CHURCH REPORT: JULY 25, 2021: Special VBS Edition!

 Disclaimer (because someone will say something): although I am actively involved in my church, all opinions and observations are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the leadership, staff, or congregation.

CHURCH REPORT FOR JULY 25, 2021

I'm back with a double-header! Not only a report on our Sunday services (said report sadly absent for the last few weeks, due to the proverbial circumstances beyond my control), but also a brief summation of what happened the week before at the annual Vacation Bible School.

Sunday Morning:

I'm always thankful for the Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study. About a dozen folks gathering together to plunge into the book of Romans chapter by chapter, section by section, (verse by verse, word by word, etc.). We've been unraveling chapter 7 and made it all the way to verse 10. We had some folks traveling and others back. Such is the nature of summer.

Pastor Dick was preaching today from Daniel 4 with a message entitled "God Rules." He emphasized the fact that God's sovereignty is the theme of David. King Nebuchadnezzar certainly found that out, as he was transformed into a wild beast. In the end, God's dominion is an everlasting dominion. God is in control.

Following the service as a prayer meeting in order to lift up the search process for a new pastor. I was unable to stay, but I understand it was a blessing. My own prayer is not only for wisdom for the search, but also for how the process is carried out, that there be no misunderstandings or procedural arguments.

Vacation Bible School:

August 19-23 was incredible. Our theme was Treasured (a Group Publishing curriculum). My friend Kim directed the program. As per usual, she unleashed the kids to sing some great, uplifting songs during the opening and closing. I admire her obvious love for the children and her ability to pull together all the elements. She helped me on several VBSs when I was doing children's ministries so I appreciate what she brings to the VBS table.

My primary "job" was doing the Bible story. I did some adapting each night as what was written in the curriculum book would not have worked in our situation. Brenda helped me primarily with picture taking a moral support. A few discipline problems here and there, but overall some good groups. Some of the major and minor highlights of the week:

• When describing the qualities of a king, one 7 or 8 year old said the king should be "devastatingly handsome." A kid with a vocabulary like that will go far!
• I used a puppet to play "David." His headband fell off, so I had to ad-lib a line. It worked so well that when the headband fell off in the other sessions, I just used the same line (puppets are so temperamental!)
• One of the kids gave me and some other leaders a beautiful blue polished stone.
• Another girl approached me during transition times and asked some very insightful Biblical questions. 
• There was a medical emergency on one night. There also just so happened to be a nurse and a paramedic in the building that night. What a "coincidence," huh? (sorry, being a touch sarcastic).
• Pastor Dick sat in one of our sessions. It's always great to see him at these things.
• Thursday night is gospel night. The salvation message is emphasized in a special way. 34 kids raised their hands to profess faith in Christ! (notice that I use the phrase "profession of faith." That's because kids don't always raise their hands because of trusting Christ. But God knows their hearts, even if all we can see is their profession. One of these days, I'll write more about this).
• Ice cream social for volunteers after Friday's final session. Yum.

As I write this, Kim is starting preparation for Kids Camp, which is coming up this weekend. I'm not involved in that, but to shift from VBS to Kids Camp in less than a week is a Solomonic/Samsonitic feat (I'm pretty sure I made up those words), so I'm praying for Kim and her team.

And that was the double-header of our Sunday...and our week. So how was your church service this weekend? And if you've had a Vacation Bible School program, how did it go? Let me know in the comments.

 

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL '10: "BACKSTAGE WITH THE BIBLE"

It's hard to believe that another Vacation Bible School has come and gone.

VBS '10 was phenomenal. Our theme this year was Backstage With the Bible, featuring music and video from Go Fish. I had the privilege of meeting the Go Fish Guys at the San Diego Children's Pastor's Conference and some of the materials I purchased, along with their answers to some lingering questions, went a long way in convincing me that this was the VBS for us.

Was it a good decision? As you can see from some of the pics below, we had a BLAST! There were over 100 kids throughout the week, but that doesn't even begin to equal the spiritual impact. For instance, 12 kids made professions of faith on Thursday night, indicating that they had trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord. Another blessing took place before our evening session. My assistant nudged me to look at some boys in the next aisle. They had their Bibles open, looking for and sharing verses with each other. There were no leaders or other adults around prompting them to do this--just a few kids getting into God's Word before VBS began that night.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. And thank you to the Go Fish Guys for making cool music that kids and their parents love. Enjoy the pics.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL MEMORIES 2009

This dock rocked!

