Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to Missionize with the Missions Guys, a podcast of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention offering biblical and practical insight and strategies designed to equip and encourage missions leaders to carry on mission work. The goal is to fulfill the great commission from a church's local community to the ends of the earth. That is why we missionize.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Now.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Here are your hosts, the Missions Guys, Sam Roberts and Quint Richie.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: Welcome to Mission Eyes. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Clint Richie here with our co host, Dr. Sam Roberts. Thank you for joining us. Grab you a cup of coffee and just get in your leisure chair or if you're on the treadmill at the gym, just pick up the pace a little bit. But we are honored that you are listening. As always would ask for you to leave us rating or review subscribe all those things, share the content and but we are just grateful for those that are listening each time as we desire to produce some relevant content for local churches, church leaders as we seek to missionize to be about the work of missions. Dr. Sam we have done a previous episode about seasons in a church and how to leverage the calendar. And we're getting very close to summer and summer gives a church a unique opportunity or unique multiple opportunities that may not exist other times, times of the year, other opportunities for ministry. Most notably I think of summer camps and vbs.
And so this episode we're going to focus on VBS and how we can use that missionally. And by that I mean how can VBS be more than enhanced Sunday school time for the kids in your church? You know, I am passionate about VBS for several reasons, one of which is I was saved at VBS at the age of nine and I know the impact that VBS had upon my life at that moment. VBS remains the number one evangelistic tool for children. You know, as a pastor, it was a non negotiable that we were going to have vbs.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:12] Speaker C: And not only were we going to have it, but it was going to be a week long. It was going to be a big deal for the church and it was going to be a big deal in the community.
I was going to be heavily involved. I was going to be the one to share the gospel before it was taught in classes.
You know, we were going to do the missions rotation, we were going to have a lot of fun and the snacks were going to be off the charts. I mean we were going to have more than cookies and wheat Kool Aid.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that was back in the day, man.
[00:02:42] Speaker C: It was back in the day. I was on the tail end of that, I think the good thing. But, you know, there's just great memories of VBS as a kid and even as an adult, I'm sure you share some of those same things.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Oh, sure, yeah. I remember as a kid going to VBS at our local church there, but also traveling to a couple of other churches, you know, in the area.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: And yeah, I remember the one craft we would do, you know, each time usually that you would work something on it each day throughout the week, and by the end of the week, you had this large craft you would take home that you were so proud of. And yeah, I still have the taste of the cookies and wheat Kool Aid in my system. And when I became a pastor, we made that same decision. We were not going to have the cookies and wheat Kool Aid, but this was going to be a big event for the church.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: That's right. And you know, there are a lot of curriculum options out there. I mean, we can laugh about it, but VBS has come a long way.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: A long way.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: And our church health team does a great job of providing training prior to VBS and looking at those curriculum options and things.
And. And so we just kind of want to look at it again from a. A missions perspective. You know, I look back and. And the churches I pastored, I can go back to an instance where there was a spirit of revival in the church and just something that all of a sudden realized that we were in that time and hadn't had, you know, particular revival services, hadn't been, you know, doing things that we may would do in preparing for season of revival. But I could go back and see that that started at vbs, that the Lord just did something in the life of that church that the Holy Spirit just does in a church full of kids.
Sam Raynor wrote an article where he pointed out that VBS strengthens the unity of the church. And here's what he said. VBS is one of the least controversial ministries that a church can offer. The collective effort strengthens bonds between generations. We all share the same moment together. And the memories made build bridges among people who otherwise would not interact with each other.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:05:05] Speaker C: That was good stuff. When I saw it, I mean, that first statement, VBS is one of the least controversial ministries a church can offer. I thought, well, absolutely, it is. So that ought to be something that we do every year. Of course.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, VBS is one of those ministries that everybody in the church expects you to do.
I mean, they grew up with VBS if they grew up in church. And so I could see why he would say that everybody wants this to happen.
And it becomes and became one of the greatest evangelistic tools that we had as a local church and still is today.
One of the greatest evangelistic tools you're gonna have for your community is gonna be vacation Bible school. Now, Chuck Lawless also wrote an article a few years ago that he entitled 8 Reasons I Love Having a Church Full of VBS Kids.
For a few moments, Clint and I are going to share this with you. I think we may have it in the show notes as well.
