June 26, 2000

Small Texas church adapts VBS
to successful one-day format
___By Bronwyn Turner
___Lufkin Daily News
___LUFKIN--When Hillcrest Baptist Church Vacation Bible School volunteers sat down to plan a program last year, they faced dwindling volunteer ranks and enrollment.
___Many of the congregation worked during the day; many were uncomfortable filling traditional VBS teaching roles. Even night programs just did not seem practical for five

AWASH WITH HAPPINESS, Olivia Roberts, 2, daughter of Gina Roberts, enjoys a mini-boat ride in the preschool program at Hillcrest Baptist Church's Ocean Odyssey Vacation Bible School. The one-day program attracted 45 children, more than half of them from the neighborhood area.

nights.
___So the small church--Sunday School attendance 120--took a VBS curriculum and rewrote it. Utilizing their bus ministry, the workers put VBS on a fast-track, one-day only, with meals provided.
___"A lot of folks say it can't be done in one day," acknowledged Pastor Horace Fletcher. "But we went and got the kids in at 8:30 a.m., fed them and started class at 9 a.m.
___"You get as much teaching as in five nights, but it's much more effective," he said. The program ended with a joint worship service, open to parents, and a gospel invitation.
___The plan worked so well that the church repeated it this year, with "The Fantastic Good News Ocean Odyssey," a five-day program produced by LifeWay Christian Resources that they retro-fitted into a one-day program. Even more children attended this year than last, with half the total coming from the neighborhood surrounding the church on Ford Chapel Road.
___"One lady called after she heard about it and brought a van full of her neighborhood kids," said Sandra Havard, an insurance company secretary who was VBS director.
___The children arriving at the church found an auditorium filled with dangling fish cut-outs and even a huge inflated whale placed strategically in the baptistry, with the river scene behind it. "The kids thought that was so neat; he was propped up across it like he was swimming in that river," Havard said.
___The schedule fashioned by the VBS workers started at 8 a.m. with the pick-up of children. They were greeted at the church and given T-shirts with the VBS logo--gifts from the congregation's Sunday School classes.
___The children then attended traditional Bible study and mission study sessions, rotating with recreation and music. Fletcher gave a brief gospel presentation to each class.
___"You don't want to knock out any of your Bible or mission study--that's the reason the children are there," explained Fletcher. "But we had just one joint worship service."
___The one-day format offered flexibility for the teachers, who could come and go according to their class session schedule. This year, as with last, there were as many adult volunteers as children. The staff included a corporate executive, retirees, a school principal, several school teachers and an x-ray technician.
___Director Havard found another unexpected blessing in the new format. She saw new faces in the crowd of adult VBS volunteers.
___"We get a lot of people involved who would not ordinarily come and work in Bible school," she said. "People will come and work with food or drive the bus or clean up, just do anything to help--and they normally would not be working with children. They will come and give us support."

___

Send this story to a friend

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!