Thank you, to whomever is praying for out VBS!
We had 10 children come down and accept Jesus last night! To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. There wasn’t anyone dragging their friends. Part of it was a culmination of some of their asking their parents/teachers about Jesus for a few weeks now. About 5 of them have relatives in our church, so we are hoping for good things on the follow up. Discipleship will be key, in my opinion.
Here’s a picture from VBS…
Just a little bit of recreational fun…with water!
Tim Dahl
June 26, 2008 at 10:44 am |
Looks like a blast Tim.
June 26, 2008 at 11:12 am |
It has been great! Practically ever rec game has had something to do with water. Which is a huge plus, considering that the temp in is the mid to upper 90s.
Tim
June 26, 2008 at 12:23 pm |
[...] Encouraging VBS word from Tim Tim’s noted some good things from VBS at his church. Check it out here. [...]
June 26, 2008 at 2:12 pm |
Praise God for the new additions to the Kingdom.! Keep doing His work in Ft. Worth.
Terry
June 26, 2008 at 5:21 pm |
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Definitely still praying for your VBS there..
But must confess – am curious. Are you in Ft. Worth, Texas?
June 27, 2008 at 2:54 am |
Thanks Terry.
Camey: Yes, we’ve been here about 5 years now. FBC Lake Worth.
Tim
June 27, 2008 at 7:23 am |
Tim, I go back to the days of two week VBS events. We used to say it took one week for the people to get hold of the material and another week for the material to get hold of them. I always loved VBS. It is the greatest single evangelistic opportunity we have each year, if planned properly.
June 27, 2008 at 8:55 am |
Tim,
Hello, neighbor! We’re currently in Granbury (G-town as the younger ones call it). Ft Worth is the city I refer to on the blog.
Sounds like your VBS was well worth it…. would have been if even just one.
We love VBS around here. The whole physical church building is used for it except the main offices of course. Last year we had 42 come to know Jesus. Funny enough? We had been having the discussion of whether or not to keep using VBS. You know… had the time of being effective pass? Goes to show we should never under estimate God’s power through something old just like something new. Perspective??
Thanks for sharing about your VBS there! We’ll keep praying for true discipleship to happen over the moments.
Camey
June 27, 2008 at 9:23 am |
Hey Ken,
Those two week events must have been tough. About 1/2 of our people work a full day (blue collar jobs), and then work another 3 hours at VBS. I can’t imagine doing that for two weeks.
In my estimation, VBS (in and of itself) is a great success. How do we capitalize on it, though? Sure, it is easy to say “follow-up,” but churches have been doing the traditional “follow-up” for years…and now an estimated 1/2 of us will close down in 12 years or so. What are we doing wrong? How can we be more effective in our follow up? YOUNG INQUIRING MINDS NEED TO KNOW MY FRIEND!!!!!
Camey,
Howdy Neighbor!!!
To be honest, I wrestle with the same question. Sure, we get kids to “walk the isle,” but what is really happening there? We never (hardly ever) get their parents into the church, and usually end up loosing the kids as well in late jr. high and high school. Could there not be something more effective in the long term?
However, a couple of things bring me back to doing it. 1) this might be the only week that any of these kids get to be around people that can show Jesus’ love to them. 2) ultimate results are not up to us, they are up to God who rewards as he sees fit. Much of Matthew 6 (especially vs. 1-6 and following) tell us to do our good works, our praying, our serving, etc. in a manner that doesn’t require the “pay back” to come from the surrounding situation. Some of it, we are told to actually do “in secret,” to make sure it doesn’t happen. It is combined with an assurance that God (who sees in secret) will repay (reward) us. I like that idea a lot. It means that we can have a VBS (or any other event), pour our hearts into it (as unto the Lord), and not worry about the results. We can instead just have fun and love the kids with all the love Jesus gives us. Not a bad deal in my opinion.
The problem is that we live in an immediate gratification culture. Even my senior adults are afflicted with it. If we don’t see some immediate results, if there isn’t some sort of pay off in the near future, people consider it a failure. That is so demoralizing, and anti-Christian.
If your church decides to not have a VBS in the future, make sure it is because you are authentically hearing from God. Make sure you are being obedient to his will, and not the machinations of culture. At least, that would be my opinion.
Tim Dahl
June 28, 2008 at 5:14 pm |
Tim,
Know many churches who struggle with it every single year. And in most the cases – always end up being thankful that they had it. That was definitely the case with us last year. There was no question about doing it this year. We feed children all over Granbury during the summer. Over and over we’re hearing, “When’s VBS this summer? We’ll be there!” Parents… oh parents…
Whole-heartedly agree that it is not a bad deal in my opinion either. I had a few kids tell me that the hugs they received from individuals at VBS were the only ones they had gotten in a long time. Talk about tears streaming. Totally worth it indeed!
We have a huge amount of retired individuals in Granbury. A good amount of them are totally convinced that if a little ball is not a part of the event – it’s not worth it. I think that is starting to change. I hope it is…
We’re in a huge stage of transition. Staff coming and going… Not sure if come this VBS (3 weeks) we will still even be here ourselves. But for the moment – we’re staying engaged until we’ve been fully released. It is a wild way to live life and I would not trade one moment. That has to be God……… Talk about being obedient to His will.
Camey