At some point during the course of Vacation Bible School preparations, someone felt compelled to tape this outside my office door:
The pace of VBS is such that I know why we don't keep it up all summer long, but I must confess that now that's over, I miss....
- the kids (From the brand-new faces to the ones we've known for years, they are each unique in their own way.)
- the staff (God bless them for their energy and enthusiasm, their love for the kids, their willingness to run and play and sit cross-legged on the floor, and their endurance of less-than-cool van and bus rides. Thanks, Kansans and locals!!)
- the decorations (I kind of miss the ranch look around here.)
I can think back to some Vacation Bible Schools where we really focused on recruiting new children and canvassed several streets or apartment complexes with invitations. While we did some of that this year, most of our new children came through existing contacts; a neighbor or friend said, "Why don't you come to this?"
Through some conversations with the Kansans, I found out that many from the Word of Life group regularly volunteer with a kids ministry at their church that reaches out to around 100 children on Tuesday evenings. They have 40 staff, with a goal of eventually having a 1:1 staff to child ratio.
Most ministries and churches would probably dream of having even a 1 to 2.5 ratio like they already have, but I applaud their desire and vision to not be content with that. There is always the temptation to have large numbers attending an event or program, but bigger does not necessarily mean better. Yes, Jesus preached to the masses, but He also deeply invested in a select few -- the 12 disciples as a group and then Peter, James, and John.
Here's the final VBS video Colby put together for us. Enjoy!
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