Crocodile Dock Vacation Bible School was held last week. And what an incredible week it was! The church building was packed with kids each night, learning how to shine God's light. I'm sure if you ask any one of our volunteers, you would hear funny, moving, or challenging stories from the week. Here are a couple of mine:

Just a shout out to Group Publishing for their exciting, high quality VBS music. The dvd's are part of what made this such a high energy week. But also in that equation was our music team, a group of women (plus a couple of guys at times) that led the motions to the songs.

One night, one of our preschool girls wandered up on the stage. Nobody asked
her to do so, she just went up the steps and joined in the song we were singing. And she had every move, every motion, every bit of choreography down pat! Her crew leader tried to motion her off the stage, but our song leader let her stay to finish the song. It was a blessing to know that this girl...and certainly other kids...have got songs embedded in their minds that teach about God.

And speaking of the motions and our song leaders (affectionately known as "Swamp Stompers"), Friday night I made a mistake and called up a different version of one of our songs. Same tune, same lyrics, but different voices and graphics...and no on-screen motions! One would have thought it was perfectly natural, as the Swamp Stompers and the kids did all the motions perfectly as we had all week.

Another Friday music blessing involved the song "This Little Light of Mine." Crocodile Dock had a hand clappin', fee stompin' bayou version of this classic song. During the week, the music team had tiny little lights hidden in their hands (little LED "God sight lights"...if you've done the Dock, you know what I'm talking about). At the phrase, "Even when I'm afraid, I'm gonna let it shine", the girls brought out their lights and waved them around in the motions to the song. It was highly effective and never failed to bring oohs and aahhhs.

On Friday night, each of the kids got to take home a "God sight light". The plan was to hand them out as they left, but someone decided to give it to them during the closing program instead. But when it came time for "This Little Light of Mine", out came the lights at "even when I'm afraid, I'm gonna let it shine." In the darkened sanctuary, it looked like dozens of fireflies swarming around...which is a cool visual effect, given the theme.

Thursday night (at least with Group's VBS programs) is a straightforward presentation of the gospel, facilitated by a moving object lesson or dramatization in the closing program. These presentations never fail to move me...even thinking about it now, I get a little choked up. I cannot describe the scene adequately, but the point was not lost on the kids. I gave an invitation...and 20 hands went up to indicate that they were professing faith in Jesus Christ! I've heard follow up reports from some of our crew leaders that they got to talk to some of these kids afterwards. In our staff devotions after the kids went home, one of our crew leaders announced that he had made a re-commitment of his faith that night. It was an incredible evening...and one that reminded a weary VBS team why we put ourselves through this every year.

Our station leaders and helpers, our bayou crew leaders, and our support team were INCREDIBLE. I'm reminded of the corporate management saying, "if you want people to think you're brilliant, surround yourself with brilliant people." I've received a lot of positive feedback...and I appreciate each and every compliment, but I always steer it back to the Lord, first and foremost, but then to those who served so faithfully during the week. If I look talented or brilliant, it's because of all the talented, brilliant people who did the hard work.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON MY BRAIN

The following are just some short notes about what's on my mind, in no particular order....

• Another memorable VBS moment from one of our leaders: One of our stations allowed the kids to "walk on water" like Peter (it was a recipe with cornstarch and stuff...gross to mix up, but the effect is cool!). One of the girls was on crutches from a sprained ankle. When it was her turn to "walk across the water," two other girls--without any prompting, directing, or encouragement--got up and helped her get across! I get a lump in my throat every time I think about it.
• A young lady in our church is getting ready to leave our community to tour with the Siver Ring Thing, a major abstinence education production that goes around the nation and other countries. It is so cool to see kids that used to be in the ministry start to go out and do the ministry!
• There are 49 tiny squares produced by the weave pattern in the generic store version of a Triscuit cracker (yes, I counted).
• New website in my link section: Hollywood Jesus. The webmaster, David Bruce, is from our area, but the ministry is nationwide. The site is full of reviews and analyses of movies, tv shows, comics, and pop culture from a spiritual perspective. Agree, disagree, or think futher--this is a good resource to add.
• I calcuate that I get seven phone directories every year. I am notoriously bad at not throwing out my phone directories. Being as it is starting to look like a tower, I think it's time to make a trip to the recycling center.
• To my ministry friend in Illinois who is playing "Mr. Mom" for an extended period while his wife is away: what an opportunity to invest in your son! And how much sweeter will be the reunion when your wife returns. God bless you!

