Celebrating Vacation Bible School: It’s All About Jesus

Celebrating our allegiance to God’s Kingdom together in VBS.

Deuteronomy 11:18-19 NIV

“Place these words I’m speaking on your heart
and in your very being.
Tie them on your hand as a sign.
They should be on your forehead as a symbol.
Teach them to your children,
by talking about them when you are sitting around your house
and when you are out and about,
when you are lying down and when
you are getting up.”

Celebrate The Power Of God’s Word

In my heart and in my mind and in my very soul
and with every bit of the strength I have
I want to celebrate the beauty and the power
of God’s miraculous and His precious Word.

I want to sing out loud and clap my hands and turn around

Celebrating as we sing and dance in VBS.

and shout my praise to Him who is my God who gives
me joy that never ends and holds me in His loving
hands for He is good and He is the great I Am.

I want to teach His children His Good News for God so
loves us each and every one He sent His Son to live
and die and live again His resurrection raising
us to live with Him in glory above.

I want each child to discover Him who loves us most
and worship Him with everything He places in their
hands for all the days they are given on this earth
and for eternity with Him in His Heavenly Home.

Celebrating the gift of prayer in VBS.

I want to celebrate today the pure joy I feel when I look every year and see, and listen and hear the marvelous stories of Vacation Bible School. When I see the videos of children laughing, singing, dancing, running, jumping up and down; then listening, (remarkably) with open hearts to hear the Words of the Gospel Story, which make all of these celebrations true and worthy. I just love watching children have so much fun celebrating the Name and Life and the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus— and all the love and joy He has to give.

I want to celebrate today the men and women, young and old, who year-after-year happily give their time to make all of this fun possible. I celebrate those who put up the signs, decorate the halls and rooms, prepare the costumes, serve the snacks, teach the songs and dances and the gospel stories. I celebrate those who greet the families, cheer for the children, and everybody who gathers just to prove the Love of Jesus to the hearts of these precious children’s hungry hearts.

Celebrating being with friends in VBS.

I want to celebrate D.T. Miles in Hopedale, Illinois (1894) and Virginia Sinclair Hawes in a beer parlor in New York City (1898) who pioneered the idea of providing Bible classes during the summer. I want to celebrate ladies like Billie Rains, Inez Jeffers, Flora Alvis, Pink George, Lois Starnes, and Betty Swinford,  and so many other ladies, who lovingly and enthusiastically taught me and hundreds of other children over my growing up years in First Baptist Church Glencoe. I celebrate Billie Rains for heading up VBS and arranging parades on fire trucks to give us such fun as we rode and shouted “Come to Vacation Bible School” through our small town. I want to celebrate Inez Jeffers for being the best-ever story teller, grabbing our attention as she told us tales which delighted us with tales of the lives of those who spread the Good News of Jesus. I want to celebrate Flora Alvis who mentored me as we worked together

Celebrating good food in VBS.

one summer, teaching a lively and wide-open to the Spirit, group of fifth and sixth-grade boys and girls.  I want to celebrate Pink George, Lois Starnes and Betty Swinford, along with all of the others who worked so hard to make our learning times so much fun. I want to celebrate the results—so many  young lives deciding to follow Jesus each and every year.

I want to celebrate how God has used His investment in my own life by such faithful servants as these. They made learning the books of the Bible so much fun, I treasured having that tool for Bible Study fresh in my mind over all of these years. They did the same with precious memory verses which have provided strength and encouragement throughout my life in Africa and in the United States. They shared with me wonderful stories of godly heroes who have inspired me as I have followed God’s Path for me. They taught me the Word of God, His Story, His People’s Stories, His Promises, His Assurance, and most of all, His Powerful, Saving Gospel Plan, so that I have been challenged, upheld and inspired throughout both the good and the bad as I have lived out His plans for myself and my family.

Celebrating the gift of Worship in VBS.

I want to celebrate the days and lives happily invested into the sowing and harvesting of young souls for God’s Kingdom each and every year. I want to celebrate church families like ours who all over the world set aside precious time  to prove the love of Jesus for every single child. I want to celebrate Shelley, Jill and their team who are praying and preparing even now for the rich harvest awaiting us as we look toward VBS 2024!

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!!!