Vacation Bible School is something we look forward to every year. It is one of the very best weeks of the year in our ministry because we get to minister to so many children and families. This year VBS is going to be a little different. First, the date. Due to the construction going on at the church and some other scheduling priorities, we have decided to do it much later in the summer. Our dates this year will be Monday, August 1 through Friday, August 5. Not only does this avoid some facility and scheduling conflicts, but we believe the timing will give us a great push into the next school year.
Another change is our mission/outreach emphasis this year. A few weeks ago in a meeting with pastor Wally and Christine, we made some block party arrangements for a couple of places in Heath where there are a ton of children and young families we would love to reach. Those events will happen the week prior to VBS. (The dates are still pending because we have to get approval from the city.) These will be great times for us to draw some young families out to large outdoor parties and get their kids registered for VBS.
Our prayer is that through these two events and our annual VBS bus route that we will be able to utilize both busses to accommodate all the kids. Wouldn’t that be a great first!
We have decided to do VBS this year in the evening. That is a difficult decision. Originally, when we set up the block parties, we were planning to do a noon to three schedule. There are pro’s and con’s with each of the possible time slots. It’s not an obvious decision. The biggest problem with the evening is workers. Last year in the morning we had about 65 workers, the most we’ve ever had. (Several people even took a week’s vacation to work last year.) To do an evening VBS with our block party focus, it is going to require at least 110 workers. In order to make sure we can handle things safely, we will be asking workers to make commitments in the next couple of months, and we will have to limit the number of kids we can register based on the number of workers we have. So it so important that everyone gets on board quickly. We will need many people to serve this year who haven’t traditionally been VBS workers. This is going to need to be a whole church effort.
I am excited. I believe these block parties are going to help us reach many kids who have never been a part of our VBS or any of our other ministries before. I believe this is going to be a great step into our fall ministries. I believe we will see lives changed and changed for eternity. What a great way to break in our new children’s ministry facility!
The first organizational meeting is this Sunday (4.3) at 4:30 in Harmon Hall. Join the team now, it will be the best thing you do this summer!
Pastor Noel