HOW I SPENT MY WEEKEND

Funny story...

Well, not funny really, more like a tale born out of deep tragedy and personal pain that may possibly have good results in the end.

Whatever.

There is a room in our church that has been set aside as the "C.E. Office" It is an office in name only. No one uses it as an office. It probably resembles more of a storage center. When our talented painter created the fantastic bucolic mural that adorns our breezeway, she used the C.E. office door as the horse barn door (complete with horse). "Barn" is a good description. Over the years, I have cleaned and straightened and organized, with limited results. Either some stuff gets out of place, or I don't finish the task, or more stuff gets stuffed in there. For example, when I was told that the tape library archives had to be moved or disposed of, I put them in the C.E. office. A rather large storage cabinent was slated for removal, so all the items in it were moved to the C.E. office. And on it goes. The result is no place to walk or move.

Fast forward: Vacation Bible School is fast approaching. We needed some sturdy, industrail looking shelves to put on the stage for our set. Hey, let's get the ones out of the C.E. office! No problem, except for the fact that the shelves are packed full and there are two or three solid layers of boxes, items, and debris. So I set up two long tables in the hallway and engaged in the task of clearing the area in front and around the two shelves and then clearing the shelves themselves. After an hour or two of work, the shelves were free. I navigated them out of the still overwhelmingly cluttered office/barn/storage closet and we used them for our stage set for VBS. And since all the stuff couldn't sit in the hallway all week, I shoved it all back in the "office."

That's when I had a brain storm. After VBS was over, I had to get the shelves back in the C.E. office. That meant I had to clear out the stuff I had just put back in. Soooo...why not just empty everything out and do a massive sorting and cleaning project, putting things back bit by bit? So on Friday, I told our Craft Director (who was using the sizeable youth room that sits next to the C.E. Office) to leave her craft tables up. My plan was to whip through all this stuff on Saturday, leaving a lean, mean children's ministry office machine!

Whatever.

Understand, that VBS is a physically demanding week. Since it was in the evening, it made for a week of very long days. I slept in on Saturday, but I knew I had to get started. So Saturday morning, I headed to the church and began unloading items onto the tables in the youth room. It took all morning and part of the afternoon just to get the stuff out of the office. I dusted and vacuumed (so that's what the floor looks like!) and marvelled at just how big the C.E. office actually was. I put the shelves back in the room, took a late lunch break, and began the task of purging the "stuff." My criteria was simple: unless it had clear historic value, was irreplaceable, or would likely be used in the future, out it would go. This wasn't easy, as I subscribe to the "this might come in handy one day" school of hoardng. But I determined to be brutal and reduce years of accumluation to a manageable size.

But as daylight turned to darkness, the piles had not shrunk that much. I headed home at about 11 p.m., in order to finish my final prep for Sunday morning.

The Sunday Morning activities went well. The youth group was very understanding and forgiving of the mess in their room, especially when I mentioned I could get them donuts. I took my wife to lunch, came home, changed clothes, and returned to the church. My gaze was weary, but steady. My determination was strained, but still strong. My organizational skills were peaked. I threw things away that some people, if they knew about it, would hang me in effigy. I faltered a couple of times, the bone crushing weariness and fatigue catching up with me. But finally, about 9:30 p.m., I put the last thing away, cleaned up the youth room, and went home.

Now to be honest, the project is not done yet. I have two boxes labeled "to be sorted." I have not touched the filing cabinent, nor the files full of older curriculum. But compared to how it was, it is much, much, much better.

So why did I spend so much time on this project when I should have been at home resting and recouperating frm VBS? Three reasons:

• It will help me get better organized.
• There is more to me than a messy, cluttered office.
• Should I be definitely removed from children's ministries, I want my successor to have better.

Meanwhile, I will bask in the glow of the accomplishment of this weekend, yeah, verily and forsooth.

Yeah, whatever!

VBS LOG 2: The Week is Over

Another Vacation Bible School is in the books. All the months of planning, preparation, thought, and constant prayer come down to one week of insanity! But what an incredible week it was! 124 kids walked through the door during the week, with an average nightly attendance of 97. Our missions project (as in years' past) was Kidzana Ministries, with the kids raising approximately $75.

