Another VBS in the books...

For the second year running, my husband and I have been asked to organize our church's Vacation Bible School. Last year was a huge step of faith for me, especially since we were following on the heels of a woman who had been taking care of it for close to 30 years. She could organize a VBS in her sleep, I'm sure of it. Very big shoes to fill, and more than a little intimidating. We made it through last year without a hitch, did a few things differently but not too many.

Jack told me right off the bat the he'd do whatever I asked him to do, but that he couldn't organize a dogfight, which left a lot of the administrative stuff to me. We're blessed with a relationship that compliments each other's strengths and weaknesses without huge egos in the way. I'm great at organizing and administration, he's wonderful with construction and problem solving. I'll see something that needs to be done, he'll figure out how to make it happen. It's great to be able to work together like that.

I really struggled this year with doubts - did I do everything I could to help out the teachers, the crafts leaders, the activities? I didn't spend nearly as much time this year as I did last year. Maybe I didn't spend enough? Maybe I put the campground startup too far in front of VBS, and if it falls flat on it's face, it will be all my fault? I didn't get the word out as well this year, maybe nobody will come? It was horrible. Looking back, I am my own worst enemy.

Setting up Saturday and Sunday was a treat. Half of the people who had said "Yeah, I'll do XXXX for you" didn't. We ended up improvising a lot of the decorations, including the backdrop for all of the skits that would be performed at the beginning of each night. A handful of people were great, though, and helped pull it all together better than if we'd planned it that way.

All of the worry and fret was for nothing. Granted, our attendance was down this year. We held our VBS a little later this year and ended up doing it the same time as at least 4 or 5 other ones. We had great weather, and wonderful teaching materials. We used a curriculum from Lifeway Christian bookstores called Game Day Central. It has a sports theme and teaches children about being heroes on God's team. Pretty neat stuff.

Our youth pastor opened up the services every night, and he managed to get the kids really stirred up and excited about being there. We had an evangelism service on Wednesday night for the kids older than 5 0r 6. A total of 14 kids ended up professing their faith in Jesus that night and asking Him for salvation. Sure made every bit of work worth it.

One of the kids was our pastor's grandson. He was sitting next to his papaw when he prayed. Another child's mother was teaching one of the other classes. She brought a group of children out to speak to the pastor and saw her son kneeling. She hit the floor on her knees, hands raised, and squealed. It was awesome.

So we finished up tonight. Parents came in for a family night, we invited anyone who wasn't already in church to come worship with us, then we all had pizza in the fellowship hall. Great ending for a great week.

Now I'm off to sleep some before the weekend starts up... g'nite all.