Mo. Baptist cooperation helps churches with VBS decor
JEFFERSON CITY – With the help from funds from the Missouri Baptist Convention, a team from The Rock Church of St. Louis campus in Ballwin created Vacation Bible School decorations for use by churches across the state.
“This is cooperative dollars at work,” Christy Nance, the state Vacation Bible School Director and member of The Rock Church Ballwin, who organized the team for preparing the VBS decorations.
By press time, the decorations had been used at multiple churches, including The Rock Church, Ballwin; First Baptist Church, Versailles; Temple Baptist, Poplar Bluff; Victor Baptist, Anutt; Memorial Baptist, Columbia; and Central Baptist, Eureka.
Wayland church thinks outside the box for VBS
WAYLAND – The Southern Baptist Fellowship Church here changed their format, time and location of their Vacation Bible School program this year to improve their reach in the community.
Dan Steinbeck
“You might call it thinking outside the church or ‘Spark in the Park,’” Pastor Dan Steinbeck said. “Instead of a five-evening format, we did a backyard bible school that was one Saturday in the Wayland City Park. It didn’t draw more children than normal, but the students who came were attentive and seemed to enjoy it.
“We used Lifeway’s Spark Studios material to convey the importance of the Lord as Creator and as Savior, he added. “God blessed us with perfect weather and good helpers.”
FBC Salem’s VBS attendees support Guatemala missions
SALEM – Children from First Baptist Church, Salem, exceeded their mission offering goals by raising $1,810 during their CaveQuest Vacation Bible School program in July.
“This bunch raised $1,810 for Guatemala missions,” the church reported in a July 27 Facebook post. “This will allow our mission team to build two houses and feed a village for a whole month!”
Jefferson City VBS program raises funds for MBCH
JEFFERSON CITY – With the help of parents and grandparents, children at Concord Baptist Church here raised roughly $2700 for their Vacation Bible School missions offering, July 11-15.
This year, funds from the special offering were donated to the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home. “I was blown away by the generosity,” said Clayton Garrett, Concord’s children’s director. “It was really cool to see kids caring for kids.”
FBC Diamond VBS supports Ronald McDonald House
DIAMOND – Children ages 4-12 raised $2,800 in support of the Ronald McDonald House during Vacation Bible School at First Baptist Church here, July 10-14. They donated art supplies, as well as money, for the special offering.
“We took an offering each night by passing a bucket around to the children,” Jenny Denny, VBS Director at Diamond First Baptist Church, told KOAM News. “Our theme for the week was ‘SPARK Studios,’ standing for Sharing, Pray, Art, Remember, and Kindness, and each night we shared how their contributions for Ronald McDonald House related to each word.”
Green City VBS gets serious about Concrete & Cranes
GREEN CITY – Yellow Creek Baptist Church here hosted the LifeWay’s Concrete & Cranes Vacation Bible School, Aug. 2-4, and they took the week’s theme seriously.
GREEN CITY – Greg Medlin shows a Vacation Bible School attendee at Yellow Creek Baptist Church here how to operate a Ditch Witch front-end loader. Medlin brought the Ditch Witch because the VBS theme was Concrete & Cranes. (Photo courtesy of Dena Williams)
Church member Greg Medlin, who also supply preaches at the church once a month, brought a small Ditch Witch front-end loader, giving children an opportunity to load and spread gravel.
Dena Williams, who taught the preteens class during VBS, said this was the first VBS the church hosted since before COVID-19 hit in 2020.
“The kids were excited,” Williams said. “We had missed it. They had missed it. It was the best VBS we’ve ever had.”
Men in the church stepped up and got involved in VBS this year, making the week even more incredible, Williams added. Their involvement of men in children’s ministries, she said, is important given the fatherlessness and lack of male leadership in the home throughout the nation.
Millersville church highlights sanctity of life at VBS
MILLERSVILLE – The First Baptist Church here unashamedly promoted the sanctity of life for both the born and unborn during their Vacation Bible School program, July 11-15.
MILLERSVILLE – The First Baptist Church here emphasized the sanctity of life during Vacation Bible School by featuring posters showing the development of unborn babies. At the end of the display, they set a mirror to remind children that – as Scripture says – they too were “fearfully and wonderfully” made by God. (Photo courtesy of FBC Millersville)
Using the Zoomerang curriculum by Answers In Genesis, they decorated the church – in part – with posters showing the development of a baby in the womb. They set a mirror at the end of the poster to emphasize that unborn babies, God willing, will grow into thriving children – like those who attended VBS at the church.
“We did not hold back from teaching that the value our children possess is not from skills acquired, goals accomplished, or status achieved,” Pastor Jason Grubbs said. “Rather, their incomprehensible value comes from the almighty God who created them. … We taught our children to be aware of God’s creation around them so they can see the His handiwork in all things, to take care of it because we have been made stewards of this world and to know that He is over all things, ruling and reigning, providing us with everything we need.”