Were there bumps in the road? Absolutely. I already posted an entry about what has become known as the "hashbrown incident." There were technical difficulties along the way. And, of course, there were the inevitable challenges that arise from dozens of personalities being brought together in one place for the week. As a friend of mine likes to say, "I heard so much whining, crying, complaining, and temper tantrums...and the kids had behavior issues too!"

But all the statistics available, all the challenges along the way, and all the physical (and yes, to be honest, emotional) weariness incurred throughout the week were offset by three very important things:

1. I shared this in a previous post, but it bears repeating: The Word of God was proclaimed and the kids had fun! Oh yeah!

2. So many adults and teens came together just to focus on children. Wow...that just warms my heart every time I think about it.

3. At one of the stations, a girl stayed afterward and asked about how to make Jesus her forever friend. The station leader, holding back tears, shared the gospel and led her into a profession of faith. All the statistics, compliments, and fun are nothing compared to the rejoicing in heaven.

VBS LOG: KIDS LOVE ME, FROZEN POTATOES FEAR ME!

Our first night of Vacation Bible School went off without a hitch.
Except for everything that went wrong.
Actually, after several years of directing this summer phenomenon known as VBS, I have learned to not only expect the unexpected, but to keep everything in its proper perspective. That proper perspective is as follows: the kids had fun and the Word of God was proclaimed. Score! It was a good night!

But I feel a special burden tonight to unload a deep secret from my first night at VBS. You see, during our closing program, we were to do a special object lesson in which dry ice is placed in the water, it churns and bubbles, and then the leader (that's me!) creates a film of soap over the top of the bowl. The fog from the bowl expands the film bubble, until it bursts over, symbolizing our thankfulness (okay, you Power Lab directors, you're with me on this!). The instructions made it look cool. The video clips made it look cool. It looked cool. I couldn't wait.

Unfortunately, due to various and assorted challenges, I was unable to get the dry ice until the afternoon before VBS. I determined I was going to practice this experiment, so that I would get the feel for it before doing it in front of assorted kids and volunteers. But the Monday of VBS is always a bit like running a Nascar race with a tricycle...you're pedaling as hard and as fast as you can, but your little bell just won't tell the other drivers to get out of the way (VBS directors, can I get a witness...?) Anyway, my rehearsal time got eaten away with a myriad of unforeseen (or foreseen, but not addressed) challenges.

Finally, with approximatley 40 minutes to go, I found my practice window. But there were still challenges. The glass bowl had disappeared. I hunted, asked around, and eventually located it. I knew I would have to fill the bowls with pitchers from the nearest sink. Hey...the pitchers were too big to fit under the faucet of the nearest sink (ding..ding..move out of my way, Gordon!).

I finally had all my ingredients. My wife had put the dry ice in the church freezer. The dry ice was in brown wrappers. I took the ice chest to the kitchen, put on the safety gloves, and took the four very cold, brown-wrapped packages out of the freezer, and returned to practice the experiment. Only 20 minutes to go.

I cut the bags open and emptied the shaved dry ice into the freezer. I then carefully picked up a big hunk of the shaved dry ice (which had fused together in a lump) and I dumped it in the water, waiting for the bubbling, churning effect to start.

At this point, I should let everyone know that, while I have seen the foggy, churning effect from dry ice, I have never actually handled dry ice. I knew what it was supposed to do, but I did not really know how long it was supposed to take to do it. I also did not know that dry ice could come in shaved form, but since regular ice could be shaved, I didn't give it a second thought.

So why was this taking so long?

The shaved dry ice sat there in the water. I saw a tiny bubble or two make its way to the surface, but nothing like the cascading white fog I was expecting. Yup, the shaved dry ice sat in the bowl looking a lot like......

Hashbrowns.

Shredded, frozen (but thawing), hash browns. White, soggy hash browns. I poked at them with my finger, half hoping it was indeed shaved dry ice (in which case the flesh on my finger would rip apart from the intense cold of the carbon dioxide). But no...alas. It was, in no way, shape, or form dry ice. It was hashbrowns (ding..ding..splat!).

I quickly dumped the bowl, cleaned up my mess, and got ready for when the kids arrived. I found the other brown package in the church freezer and it contained the chunks of dry ice. I did the experment live with no rehearsal. The kids ooohed and aaahed as the water bubbled, churned, and fogged over. But try as I might, I could not get the film to stick over the bowl. Sorry, Group Publishing, I know it said to be patient and keep trying, but the kids and volunteers were threatening a boycott, so I just tied in the bubbling and churning and how our lives should be marked by overflowing gratitude (yes, Teacher Tim, even when experiments go wrong).