But just to talk back and forth on this. And then we've got some thoughts about vacation Bible school that we want to share with you as well.
Chuck says the first reason that he loves having a church full of VBS kids, he said, we've met a lot of kids in our community we likely would not have otherwise met. And I can agree with that. I know every time we had vacation, my wife was a schoolteacher during most of those years. And so I would see a whole lot of kids at school that I wouldn't see at church. But when it came time for vbs, there were a lot of other kids that showed up that I had no idea they lived in the community, lived anywhere close to the church.
And a lot of these kids come from unchurched families. So what a great reason to love having a church full of VBS kids. Because those kids are not going to come to your Wednesday night children's meetings, your student ministry. But they show up then, and it's a great way to meet them, to meet their families, to love them, to teach them.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: Yeah. The second reason he gives is that the kids coming teach us about our community. You know, that these kids reflect our community more than the congregation does.
And so we're reminded that the nations are among us. You know, I think back in each place, there was kids that showed up. One specific instance I'm thinking about with a Middle Eastern descent, and we didn't know they were there.
The dad taught in public school. And so there were a couple folks as we made that connection, figured out who this kid belonged to and what the connection was to town. But that was the only time they had ever came into the doors of the church and showed up because they saw there was vacation Bible school happening.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's a great point, Clint, that Chuck brings out there, because many times when we just look on a Sunday morning, we get used to the people who are there. You know, but with vbs, you've got a different segment of community. And so you get to see if people. The church is really reflecting the community or not, and what kind of additional work needs to be done. Number three is this. The energy kids bring to our building is invigorating.
And Chuck says, to be honest, is exhausting.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: I've often said there's no tired like VBS tired.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: And at the end of the week, we know it. Everybody is tired. But it's a good tired. It is because we have had a week of seeing this bunch of kids that have gathered on our campus, and we've had the opportunity of just being front row, of seeing them just take in everything that our folks are teaching, asking questions. Just that energy that is there is incredible.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: That's right. The fourth reason he gives is that I love watching our volunteers serve the kids. You know, the last two churches I pastored, we did VBS during the day. We, you know, had the opportunity. We had folks that, you know, were off or retired, but we had a lot of folks that took vacation.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:07] Speaker C: Every year, VBS week, so that they could participate in vbs. And so it was awesome to see them interact with the kids, to see the effort they put in, the way they decorated rooms. You know, I mean, they would spend two days decorating according to the theme and then what they. What they put into the lesson. But it wasn't just adults. It's also seeing teenagers serve, you know, that it was always fun to see that seventh grader that thought they were big stuff, because for years, they couldn't wait until they could be a volunteer at vbs. And so they finally got out of elementary school, became, you know, somebody in the youth group that now could participate.
But seeing that senior or that college student, that. That also became a part of their regular rhythm as well, because they had just seen others do that when they were kids. So there's nothing like watching our volunteers serve the kids.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And one with that Clint, that I've noticed probably in every church I've had the opportunity to pastor in every VBS we've held is that there are some folks who are going to volunteer to teach that may not be teaching on a Sunday morning, but they should be.
And you get to see them and witness just the incredible nature, the gifting that they have. And as a pastor, you're able to cultivate that and bring that out even more and encourage them and then hopefully see them step into another leadership role within the church.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Number five I believe we're on. The kids force us to tell Bible stories in a simple, clear way.
Chuck says we want them to know and understand the story, so we, we adults must teach them at their level.
And that's so incredible of getting down to just the art of storytelling.
And we see that in vacation Bible school.
[00:12:15] Speaker C: Number six is one of my favorites, is having kids around. Let some of us be big kids again. Always said VBS week gave me the privilege and the excuse to act like a kid. Yeah. And I probably took that too far sometimes.
But, you know, I think especially speaking to pastors, kids need to see you not on the platform.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: They need to see you playing games, giving high fives, cutting up. They need to see you teaching class, whatever you're going to do. But it gives you the chance just to be a big kid again.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Not wearing a suit and tie.
[00:12:54] Speaker C: That's right. Yes. Or even the button up. Sure.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Dress according to what the theme is.
One of the joys I always had with VBS was teaching the missions segment. Of course. That's my heart. And so whatever that theme was, I got into the characters, man, and it was just so fun just to be that big kid and to play with the kids and just get down on their level and not stand behind some desk or pulpit or whatever, but get into the floor with them and teach just incredible stuff. Number seven, some of the kids have invited their friends to join them.
