Archive for Vacation Bible School – Page 4

Discovering New Leaders in VBS!

By Steve McNeil · Comments (0)
Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Every church is looking for more leaders. One of the best places in the church that I have seen to raise up great leaders is in Vacation Bible School. Each year people are recruited to serve in VBS at many different levels from administrative leadership, teachers, assistant teachers, helpers, recreation, security, registration, kitchen, transportation, media, music and fill-ins. Many of these are people are new to leadership in the church.

Some people are willing to help with VBS because it is a short commitment. They can help for a week when they may not feel like they have the time to take on an annual opportunity commitment to serve in the life of the church. It is exciting to watch as people accept this week long commitment and then fall in love with the kids, the study, the overall work of feeling like you are making a difference in someone’s life. That passion begins to fuel the desire to take on a longer commitment someplace in the life of the church. So…

  • VBS is a great place to find new workers who are not currently serving!
  • VBS is a great place to see if someone has the ability to teach a class or to lead people!
  • VBS is a great place to give someone more leadership responsibility to see if they are a capable, teachable leader!
  • VBS is a great place to help someone gain confidence in teaching or leading!

The bottom line, VBS is a great place to get people involved in the ministry of the church, to discover where a person’s passion is for service, and and to find out where they might be effective.

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Steve McNeil serves as Church Health and Communications Team Leader for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana.

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Categories : Leadership, Outreach/Evangelism, Vacation Bible School

It Is VBS Year Round Now!

By Kiely Young · Comments (1)
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Pastor Bob Hill has been at Roundaway Baptist Church “out from” Indianola, Mississippi about three years.  He came out of retirement to be the Interim Pastor of this church.  The Pastor Search Committee stopped looking and just asked Bro. Bob to stay a while. He has.

He looked at the church calendar and noticed they did not have Vacation Bible School on the summer calendar.  When he asked why, the response was, “We don’t have any children, so we don’t need to have VBS.”  They had not had VBS in twenty-three years.  Bro. Bob reminded them there were still strong elementary schools in the area and they were full, so there must be children in the area.  He asked them to consider VBS again.  They reluctantly agreed.

Bro. Bob enlisted two people, a VBS Director and a VBS Prayer Leader.  He wanted to meet with them and ask God what to do.  The church averaged about 40 in Sunday School.  He wanted them praying for VBS.  They determined they needed to do three things: Pray, Prepare, and Promote.  Their story is amazing.

As they prayed they were impressed to enlist workers for at least fifty children, maybe more.  They needed to contact every family in a five mile radius of the church and estimate how many children to expect.  They did.  They enlisted more workers.  They promoted in the elementary schools, in grocery stores, convenience stores, everywhere they thought they might get the attention of children and parents of children.

They were not disappointed.  They had 80 children for their first VBS in 23 years. Ten of those children were led to Christ and their families began coming to church and Sunday School. They grew from 40 to 60 in Sunday School!  VBS worked.  They followed up with every family who visited their VBS within the next week.

I asked Bro. Bob what he considered to be the more important thing they are doing.  He said Vacation Bible School turned their church around.  This year he brought twenty new leaders to our VBS training.  They went back and trained the other leaders in their church.  He said we keep VBS before our people year round. Oh yes…They had 80 children the second year and twenty came to Christ.

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Kiely Young is the Director of the Sunday School Department for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board.

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Categories : Outreach/Evangelism, Vacation Bible School

Grow Sunday School by Following Up Vacation Bible School

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (1)
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Each year, Vacation Bible School is the largest prospect discovery effort for most churches. In fact, about 25-30% of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches are a result of VBS. In addition to key prospect information about participants in VBS, additional information is discovered about their families: parents, siblings, and others residing with attenders. On top of that, ministry needs are discovered.

Each of these facts adds up to opportunities for Sunday School to step in and follow up. So many times, VBS has required so much time and energy that when it is over, church leaders walk away with relief at a good experience. They stack registration cards on a shelf and then don’t think about them again until next year. What a wasted opportunity!

Instead, there are so many ways that Sunday School can capitalize upon the great investment of time and energy during VBS. Consider some of the following:

  • When enlisting a VBS director, enlist a VBS follow up director whose job is to mobilize Sunday School teachers and workers to visit, contact, and minister to all VBS prospects and their families.
  • Ask Sunday School classes to set aside a specific time to pray for VBS and for prospects to be enrolled and won to Christ. Praying in advance will prepare for the work of harvest.
  • Set goals for enrolling VBS prospects and family members.
  • Enlist Sunday School leaders to help with advance and daily VBS registration. Faces make follow up even easier.
  • Make sure you get thorough records of every VBS participant and their families. Poor records are lost opportunities!
  • Set up a special day immediately after VBS for Sunday School classes (and/or VBS workers) to visit all VBS prospects and families. The longer you wait, the colder the follow-up trail will be.
  • Send information home with every prospect on the final day of VBS about Sunday School classes and other church activities appropriate for each age group. Don’t assume your community families know about Sunday School.
  • Have the pastor send a letter to every VBS prospect the week after VBS with information about the location of the age appropriate Sunday School class(es). Tell prospects where they can enter the church to get a guided tour to classrooms.
  • Share reports about VBS with your congregation so they can share in the excitement, follow up, and prayer. Doing so also raises awareness of those around them who should be invited to Sunday School and VBS.
  • Plan a VBS Day in Sunday School on the Sunday after VBS. Don’t remove VBS decorations or allow children to take home their VBS materials until then. Invite parents and families. Instead of celebrate VBS in evening worship, do so in the morning service(s). Sing VBS songs. Share testimonies. Show pictures set to a VBS song. Recognize each age group. Give everyone present a handout with information about Sunday School classes. (VBS gives you and excuse to invite worship attenders who have not yet connected to a Sunday School class.)
  • Ask Sunday School classes to sponsor a VBS Carnival on Sunday night after
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    VBS with each class providing a game/booth and refreshments. Provide all attenders with a handout with Sunday School class information.

I would love to hear more ways that Sunday School can capitalize upon great VBS work. What have you done to connect VBS to Sunday School? What would you add to this list? Press Comments (above) and share your ideas and experiences. Make VBS even better. Partner with Sunday School in following up VBS.

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Darryl Wilson has served as Director of the Sunday School Department for the Kentucky Baptist Convention since 1997. He served as Minister of Education in five churches in Kentucky and South Carolina. He is the author of The Sunday School Revolutionary!, a blog about life-changing Sunday School and small groups.

Comments (1)
Categories : Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School
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