I love Vacation Bible School. Always have, from my earliest memo-ries as a VBS student, through every year I have been involved as a helper or leader. There is an element of inconvenience, no doubt, with the time commitment and all, but it remains a summer high-light.
This church invests thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours into making VBS happen. It is a blessing to our families – specifically the children, of course – but it is also a great opportunity for out-reach. I’ll be honest; I’m sure I speak for most pastors when I say I would love for parents of visiting children to see something in our church during VBS that inspires them to come to our church when VBS is over. And that has probably happened over the years, but by and large, it has not been the case.
I’ll continue to pray that God uses our VBS to get the attention of our neighbors and friends outside the church family, but what we need to focus on is ministering to the children who attend. This is a marvelous opportunity to reach, if not entire families, then children who will encounter the living Christ, some of them for the first time. Several kids gave their lives to Christ last year during VBS, and we didn’t have THAT many visitors! Will all those children stick with the decision they made at VBS? I do not know, but that is not up to you or to me. God Himself is able to keep them.
I say all this for two reasons. First, to encourage those of you who can, to find some way to contribute to the success of this year’s VBS. There is a list of items we need for crafts, food, props, etc. on the bulletin board in the lobby and on a handout. Can you help us out with that? Are you signed up to help during VBS? Can you send an offering with a child (the offerings received during VBS will go, all of it, once again to the Rackleys at the Oasis Center, who oversee hundreds of VBS’s in Mexico and Central America).
Second, would you help us get the word out? Spread it around on Facebook; talk to your neighbors, to the friends of your children! INVITE them! Look, I’ve seen outstanding VBS’s with just a couple of dozen kids, but I tell you from experience, the fuller, the funner! And of course, like church, it isn’t just about headcount. The great-er the attendance, the more children are hearing the Gospel. And the more that hear it, the more that will respond to it. And if ONE child responds to the Good News of Jesus Christ, that makes every dollar spent and every hour of preparation worth it.
Laboring together with you,
