DIXON, Mo. – Vacation Bible School (VBS) is always an exciting time for Gasconade Baptist Church in Dixon, Mo.
“We began each night with a supper, followed by an old-fashioned Vacation Bible School, with the pledges and the songs,” Pastor Joshua Sutton said. “Our Bible School is one of the biggest outreach efforts our church gets into. When we decide on the theme, everybody in church puts their heart into it.”
The theme this year was “Wonder Junction.” “The VBS focused on the wonder of Jesus,” Sutton said. “Each night we focused on the wonder of His life, His birth, His childhood, His ministry, His death and His return.”
Gasconade VBS had a total of 42 children from two to 18 years old attend during the week. “The youth had a little different routine,” Sutton continued. “We have several youths for our small church.”
The evening VBS works well for Gasconade. “We started it about three years ago,” Sutton explained. “I’m bi-vocational and most of the leaders work, so we decided to do a supper so everyone isn’t rushed, and we can concentrate on the lessons. It really works well with our schedule.”
The Wonder Junction played into the excitement for the children. “It was a kind of railroad, cowboy theme,” Sutton added. “We had the church decorated with western scenes and props. All the children and the workers had matching shirts, so that added a lot of fun.”
A special highlight for the VBS was the mission emphasis. “We have missionaries, Mike and Brenda Hutsell, who we support on a regular basis,” Sutton said. “The children brought money all week to support their work in Kenya. Mike trains pastors to go into the villages to preach and his wife, Brenda, oversees a program which serves 600 children one meal a day for six days of the week. The children brought in $2500 for the Bibles and Brenda’s Bread Basket.”
“Some of these children save all year,” Sutton added, “they anticipate that we are going to have this offering. One little boy emptied his piggy bank to support the children in Kenya.”
The church also adds an incentive contest to the mix which really promotes giving. They pit the girls against the boys. This year the prize was dumping a bucket of ice water over the head of the pastor or his wife.
“The boys won this year,” Sutton shared. “The boys raised $1500 and the girls brought in $1000. So, my wife, Sarah, got the bucket of water.”
Sutton shared that past competitions involved a pie in the face for the losing team.
“One of our leaders volunteered for the pie,” Sutton said, “but, we discovered the ingredients in the cream caused an allergic reaction for her. So, we asked her husband if he would take her place. He did and we used that as an example of what Jesus did for us.”
“Children grew during the week and seeds were planted. We got feedback from many of the kids wanting to know even more,” he said.
