Vacation Bible School Still Changes Lives

by Karen Holmes

Believe it or not, summer is approaching fast!    It’s that time of the year again.  VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL!    For me, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.    

Not long after Christmas, our house begins to fill up with all things VBS. Boxes and boxes take up room on our dining room table, floor, living room floor, spare bedroom. Where ever there is an empty space, you will start seeing VBS. So, I would have room for company, our VBS stuff was moved down to the church this year.   

I don’t know about your church, but this is the biggest evangelistic event our church puts on each year. For fifteen hours, we are teaching these children about the love of Christ, how they can have a relationship with Christ. We give them CD’s that they can take home to keep the VBS Songs in their minds. We do that, because most of the VBS songs contain scripture verses, and share the plan of Salvation.  (we call that the ABC Song)

Our church does the Lifeway VBS each year. This year it is “Magnified.” The theme verse is “Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3). The motto is “Made to magnify God”.   

I don’t know about your church, but this is an event that we put a lot of our yearly budget into.   If we are going to have a week like this, we need to do it right. Not only do we put our church budget behind it, but we put our church’s prayer behind it. We have been praying for our VBS since the end of last year’s VBS! We pray for the families that we met. We pray for new families to send their kids.   

Here are some key areas that I think our churches need to remember:

• I know some of our churches here have mission teams that come and do VBS for them.   My advice is to be involved with the team that is at your church.  You will still be here when the team leaves, and can follow up with the kids, see them in town, and get to know their families. Also, it is always a good idea for folks from your church to be there with the mission team if they are new to the area.
• I would suggest you talk to Everett Hornbostel ([email protected]) about how to keep your VBS safe. He can help you with background checks and offer suggestions on what to look for to keep your event safe. 
• Make sure you are getting any teenagers in your church involved in helping in VBS. They are going to be your future VBS leaders!  
• Anytime your church has an event REGISTER folks. This is how our little church has over 200 families that we send VBS invitations to.   
• Pray, Pray, Pray.  Ask God to move in the hearts and lives of the kids that will be attending.   Pray over families that are new to your community, who may be seeking a church.  
• Put your money behind it.  If you are going to do a good VBS, it should be reflected in your church budget.   

Most of all, HAVE FUN!!!! Vacation Bible School can be just as much fun for the workers as it can for the kids! Put your all into it. Pray over it, and let God take it places that you would never imagine! Live in anticipation of what God is going to do through your week of VBS!!!

Karen Holmes is a member of First Baptist Church in Wolsey, SD and is the Recording Secretary for the Dakota Baptist Convention.