Monday, Aug 18, 2008 04:28 PM
by Brent Randall Regnart
Children’s Pastor
Vacation Bible School 2008, “God’s Big Backyard,” was an exciting and memorable event for the kids of CLC.
Over 160 kids from grades Pre-K through 6th attended the evenings of July 14-18. The theme of VBS was “Love God and Love Others,” and the kids learned about serving their family, their friends, their neighbors, their community and, ultimately, serving Jesus.
Each night they were treated to a dramatized Bible story as told by the VBS staff. These included stories of Moses’ sister Miriam, the four friends who helped their lame companion man get to Jesus, the Good Samaritan, Zacchaeus, and Peter and John healing the lame man at the temple.
One of the ways that the kids demonstrated service to others occurred on Wednesday night, as they washed a dozen cars owned by senior members of CLC. The kids were thrilled to serve the elder members of the church, and the elders were just as thrilled to receive this gesture of service from the kids.
Another practical way they served was by donating food and other goods that were used to create six Blessing Boxes which were distributed to CLC families who could use a little assistance at this time. Each of the receiving families found the box to be a wonderful blessing to their household.
Finally, we held an Offering Contest, which was eventually won by the Pre-K and Kindergarteners. The kids donated over $1,000.00 to give to the CLC Benevolence Fund to help specific families in need.
We ended VBS with our annual all-night Campout on Friday, where dozens of families spent the night on the CLC grounds and enjoyed an evening of fun and fellowship.
All in all, God’s Big Backyard was a blast, and, as promised, the kids had a blast serving Jesus!