Rome Day 1

Hello folks,

day one is in the books. Chaos? Yes. Confusion? of course. Everything that we normally expected for day one happened. "Nothing new under the sun" said wise man Solomon. The unexpected was the numbers of kids! We plan for 100 because demographically the elementary numbers have dropped off for College Corner. But on day one we ran out of registration forms and the guestimation was we had 120 kids! Unexpected to us but not to God. I often forget that God does answer our prayers. We prayed to reach the kids in our community with the Gospel, and that is what God is doing!
I was pleased to note that out of our 7 Family Leaders all but 2 attended the training sessions. Forgive me for being negative but normally the turnout for training is very low. Not this year!
The Oxford Church of God showed up and did a fine job with the crafts. Things went well at all of our other stations too - well done! The registration went very well and kids and leaders seemed to be getting along very smoothly. Mikey and DJ did a great job as Paul and Brutus. DJ's Roman soldier costume looked fantastic! I also thought the song selections for the kids were awesome too!
Rain, rain go away. Come back another week! If the rain keeps up or things too wet at the Grove we will head off to the Methodist Church (heads up Mick!). The singing would be in the sanctuary and the marketplace in their fellowship area. The rest we will figure out when we get there.
Thank you everyone for your involvement and please pray that whatever God wants to do at this VBS - and I truly mean, whatever He wants to do, let us all be open to it. Whatever He desires to do.

Matthew 26:39 - "Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Pray for Our Teens

We are a just a few hours away from Community VBS. During these final days we are praying for the different areas that make up our VBS.So far we have covered Family Leaders, Snacks, Crafts, games and Bible Time. Now let us turn our attention to the teens.

We average around 90-100 kids for VBS. And we usually have about 30 or more teens show up to help as well. That means that the teens make up over one quarter of the everyone who attends VBS! That is a lot of teens. In the College Corner area many of the families do not have the financial resources to go on vacation or weekend getaways. So the teens end up hanging around town the whole summer and become very bored. VBS week is a big break in their regular summer routine!
Many of these teens are not involved with our local congregations. VBS is one of the few places where they hear the good news about Jesus. I have been encouraged how many are willing to get involved and help with serving the smaller children. They have a servants heart and they need to have their hearts filled with the savior Jesus Christ. Here are some prayer points to focus on for our teens:
* Pray that the teens will have open hearts to the Gospel
* Pray that the adults have patience with the teens
* Pray that the teens behave themselves and are cooperative
* Pray that many would repent and follow Christ
* Pray for those struggling in their relationships with their parents
* Pray that the teens find congregations that they can connect with and be discipled
* Ask God to show you other needs of the teens that you can pray for

We are about 2 weeks away from Community VBS. During these final weeks we are praying for our different areas.So far we have covered Family Leaders, Snacks, Crafts and games. This week we focus on Bible Time!
The Bible stories are the foundation of VBS. The lessons are what drives the games, snacks, crafts and music. The Bible story leader is also a representative of the Community VBS. Their character,witness, love of the Word and love of children are vital to communicating Biblical truths to children. This year we are blessed with Mikey Bishop as our Bible teacher. Mikey and his wife Val are rock solid Christians and he has a long history of ministry to youth and a great heart for the poor.
Mikey will play the role of the Apostle Paul under arrest in Rome. He will share with the kids the adventures he has experienced with Jesus. Mikey will also have a person role playing a Roman guard who will hear the good news about Jesus for the first time right along with the kids. This is sure to be exciting, inspirational and fun. Here are some suggested prayers for our Bible story leader:

* Pray that Mikey will be lead of God in his preparation for the lessons
* Pray that God will help Mikey in the role of Paul
* Pray the God would plow up good soil in kids hearts to receive the seeds of the Gospel
* Pray that God would bless the person who plays the role of the Roman guard
* Ask God to keep the distractions low and the kids attention levels high
* Pray that God would help the fruits of His Spirit to be bountiful in this station during VBS week
* pray for whatever else God lays on your heart for Bible story time
* ask God to show you whatever else He would have you pray for concerning the Bible Story Time

Psalm 119:103 103 How sweet your words taste to me;
they are sweeter than honey. NLT.

