A Pictorial History...
(08.04.03)

Vacation Bible School 2003

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VBS Workday Vacation Bible school was, well, undermanned this year.  We had VBS Workdays where only about 6 people other than the directors would show up.  Ugg...we got everything done, though, and ended up well under budget.  Here were some differences we had from last year's program:

1 - Different Curriculum: We went with CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) and Adventures in Odyssey this year instead of Lifeway.  That's probably one reason why our budget was much lower: Lifeway rips off!

2 - Room setup: Last year, each grade had 2 teachers and a room for each grade level.  This year, we only had 1 teacher per grade segment and went room-to-room.

3 - Closing rally: The 'conclusion' of each day didn't end with us waiting for parents to pick up their kids this year, but with songs and activities in the Sanctuary.

4 - One longer Bible study instead of two shorter ones: I liked last year more as a teacher because the kids could learn things and then review.  We also could goof off some and do some acting and fun activities then.

Last year, I had 22 children on my roll, and this year, I had 32.  The most in one night that I had was 29, not including Parents Night.  With the parents, population was around 40 or more.  It was neat to have the influence on the kids, but I still think the one Bible study was out of their attention span enough to impede overall learning retention.
Our schedule went like this:

6:00 - 6:15: Opening Rally
6:20 - 6:45: Missions & Music
6:50 - 7:15: Crafts
7:20 - 7:45: Bible Study
7:50 - 8:15: Games & Snack
8:20 - End: Closing Rally
Each class had their own schedule setup, and this one was set up so that we didn't learn our memory verse until AFTER it would have counted for anything!  Oh, well.  Most of the kids could say the Memory Verses by the next day....

 32 Kids were enrolled

Music & Missions The Opening Rally consisted of songs and drama put together by the adults and teens.  We always had to guess from clues where Witt was in the world.  Some of the countries were kind of obscure (e.g., Bolivia and Ghana).  Very few kids guessed the really hard ones, but I actually had two kids who guessed Ghana!  They were Ghana be happy when they found out they were right!

Missions was the bane of all existence for some of the kids.  We watched a video about a disabled woman and how we should help those in need.  Good message, but the videos weren't the kids' favorite.

Music was where we did motions (or dance moves) to different songs.  The boys seemed to get more out of this part than the girls in my class. Some of the songs we dance to were:
- When We Pray
- Jump (Most of the Kids' Favorite)
- Finishing Strong
- Celebrate Christ

Crafts were tricky for the most part.  One of my college & career friends (Paul) made mention how cool the crafts were nowadays and how he hadn't had anything CLOSE to that when he was a young'un!

Combining beads, weaving, gluing foam, and the like made up our crafts time.  A great proportion of the kids loved crafts the most of all.

After Crafts, we had Bible Study, where we learned that we should put Jesus Christ in the center of our life.  It was cool how one girl wanted to have God #1 in her life in a decision and many other kids prayed along to recommit their priorities to God.  One time, I said that they didn't have to pray it out loud if they didn't want to, but I heard one girl elsewhere doing so out loud.  Cool stuff!  Praise the Lord!
Some of the major materials from VBS this year that I covered are found at: http://www.djsterf.net/vbs.
 Crafts Time

Crafts 2.0 BLING BLING Crafts 2003 3.0
 I'm sure the kids would love to see their pictures up here, so here are some more pictures of the Crafts for everyone to glance at.

Games were led by Doug Little and Ben Marsh for the most part.  The kids thought that they were running the show, though.  I told them during one Bible Study that if we could do a study in a certain amount of time on my watch, we could play dodgeball during Games.  Hehe...Doug didn't like that very much, but it worked out pretty well and all the kids had a blast.
Our schedule went like this:

6:00 - 6:15: Opening Rally
6:20 - 6:45: Missions & Music
6:50 - 7:15: Crafts
7:20 - 7:45: Bible Study
7:50 - 8:15: Games & Snack
8:20 - End: Closing Rally
Each class had their own schedule setup, and this one was set up so that we didn't learn our memory verse until AFTER it would have counted for anything!  Oh, well.  Most of the kids could say the Memory Verses by the next day....

 Umm...No?

Jumping Contest...Sterling vs. the Kids! Finally, we concluded with the Closing Rally.  We had a great week, and hopefully the kids took at least something from it.  Hopefully something more monumental than 'Games are fun.'  Hopefully it was 'God is Great' or something similar!

Just as I told the kids...if you had a summer trip that you really would have had a fun time on, and you ended up driving to the wrong state, you'd only end up frustrated and sad, not to mention out of a good time.  God's plan for your life is the trip He wants you to take, but if you end up going your own way without seeking Him, you'll only get lost in an unfulfilling life role.  The earlier you realize this, the better off you'll be.  Thankfully, God is a God of second, third, and infinitieth chances, so if you're not on the Lord's path, get on it!  Start reaching true happiness through Jesus Christ.  It works!

So Vacation Bible School was pretty cool this year.  I'll remember taking two courses with heavy projects due the same week, taking naps wherever possible to recover from 3-hour-a-night slumbers, and still staying patient with the kids even when they were crazy!  A lot of my kids were just angels, and I hope and pray that they all grow up to be godly men and women, even if I should have won the jumping contest!

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