I just completed my 25th year of directing Vacation Bible Camp. It is one of my favorites weeks of the year. I picked out the curriculum in February and began to plan. It was so exciting to be able to welcome children from our own church plus children from the community back inside the church building to learn about Jesus and be together. Registration opened and we had almost 100 children signed up in the first two weeks. This was going to be a great year! Then the hard part set in - finding adults to help. I searched and I called and I put out emails and I sent notes to our Sunday School classes, but no one was interested. There were only 8 church members that said they would help. How could we safely have all of these children in our building without volunteers? Then something beautiful happened. I went to our childcare staff and all of them said, “YES” they would help. I went to parents in the community and they said, “ YES ” they would help. We decorated and got ready to welcome around 150 beautiful children into our church.
Jesus said, “ Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
- Matthew 19:14
We sang and we danced a lot! We heard stories of Jesus and we played games and made crafts. When you put the light of God in children’s hearts, they have the most beautiful joy that shines so bright within them. They share the Good News with everyone they meet and their love of Jesus becomes so contagious that the children begin to influence the adults.
Here are some stories that I thought might warm your heart!
A child had been saving his allowance for a year to buy a couple of new video games he wanted. He donated all that he had been saving to the church this week because he knew someone needed it more than him.
A 3rd grade boy was thankful that we talked about heaven because his grandmother just passed away and he told us that he feels peaceful about where she is now.
A Japanese family was so overcome with emotion that their 4 year olds first experience in America was our VBC. Every morning when they came in, they thanked me. On the last day, the mom gave me a gift with the most beautiful hand written note about all of the places she saw God at Arborlawn this week.
A mom and dad asked me one day after VBC was over if they could come into our sanctuary and pray. Their daughter had come home singing about Jesus and sharing the Bible stories with them and she put the light of Christ in their hearts. They had not previously known about Jesus.
A single mom thanked me for having her child at VBC. She said that she always wanted her to learn about Jesus, but because she works most weekends, she hasn’t been able to get her to church. She went and bought her daughter a Bible this week to teach her more.
This is why we do what we do! This is why VBC is so important! We sing and we dance, but we also share the story of Jesus, and how everyone has an opportunity to be a part of the story! VBC is an opportunity to not only share the love of Jesus with children, but with our community. This is why I hope that you will say “Yes!” next year. Thank you to everyone that helped and prayed for these children.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”
- Psalm 127:3
Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for all of these children that came to VBC. We thank you for each volunteer that helped shine your light. Let each of us have faith like a child and share the love of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet. Amen!
Written By: Kim Cordell