They don't know the word outreach, but they're doing it.
And as Chuck says, they do it even better than most adults do.
[00:13:47] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: What a great opportunity of discipleship with our kids to encourage them as they invite their friends to come to VBS with them as a pastor. Hey, make sure that you're getting to know their friend, that they're introducing their friend to you. But then also take the time to encourage that kid who's in your church that has invited that friend and let them know that they are doing kingdom work, that Jesus is pleased, that they're bringing honor to God through this. And you encourage them that's going to stay with them for the rest of their life.
[00:14:38] Speaker C: That's right. The last reason that Chuck writes, he loves having kids or a church full of VBS kids is that we have the opportunity to introduce some kids and by extension, their parents to Jesus. You know, we're teaching the Word, and we trust God to use his Word to change lives. And we may not see all the changes that week, but we're planting seeds.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: And there will Be as we plant seeds, there will be some cultivation that week. But you know what? We got kids that go home and they're telling the Bible story that they learn and they're singing songs. And many of the homes, kids that are unchurched may be the only time that the Bible's ever spoken of the name of Jesus has ever said. And it is constantly planting seeds. Because at vbs, the gospel is the central focus. I mean, we do VBS to share the gospel. Now. There's games and activities and songs and skits. All that's fun. But the focal point is telling children about Jesus.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. What an incredible week. We have an opportunity as a church to come together and to live out the truth of that foundational scripture that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. Make the gospel the central focus.
Have fun, but make the gospel the central focus.
[00:16:14] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: You know, what are the thoughts you got on vbs?
[00:16:18] Speaker C: Well, let me throw this. I don't have this one in our notes, but we, you know, we keep talking about a week. A week. And I know, you know that churches have adjusted and do a shorter, you know, some even doing a one day. I really encourage you to look at why you do a shorter time. I think there is something to a week where you're planting a seed and giving that seed time to take root and germinate, and then you're coming back the next day with a lesson. But, you know, I just, I know a lot of reasons why churches have done that has been manpower and, you know, and a lot of churches haven't been able to do vbs. And so I just want to say, if you're listening and you find yourself and needing help, reach out to us, because we have churches that are interested in and partnering with other churches, established churches to help you do a vbs.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: Whether that's a one day, two day, or even a week. And so before you say we can't do it, let's remember who we are as Arkansas Baptist, Southern Baptist. We cooperate together. And there are churches in our state in your association that would love to help you do a vbs.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And I would encourage, if you find yourself in that position where you just don't have the people power to do a vbs. Hey, first contact. Yes, contact us. But first contact your associational mission strategist. Let him know, because he's going to know of churches in your association that have probably talked to him and said, hey, if you hear from a church that needs some help, I've got a group of folks who would love to come alongside them and help them. So make that the first point of contact your am then contact us because we may know of others across our state who would love to turn this into a week long mission trip and maybe they can help you out with other things. You know, do a VBS during the day, maybe do some, you know, different kind of backyard Bible clubs or some door to door surveys or prayer walking or whatever. It may be a block party, but they could come and do a lot of things in your community and VBS just be one part of that.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: That's right. Yeah. Last summer, you know, we had a group from First Baptist Apollo that went to Horseshoe Bend. No, Horseshoe Lake.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Horseshoe Lake.
[00:18:48] Speaker C: Horseshoe Lake. And did VBS in the morning and then did revival services that night. And you know, as parents are picking up kids, they're inviting them to come back that night and they were getting response from those invites they had. By the end they had family showing up for revival services that came from the kids coming to vbs. So yeah, let's love to have that conversation with you if you find yourself there. Hey, just a few thoughts. I know you've got some, I've got some. We could go on and on. I would just start off by saying, as you do vbs, invite the people in your community and invite them again and invite them some more. You know, make sure your community knows that this is not just an event for your church and make sure they know that they can attend. Yes, challenge kids to bring their friends, but also have some adults, you know, be sure your adults are inviting those in their circle to bring their friends or their kids. You know, I've seen senior adults that bring the neighbor kid, you know, the parents are working and they just get permission, pick them up and bring them to vbs. Just be sure that you are inviting people and make this again more than just an extended or an enhanced VB or Sunday school for your kids.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: So Clint, what have you found are the best ways of inviting the community to vacation Bible school?
