What Exactly is a Successful VBS? Ingredient #2

Hello folks,

This is the second installment of the series on what makes a succesful VBS. This weeks ingredient is Christian Guidance:

When the kids arrive for VBS they need guidance or shepherds. These are our adult volunteers who travel from stations with an assigned group of kids. These adults are Jesus in the flesh so the job of the volunteer is to put on Christ and reflect is nature, love and Spirit:

14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.- Romans 13

4 Love is patient and kind. – 1Corinthians 13

1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. – Ephesians 5

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! – Galatians 5

What Exactly IS a Successful VBS? Ingredient #1

I have had a wonderful time doing VBS for the last six years and very often people have so said “VBS was very successful.” I thank God that the vast majority of people have expressed approval of the VBS project but it has also got me thinking “what exactly constitutes a successful VBS according to scripture? So what I will endeavor to do over the next few weeks is to dig into the Word to see just what the Bible says about the ingredients for a successful VBS outreach.
Let me state the obvious, the Bible doesn’t say anything about VBS specifically. What I will do is look at what the Bible does say about evangelism and kids. I am not trying to find a proof verse for everything we do but what are we doing that mirrors Christ and the apostles. (All scriptures are from the NLT unless otherwise noted).

Prayer
John Wesley once said that we can do a lot of things but we can do nothing until we pray. The Community VBS must have the prayers of the churches involved. We must begin, continue, and end VBS with prayer. We must do this before plan, when we plan, when we show up at the Grove and when VBS ends and then not stop until the following summer and then start all over again! Here are some good prayers from the Bible to guide us:

38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” – Matthew 9

18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. – Ephesians 1

So prayer is the first and definitely one of the most important ingredients of any Christian endeavor. So let's pray that God send us workers for a great harvest and shine His light brightly into the hearts of the kids touched by VBS!

Also keep Belinda in your prayers. She has been battling stomach ulcers that may keep her out of this summers VBS. Let's pray that God heal her up and get her back to her happy and healthy self!

It's that Time Agian!

Hello folks!

Well it is cold, icy and they are forecasting snow with bone chilling temperatures. That means it must be time to start planning for this summer's VBS!

I hope everyone is doing well and had a great Christmas/New Years. I want to encourage everyone to check out the VBS 2009 Guide link to see the curriculum's available for this summer. I really like Group's "Rome, Paul and the Underground Church." I think we could have a lot of fun with it and turn the Grove into our own little Roman world. Please prayerfully check out all that is available and give me your feedback on the blog or by email.

I wanted to also inform you that I will be posting a weekly segment entitled "What Exactly Is a Successful VBS?" I have been told many times each summer (and I thank God for all these comments!) that Community VBS was successful. That's cool, but I got to thinking, what are the components of a successful VBS according to the Bible? In the next few weeks here on the blog site I will examine the main ingredients of a successful evangelistic outreach according to Scripture. Let me know what you think by posting your thoughts in the "comments" section of each weekly post.

I look forward to working with the Lord and all of you for another year of Community VBS!

God bless!

David