As kids were leaving, I almost thought I heard some of the children saying how much they liked VBS so far. One of them said, "I know Teacher Tim tried his best on the experiment. I think he's just way too hard on himself. There's no way I could get angry with him over this."

"Yeah" said the other. "Hey, by the way, are you going to Kid's Camp in a couple of weeks? There's lots of fun and good food. I'm especially looking forward to the breakfast: eggs, bacon, and lots of yummy hash browns!"

LAST MINUTE THOUGHTS BEFORE VBS

Today was set-up day for Vacation Bible School at our church. All the weeks and months of preparation and planning come down to this. A lot of us returned to the church after lunch and stayed until the evening hours transforming our building into the Power Lab, dealing with last minute questions and orientations, and enjoying pizza! So, needless to say, I'm tired and ready for bed. But I wanted to share some random thoughts before going to sleep.

• Every year, I marvel at how hard it is to get volunteers, but then how the Lord brings a whole herd of them at the last minute.
• I continue to be impressed by the creativity and ingenuity of our team members in decorating and problem solving.
• We have some 14 year olds serving. We also have some 70's and 80's serving. What a neat mix!
• My daughter may very well have a black eye from a stack of folding tables falling on her this evening. She says she's going to wear an eye patch and warn people to wear protective eye gear before doing scientific experiments.
• I needed a couple of bookshelves from the C.E. office/storage room/catch-all. I never realized just how much stuff lay in front and upon those shelves. The upside is, I will finally be in a position to clean the room.
• After years of service, my VBS assistant was unable to serve this year. If my VBS assistant is reading this: you are loved and appreciated....and I don't think everyone has fully comprehended just how important you have been. I have missed you...and you are in my prayers.
• My wife correctly guessed the number of pizzas we would need for dinner tonight. How does she do that?
• EquippingKids.com is, in my humble opinion, one of the best children's ministry distributors on the planet.
• The Dollar Store is the children's worker's friend.
• I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm worn out. And after much thought, I have decided that I still love VBS

Bring it on....to the glory of God to the benefit of the kids!

GO POWER

I was watching part of documentary one afternoon about the space program. Archival footage showed the classic mission control room of countless space missions. Shortly before the final countdown, the head honcho begins checking with each and every station with one simple question: "go or no go?" One by one, the station leaders call out "go," signifying that their area is functioning and ready for the launch. But should a leader say "no go," then the final countdown is halted. Fascinating stuff.

In approximately one and a half weeks, our church will be launching its annual Vacation Bible School. And tonight, at our weekly VBS meeting, I shared that we are nearing the final countdown and I needed a "go or no go" from everyone involved.

Of course, I'm not saying that we will scrub VBS if someone says "no go." But I did take the liberty of applying this dramatic scenario two ways:

1. It is time for each individual to say "go" or "no go" regarding their respective missions. Like hundreds of VBS directors through history and across the country, I find a lot of commitment takes the form of, "uhhh...I dunno", "maybe," or "let me think about it." But it is now time for each station leader, each volunteer, each support person to sign on the dotted line and say, "yes...I'm a GO." And I need to reaffirm myself as well. As I shared in a previous post, I've struggled somewhat with VBS this year. But now is time for me to step up, to go the distance, to shoot for the net, to hit the ball outta the park, to go for the middle of the uprights, to....well, you get the picture. I've always been on board for Vacation Bible School. But now is the time to loudly shout, "GO"

2. It is time to act as though we were in the final countdown. As I was reading some forum boards related to our VBS, I came across one discouraged poster whose whole organizational system caused dely after delay in their planning. They lamented that they only had a month left to order supplies, recruit, and get the program going. The responses varied, but many of them had the same basic message: "you have a month left? PRAISE THE LORD!" The church with 30 days until VBS has to do the same thing as the church with 30 weeks. They just have to focus and stick to the basics. God brings the harvest, God controls the results.

We've got a week and a half! PRAISE THE LORD! Our original target date would have placed us in the middle of VBS this week...and then what? Hey...we've got another week and a half! Time to set aside distractions and make every day count. I'm talking back at myself at this point, but also to anyone else who is struggling with similar situations.

Vacation Bible School is going to be great. Kids will hear the gospel and experience a fun-filled Christian environment. Songs, games, snacks, stories, and surprises! I can hardly wait.