[00:20:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I think a lot is again, letting them know they can come. So social media post where you're, you know, getting your, the people in your church to share that, to send that to their friends, to the people in their circle.
You know, if you're in a smaller community, a lot of times it's what it is. But you have a good relationship with your school district that is A chance. A lot of times your school district will help you promote that toward the end of school.
But I would encourage you, depending upon size of your community. But maybe you look at areas where there are a lot of kids, a lot of young families. Why don't you prayer walk that area? And while you're doing that, put door hangers door to door in that community.
Give everybody in your church a flyer, put it in the bulletin and tell them, hey, give that flyer out this week to somebody. If you've got kids that are playing summer baseball, softball, be sure you're going to those games and giving out information about bvs. So, yeah, I just be sure you invite, invite, and invite some more.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
Another insight here, a thought is strategically share the gospel. I mean, train your teachers, everybody associated with vbs, your whole team, train them how to share the gospel, how to take that lesson and have a gospel conversation with the kids, and then how to have those individual conversations with kids that have questions and they come to their leader, their teacher, and they want to know more, you know, so strategically share the gospel. Pastors train your folks on how to do that.
Because the goal of vbs. Yeah, have a great time, have fun, but share the gospel.
[00:22:22] Speaker C: Yeah. And I know the Lifeway curriculum, you know, on the day where the gospel is really focused upon, you know, they. They give a card for each kid to fill out privately, you know, that I'm ready to receive Christ, that, you know, I want to talk with someone or I have questions. And it always amazed me how, you know, we would often talk, are kids ready? Do they understand how many of them just had a yearning to knowing there was something, the Holy Spirit was working. And they may not be there yet, but they were expressing, I want to talk to somebody more about this. And, you know, you got to affirm that child and what God was doing in their life and pray for them. And you just got to see the Holy Spirit continue to work. Some of them, it was the next day or two that, you know, the Lord was continuing to draw them and they were ready. But for others, you just got to participate in that over the next weeks and even months. Another thing I would encourage you, and you referenced this in your role, was to teach the missions rotation. And I want to encourage you, challenge you have the missions rotation and take up the missions offering. You know, I know that's an easy thing you're looking at, okay, how can we reduce this maybe to a couple hours or whatever time frame you want? And so it's an easy thing to Do. Well, we can cut out the missions part, folks. There's been a ton of children that are now serving all across the world. That will go back to a VBS moment where they heard about a missionary serving somewhere and serving sacrificially. And God used that to plant his calling in their life as a young kid.
So I want to encourage you, take the five days, share those stories, talk about how kids can live this out at home and then have something where kids are participating in offering or maybe they're bringing something. You know, I probably was an adult before I realized that you could take up a VBS offering for something besides Arkansas Baptist Children's Home. And I loved and still do that ministry. But as a kid, that's where our offering always went to. Went to the children's home. The children's home.
And so even did that as a pastor. And then, you know, discovered there were some other needs. Maybe it was a local need or a missionary that you wanted to support. But have something where kids can tangibly be involved in missions that week.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Along those same lines, my, my next point kind of goes with that.
And that's go overboard on fun.
I mean, you know, you want it to be a fun time.
And keep in mind, there may be a lot of kids who come to your vacation Bible school, that this is vacation.
I mean, they may not leave the city, the community, all summer long, and this is it.
So go overboard on the fun. It's a great time to be creative, like you said, with those set designs and hallway decorations, the activities, the dressing up as characters, whatever that theme is.
I remember a few years ago, Clint, I was serving as an interim at a church in southeast Arkansas, the youth pastor. And of course, they didn't have a pastor. Youth pastor and the worship leader took charge of the vbs and they did the opening skit things. It was a jungle thing theme, and they had vines across the ceiling and palm trees and, you know, cutouts of animals, all this stuff. But then for the skit, these two guys came out in monkey costumes and they were just having an incredible time, you know, with, with the kids interacting.
And it was just a great team, like we said, for, for big kids to have fun, but go overboard with the fun. Along that line with the mission offering, make this a fun time, that competition between the kids, you know, or the ages or whatever, have something they're shooting for, but also show some videos or something about what, what's. What's going to happen with this money that we receive or. Yeah, I remember One year we, we did the clean water, pure water thing for wmu.
And so we were purchasing those filter systems for a particular place, and we had the competition there. Hey, this is how much it costs for one filter system. Let's see who can raise the most.
