  Some were not used to memorizing verses and were really surprised when they were able to do it!

I think what made this small group so special was the chemistry they had.  All were included and as more came the second day, they were welcomed in with our special "green turtle chest bump" greeting that the boys came up with on their own.  I encouraged this and they definitely wanted to help each other succeed in memorizing the verses.  It was great to see them helping and encouraging each other.

The over 8,000 homemade cookies were a wonderful treat!  It's nice having so many people in our church who actually like to bake and cook! 

Praise be to God for a great week!  It was a LOT easier than sports camp and much less draining!  My husband enjoyed helping in the 4s and 5s group where they had around 100 kids, but said the songs got on his nerves after the second day.  (He is sitting on the floor in front of the camera on the puppet pic in the video.)

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Fantastic VBS Vacation Week

Marmot (image source:  Wikipedia)

Last week I took a vacation week to help in our Vacation Bible School ("VBS") and had a fantastic week!  It is such a blessing to be a part of this ministry outreach into our community!  We had around 750 children attend and 77% were from outside of our church.  I helped in grades 5 and 6 again this year just because I like working with that age group best. Personally, I think the older kids are easier than the younger ones and like the competition.  We used Gospel Light's Sonrise National Park material which featured a different animal to go with each day's verse.  The children each got laminated verse cards with the animal of the day and verse on one side and the lesson connection on the other.

Each age group was a different animal for their name tags.  The 5th and 6th graders were Marmots which are like a big ground squirrel.  They live in mountains and burrow among the rocks during the winter when they hibernate.  Each day, the 5th and 6th graders were challenged to bring in facts about the animal of the day.  Very few knew what a Marmot was.

I chose to be the green team this year because it is a color easy to spot and gave my group tickets each day they wore green which promoted a bit of team unity and also helped me find them easier.  The tickets were given to the kids by their group leader and had prize drawings at the end of each day. 

I was encouraged when several of the boys I had last year signed up for my group again this year.  Our whole group was cooperative and fun.  My small group memorized the five verses without much nagging encouragement from me and we had a come-from-behind 1st place finish!  We had rec time outside, snacks, crafts, skit presenting the lesson each day and small group time to take care of points, review the lesson, verses and play some games.

In our small group, we played the following fun games:

Match game--in groups of three they talked to find out what things they all liked and the point went to the group that came up with what I liked best such as TV show, sport to play, etc.

Fact or fiction. Each one gives three facts about yourself--two true ones and one false one.  The others tried to guess which one was false.  The one guessing most right got a ticket and if they could fool everyone, they got a point.  My facts were as follows--see if you can pick the false one:

I like animals and have 2 cats, 1 dog, a rabbit and a bird..

I never liked reading when I was in school but read a lot now.

I don't have a stove.

I fooled them all! I don't have a rabbit or bird. The last day I offered the kids in my group a copy of My Funny Dad, Harry, the book I wrote and was pleasantly surprised that most of them actually wanted a copy! I only had four though so told them I'd order more and mail it to them if they sent me an email.

Basketball review using a small ball and a wastebasket with review questions.

Animal charades giving a point to both the correct guesser and the actor if someone could guess what animal they were acting out.

It was also a blessing to see boys I taught in Sunday School when they were in 5th grade be helpers in VBS. They are in Jr. High and High School now and my heart rejoices when I see them serving our Lord Jesus Christ with me.

It was hot every day except Friday and rained Thursday so had to have most of the rec time indoors.  The kids and staff were flexible and no one complained.  Here is a picture of some of the kids enjoying the big puddle in the parking lot as they were leaving to go home.

Wading in church parking lot after VBS on Thursday.

Over $2400 was received in offering during the week that will be used to provide milk to kids at the Chain of Love orphanage in Brazil.  The video below gives a brief overview of the whole Bible School. 

Did your church have VBS yet?  Do you remember going as a kid?  Do you help in yours now?  Although none of the kids in my small group received Jesus as their Savior last week as far as I know, I did give them each a personal Bible Reading Record to encourage them to start reading their Bible.  Hope they use it!

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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How Vacation Bible School Has Changed!

Although this video doesn't show it, we also had songs that went along with teaching the memory verses for the week which were I John 3:1 (Jesus accepts us), Isaiah 41:13 (Jesus protects us), Romans 10:10 (Jesus saves us) Psalm 86:5 (Jesus forgives us) and Ephesians 2:10 (Live for Jesus.) Crafts consisted of a journal, verse plaques sponge painting a t-shirt and a necklace. The kids had homemade cookies for a snack each day, rec time outside, and prizes. In grades 4-6 they got tickets for attending, bringing a Bible, saying the verse, bringing someone new, etc. and at the end each day if their number was called, they got to choose a prize. The last day everyone got a chance to choose something. Of course, we had teams competing for points all week. We had over 130 kids in just grades 4-6. Thursday and Friday we had 800 kids attend! That's the most we ever had!

This is very different from when I was a kid. I remember the whole Bible School had only about 100 kids. We had paper crafts except for one year I remember we made a sundial which I liked. We didn't have any outside time except for the one I went to with a friend one year. They had a snack the last day outside. As a kid, I really wasn't big on going to VBS. One year I remember there was about seven or eight of us in a class and we had a real old lady for a teacher who told us we couldn't leave until we said the verse. Most of the years I went as a kid were no fun at all and it almost turned me off memorizing scripture. The worst part was we had to dress up for it. It's so much better now allowing the kids to come in shorts or jeans.

Only one year I really enjoyed it and that was when I was I finished 6th grade and the couple in charge of our group actually tried to make it fun and interesting. We got to play tic-tac-toe! Whoopee! That was exciting back then compared to what we were used to. I can't remember ever having a skit growing up.

The worst year was when we had the Pastor as our teacher and I finally got my best friend to come. That week, all our lessons were all about the denomination and nothing about salvation the entire week! I was so mad and disappointed!

When I had the opportunity to run the Vacation Bible School a couple years at the Brooklyn Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, I had team competition, one key verse for the week, a softball game in the afternoon between the teams, quizzing between the teams and crafts that the kids had a choice of which to ones they wanted to make and gave out candy.

What are some of your memories of VBS? Do you think kids have it better now than we did growing up? I sure do!