El Paso church reaches children through VBS, sports camp

EL PASO—Journey of Faith Community Church in El Paso doesn’t have a building of its own, but that doesn’t stop church members from ministering each year to the families in their area through Vacation Bible School and sports camps.

Last year, 261 children participated in the combination VBS and sports camp. This year, the 106-degree heat and blustery winds lowered that number, but more than 200 children still attended, Pastor Herb Mims said.

Each day, workers arrived about 7 a.m. to set up tents in a park near the school where the church met for services. Since the activities took place in a public park instead of church property, the tents had to be set up and taken down daily.

Each morning kicked off with gathering the children for singing, like many other Vacation Bible schools. After the music, children chose their activity—basketball, soccer, flag football or volleyball. Typically, a child stayed with the same sport each day for the entire week.

Volunteers planned activities especially for preschool children during the sports activity portion of the morning.

“It takes a lot of volunteers from outside our church family,” Mims said. Many of the volunteers are teachers and coaches who are off from their paying jobs during the summer and volunteer to help the congregation of about 50, including its own children.

“This is a cooperative effort between us and the community,” he said.

This marked the seventh year the church has held a Vacation Bible School—all without having a church facility.

The first year, Mims and others distributed 6,000 flyers telling about the VBS that would be held at his home. Twelve children came.

Gayle Hogg, a retired pastor, teaches a Bible lesson to children at an outdoor Vacation Bible School and sports camp sponsored by Journey of Faith Community Church in El Paso. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Herb Mims)

“We asked ourselves why the children didn’t come. We realized quickly that people don’t send their children to strangers’ homes,” Mims recalled.

The next year, in an effort to attract more children, the church added the sports camp and changed the venue to a public park.

The number of children tripled and  continued to grow until heat slightly withered the crowd this year, Mims noted.

Each year also seems to draw at least one family to the church as well, he said.

“We always baptize people as a result of this,” he added.

Participants make the connection between the weeklong sports camp and the church that sponsors it.

“The great thing is the park is so close to the school where we meet. We can point and say, ‘That’s where we meet,’” Mims said.