And just made it a fun time. So go overboard on the fun.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: That's right. Yeah. It never still hadn't got old of some adult getting a pie in the face. I mean, that seems to be the go to.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Everybody loves it.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: Everybody loves it for sure.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: And when it's the pastor, they really love it.
[00:27:38] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. So then the pastor, if he doesn't, if he wins, he gets accused of cheating and, well, if the shoe fits, wear it.
Another thing I would encourage you is consider having your family night, your closing on a Sunday morning.
Now, I made this change in the last two churches I pastored. Emil Turner is the one who gave me this suggestion. And that Sunday became the best one of the best, if not the best Sundays of the year. Now, it was not without opposition at first, I could imagine, because somebody pointed out, we know kids from other churches wouldn't be able to come. And so I had to remind them, why do we do VBS now? We welcome kids from other churches, but the goal was to see kids who were unchurched attend and reach them and their families. And those families are inclined to come to watch their kids participate on the family day, whatever you want to call it. But when they know their kids are participating in the service, they'll come. And it may be the only chance you have to get them into a Sunday service. You know, oftentimes we would see a whole bunch of kids come to vbs and you wouldn't ever see them again. And, you know, churches can lose hope, man. Why don't they ever come to church? Well, this is a chance to draw them in, and then you better be on your A game that Sunday and welcoming them, making them feel valued and making them want to come back, and then obviously trusting the Lord to do a work in their lives that day. You know, we would always end it with a big meal. Church provided a potluck meal. We'd tell them, you know, we started promoting this on Monday. Hey, we want you to come Sunday. You don't have to bring anything. We're going to have lunch for you.
You know, we would hold all the crafts until that day. So if you were going to take them home, you had to come get them. So that gave them another reason to come. Kids were asking because they wanted those crafts and if they didn't come, then it gave you a reason to go visit them because you went and delivered those things. So you ask your teachers to help you with that, which then leads into another thing. And that's for you to have a follow up plan. Exactly, you know, to know, okay, these kids are going to come and we're going to identify those that are unchurched. How do we go after them, how do we pursue those families? And so I think part of that is you're interacting with them as they're picking their kids up, as they're dropping them off throughout the week. Part of your plan is to have a big family day, have them come that Sunday again, if they don't come, make contact by delivering their stuff. But if they do come, make contact with them as well. Continue to invite them, Follow up with decisions that are made, conversations that you had about spiritual matters. But if you don't have a plan, you won't follow up. So have that plan from the beginning of what you're going to do to go after these families and don't stop until you've assimilated each one of them into a church.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: Hey, that's good stuff. Hey, one last thing that I've got, and here it is. What do you do with all of those VBS materials after VBS has ended? Let me give you a couple of ideas. Don't store them away in some closet where 10 years later you're going to say, hey, we never used this.
[00:31:00] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Donate it to another church in your community, in your association that may not have those kinds of materials. That may be what they need that resource. Maybe donate those to a church plant. Give us a call here. Our church planting guys probably know of teams right now of churches that would love to have those materials and better yet, take the show on the road. Hey, schedule a week long mission VBS with that church plant, wherever that may be. We've seen that happen here in Arkansas with one of our associations doing that during the summer.
Maybe you want to schedule a one day mission VBS in a neighborhood in your town where you can use some of those same materials, you know, and, and maybe you do that over the rest of the summer and take every Saturday and go to a different area and do one of those lessons, one of those crafts, the music, the mission story, just over a couple hour period of time, just some ideas about how VBS can continue and you can use those materials that you spent a good amount of money on to keep it going, that it's a Kingdom Focus.
[00:32:31] Speaker C: Yeah, if you put it in the closet, that thing's probably not going to come back around in your lifetime. So pass them on. Be a blessing to someone else. You can tell we're passionate about vvs because we're passionate about seeing people saved, and especially kids saved through VBS and families reached as well. So if we can help you in anything that you have heard here, feel free to reach out to us. We want to assist you. That's why we are here. And so we look forward to hearing how God works in your church and in your community through your efforts at vbs. Thanks for listening. We'll look forward to meeting back with you in two weeks.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Thanks for joining the Missions guys today. If you liked what you heard, rate and review us on your favorite podcasting platform. And to keep up with what is happening in Arkansas missions, visit absc.org missions.
