VBS 2010

This year at VBS, I had the awesome privilege of leading the opening and closing sessions which are called things like "Sing and Splash Play" and "Floating Finale" since we were doing the High Seas Expedition this year. I loved it! Lots of singing and dancing. Meeting our daily "Bible Buddies" and learning our daily "Bible Points". Remembering to "Watch for God" and talk about our "God Sightings". I had a blast! Brother Dale, our new pastor, also helped out every day by performing a brief skit with me. He acted as "Sailor Jack" and he did a wonderful job. Sailor Jack was a bit of a hippy sailor who always said things like, "Whoa, man! Groovy, man!" etc. :) The kids really looked forward to seeing his silly antics each day. The Floating Finale was usually a little more complicated and involved some sort of interesting activity or experiment with the whole group. One day we used air cannons to blow cups off one another's heads. Another day we created a storm--it grew from just sprinkles to full blown thunder and lightning. Another day we were surprised by a sillly game of "What kind of ball is under this blanket?" Miss Tina, our children's coordinator, was hiding beneath one of the tables with her head sticking up like another ball, so when I pulled back the blanket, she surprised everyone. On Thursday I enlisted the help of some of our youth volunteers who acted out the death of Jesus on the cross, and with God's grace and mercy I led the whole group in a sinner's prayer. That was probably my most memorable moment. Hearing all of those little voices whispering the prayer with their heads bowed. Truly a miracle that they were focused and quiet enough to participate in that! Lord bless that moment and draw those precious children into a life-long relationship with you! On Friday we brought forward blankets that the kids worked on in arts and crafts and laid them on the altar as an offering to the Lord. We'll be sending them to children in Africa and spreading God's love to them. It was a fun-filled week. Exhausting? Yes, absolutely. But spiritually invigorating as well! Here are some pictures. We actually have a lot more, because we took pictures every day and made slide shows for the kid to see as they were coming in for the floating finale. Most of those pics are on a computer at the church, so I'll have to get them somehow so I can include some of them here. Olivia and Benjamin had a fun time and were sad to see the week end. Thank you Lord for a special, fun week.