Game Time! VBS Prayer Week 4

We are about 4 weeks away from Community VBS. During these final weeks we are praying for our different areas.
So far we have covered Family Leaders, Snacks, Crafts and this week we focus on Games! Gary Moore from the Nazarene church has been with us since we began doing VBS at the Grove and he does a Fantastic job! Gary has told me how he loves running into kids at Wal-mart and hear them say "hey! I know you, your the game guy from VBS!" That is a big part of VBS, connecting with kids with our gifts and touching their lives with the love of Jesus in such a way as they have positive connections to the Gospel. Here are some suggested prayers for games:

* Good weather!
* Kids safety
* kids would be good sports
* Gary would be able to find all the supplies for the games
* The games would help communicate the Gospel lesson for each night
* The games would be fun & wet!
* God would take care of Gary's locksmith jobs while he is at VBS
* Grace to work with the large groups
* Pray that God would help the fruits of His Spirit to be bountiful in this station during VBS week
* pray whatever is on your heart for games
* ask God to show you whatever else He would have you pray for concerning games

Nehemiah 8:10
...the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

We are about 5 weeks away from Community VBS. During these final weeks we are praying for our different areas. There are many aspects we could focus on but the ones that we are concentrating on are:

1. Family Leaders
2. Snacks
3. Crafts
4. Games
5. Bible Time
6. Teens
7. Kids

So far we have covered Family Leaders and Snacks. This week we focus on Crafts. Kathy Hampton and Oxford Church of God have joined us this year for VBS and they will be heading up our craft station. We are glad to have them with us and here are some suggested prayers:

* Pray that Kathy and her crew adjust well to our outdoor format
* Pray that the Market Place theme of this VBS goes over well
* Pray that all needed supplies and preparation goes well for the craft crew
* Pray for the crafts that have been selected work well within the allotted time frame
* Pray that the crafts help connect kids with the Bible story
* Pray that the teen helpers do well helping in this station
* Pray that anything that is painted is dry when it is time for kids to go home
* Pray that God would help the fruits of His Spirit to be bountiful in these leaders during VBS week
* pray whatever is on your heart for the craft team
* ask God to show you whatever else He would have you pray for concerning crafts

Deuteronomy 16:15 (New International Version)
For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

VBS Prayers Week #2

Hello folks,

It is definitely VBS weather! We are 6 weeks away from VBS and we are picking one area of focus for prayer each week and this week it is Snacks! This important station provides refreshing snacks for the kids with food prepared in a creative way that connects with the VBS' theme. This station also gives the kids a little down time from all the action of the other stations. The leaders get to dialogue with the kids and kids can build some new friendships while enjoying their snack.This year we will be doing something new, kids will split their time in the "Roman Marketplace" with crafts. Here are some suggested prayer focuses for snacks:

* Pray that God would give us the Snack Station leaders that He wants for this VBS

* Pray that the change in the snack time format would go well with the leaders and kids
* Pray that that all food donations and preparation go well
* Pray that no one would get sick from any of our snacks!
* Pray that there would be no choking episodes during VBS!
* Pray that each nightly snack and the nightly Bible story connects with the kids
* Pray that the snack leaders are blessed with good teen helpers
* Pray that the leaders and helpers do well in the heat
* Pray that God would help the fruits of His Spirit to be bountiful in the leaders during VBS week
* pray whatever is on your heart for these Snack Station Leaders
* ask God to show you whatever else He would have you pray for concerning this area

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.

7 Weeks of Prayer

Hello VBS folks!

we are roughly 7 weeks away from Community VBS. Over those 7 weeks I would like to ask you to be praying for the different areas of VBS. There are many aspects we could focus on but here are 7 that I would ask you to concentrate on:

1. Family Leaders
2. Snacks
3. Crafts
4. Games
5. Bible Time
6. Teens
7. Kids

So, let's get started! We begin with the Family Leaders. In the past we referred to these leaders as "shepherds." These are the adults who will lead a group of kids (a "Roman family") from station to station. These people are vital! They are Jesus in the flesh to these children for the 4 days of VBS. Here are some prayer suggestions for our Family Leaders:

* Pray that God would draw those leaders the He desire to be involved this summer
* Pray that people would be sensitive to God's call to volunteer this summer
* Pray that a number of men (no offense ladies) would volunteer and be involved this year
* Pray that the leaders schedule would allow them to be at VBS every night and at the Unity Service Sunday
* Pray that God would help the fruits of His Spirit to be bountiful in the leaders during VBS week
* pray whatever is on your heart for these Family Leaders
* ask God to show you whatever else He would have you pray for concerning these leaders

"What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!" - Jesus in Matthew 9:38 MSG>