GO FOR LAUNCH.

FINAL COUNDOWN HAS BEGUN.........

KICK UP YOUR HEELS: VBS '07 IS IN THE BOOKS

Yup...it was a wild ride!

We had 115 children in our 2007 Vacation Bible School this year. Our theme was Group's Avalanche Ranch and our KidServants went all out to have one of the rootinest, tootinest VBS's in recent memory. It's all actually a testimony to God's grace, as some of our (my) organizational abilities fell apart, issues and challenges struck, and last minute technical glitches erupted. But now, a week later, I'm still amazed at the skills of our leaders, the touching one-on-one ministry opportunities we've had with some hurting and sometimes angry kids, and most of all in the grace of a God who can take our feeble and sometimes stumbling efforts and turn them into something beautiful and exciting.

These are only a few of the pictures from the week of July 9th. For all of you who did Avalanche Ranch (I've seen a lot of your blogs and YouTube posts!) or for all my fellow servants who are the middle of whatever summer programming, I rejoice with you!

TIME TRAVELING WITH VBS

I remember when I was a kid....

Yup...summers in Colorado, trekking each year at the urging of a friend or two to come to Vacation Bible School at a church or two or three. I vaguely remember refreshments. I remember breaks to play games. I remember singing simple songs with the piano. It was fun and simple. I got saved at one of these VBS...I spent all week reading and re-reading the gospel tracts they sent home with us, until Wednesday or Thursday night I got down on my knees in front of my closet and trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

Things didn't change much when, as a high school student, our children's director asked me to take the 5th grade boys group for VBS. I don't remember much, but I do remember the simplicity of it all. It was also my first taste of children's ministry.

If I had instantaneously "quantum leaped" into the future, surely my reaction would have been "wow!" Of course, I would have missed the intervening years of cultural changes. I would have not been aware of the growing movement to relate to children as children. I would not have known how seriously publishing companies and children's resource networks were taking the business of capturing the culture, engaging the kids, and adopting the methodology of now without changing the timeless message.

But there were intervening years and I did get to see the changes. Those who insist on doing children's ministries using the same methods of 50 years ago have (in my humble opinion) underestimated what has been happening in our society. The needs of the children are the same, but their backgrounds, environments, and priorities have been radically altered. The kids I hung out with as a boy would have been "shell-shocked" by the VBS our church just finished. But even the most loyal, church going kids of today would be bored silly with the VBS of my childhood.

But now, as then, children's ministries has an impact. Kids are still getting saved in VBS, just as I was. And our teens jumped right in to help this year, perhaps planting a seed in their lives to enter future ministry. God bless VBS.

***********************

And speaking of VBS......

Outdoor fun and games

Two of our teens showing the dignity and seriousness required in a VBS volunteer

Praise and worship...this is VBS at its best!

VBS 2005 is now history

We did it!
Actually the Lord did it, but He chose to use us. I'm talking, of course, about Vacation Bible School, one of the big highlights of the year at our church. Our theme this year was "Serengeti Trek" from Group Publishing. Group usually has a good program and outstanding music and this year was no exception. The kids learned how to KNOW GOD, TALK TO GOD, TELL ABOUT GOD, LOVE GOD, and WORK FOR GOD. Through the music and skits and Bible dramas, onward through the snacks and games and crafts...every element every night was designed to re-emphasize the daily Bible points and verses. Each night, the kids were able to choose a "Daily Challenge", a practical expression of the lessons learned. As they completed these challenges, leaves were added to a tree. It was all a beautiful expression of service to the Lord. Another expression was the missions offering: over $230 raised. It was a fun experience.
The title of this blog includes the name "KidServants", so I need to mention the incredible, phenomenal team of KidServants who put VBS together this year. Each year, they sacrifice their time, energy, and creativity to minister to these children. I am humbled by their service and grateful that they made themselves available to the Lord for this work.
Lastly, I need to mention the W. family (I won't give out their full name, but they know who they are). Mrs. W. is our children's ministries secretary and really kept me hopping through the process. Mr. W, whose work schedule would crush most mortal men, devoted hours in the evenings to painting backdrops and setting up decorations, along with his wife. If you are reading this, W. family, please know that you are a very precious asset to our children's ministries and I love and appreciate you.
I've already had several people ask about next summer. We will get to that soon enough....but first, we all need a well deserved nap.....Glory to God.