Each year, we assign Site Shepherds to oversee, resource, and support a handful of VBS locations as they happen throughout the week. Here are some of the stories they are watching unfold that we can all take part in celebrating…
Tewinkle Park Site, Costa Mesa [Lauren Francis, Site Shepherd]
It’s incredible to see the growth of this site! Over 20 new kids have come, all eager to take part in the fun their friends told them about. During small group time, I got to be a part of the 4-year-old small group. The kids are awesome, and it’s fun to really see them beginning to understand the Big God Story at such a young age. However, the coolest part of today was watching Caden Proctor, a squirrly 14-year-old boy lead the group and really take time to listen to each child. Most kids his age are out doing different things with their summer vacation, but for those 20 minutes, he was all about those 4-year-olds and how they could interact with God. Watching students that I invest in on a weekly basis invest in the younger generation seriously rocks my world.
Killybrooke Elementary School Site, Costa Mesa [Lauren Francis, Site Shepherd]
There are 100 kids here! From the moment I arrived at the site, kids were climbing all over me, begging me to come look at their crafts and yelling their ‘Remember’ verses to me. This site is incredibly energetic and fast-moving…but I can tell that kids are having the time of their lives. There are also a ton of middle school/high school students serving here. It’s showing me that VBS is the perfect example of how the next generation can be empowered by the church to lead…because these students are the ones leading small groups, leading worship, playing with the kids, and much more. Their worth in our church and communities is so evident at this site! I also got the chance to see families like the Mohrs serve alongside each other. There is something so special about watching a dad and his two teenage daughters leading story time together.
Town & Country Site, Santa Ana [Site Shepherd: Rae Lynn Lott]
I checked in this morning just in time to see the kids recite the memory verse from yesterday. After that, the site host gave the kids a reminder about this year’s fundraiser, “I’ve got your back!” It’s a fundraiser to raise money for kids to buy backpacks and enough food to feed a family for a month for only $20. I showed the kids a sample backpack of what their money would be going toward. The kids oohhed and ahhed at it and seemed excited that they could be a part of changing the lives of other kids who have less than they do. Next, one of the volunteers from the Senior Center shared today’s portion of The Big God Story. The kids learned about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The woman who told the story knew it so well, she didn’t even have to read it from the book! All the kids were eager to draw pictures to illustrate the story. “Why did have to Jesus die?” she asked the students. “He knew it was the only way for us to be with Him!” answered the kids.
The Alberto Home Site, Yorba Linda [Site Shepherd: Rae Lynn Lott]
I headed to the Alberto home and found a house with over 30 kids. I arrived at 10:45am, just in time to hear The Big God Story for the second time today. It’s so cool that kids from all across the county are hearing the same story, learning about Jesus together and what He did for all of us. The kids were gathered on blankets in their small groups with their leaders who have now become their new best friends. As the storyteller tells the story of Jesus, a kid cries out, “this is the Easter story!”
The Dunham Home Site, Orange [Site Shepherd: Rae Lynn Lott]
My last stop of the day is at the Dunham home in Orange. I caught them at the end of their day as they were closing in games and group photos. The Dunham family was excited because they got a new kid today — a girl from the neighborhood that does not come from a Christian home. This is what VBS is about…the opportunity to share Jesus with our neighbors that don’t know Him. Some of the kids recounted today’s story of Jesus and how He came and died on the cross for our sins. They remembered the memory verse of the day, the one that explains it all: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Share Your VBS Stories…
Have your own story from a VBS site? Share them on Facebook and let us celebrate alongside you.
The Uncensored Truth
Quickly into this weekend’s study on Mark 8, I realized that its main point was actually a topic from a lunchtime conversation I had earlier that day with a few ROCKHARBOR High School Leaders.
We were wrestling with the issue those who work with students are often are faced with: do we soften the message of Jesus, with its convictions and warnings against immorality? Or do we delve into a relationship based on tolerance and wanting to be liked and then get into the heavy stuff, when it suits us better?
At lunch, it was apparent that the majority of the group felt that presenting our students the whole Gospel, including the parts they probably don’t want to hear, was most important. In fact, one leader even stated that he would tell a student, “I don’t care if you like me, or what I have to say, but what I am telling you is the truth, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
I didn’t quite buy it. I didn’t quite like the idea that I needed to present the whole message of Christ, not just the parts that were easy to digest.
And if I am being honest, I left this conversation pretty discouraged. How was I supposed to effectively do ministry with high school students, if I was always calling them out on how they lived their lives? How am I supposed to gain their respect and friendship if I was looked at as someone who would judge them and constantly point out their mistakes (because let’s face it, high school students make a lot of mistakes!)?
Then we studied Mark 8. I realized how similar to Peter I am. Internally, I had just been telling God that I was going to do ministry a different way…I was essentially telling him, “ssssshhh!”
But it became so clear just how much of a disservice I was doing my students. My intention was to present a softened and minimized message so that they would like me, and then I could present them the whole truth. This is a horribly backwards way of discipling them. I was protecting my own ego more than anything else.
This message isn’t just for me, a twenty-something leader who is more concerned with my own ego than the truth. It’s for all of us, really.
The Bible tells us that people will reject us for the Gospel. As Christians, we should be fine with [and used to] people thinking we are absolutely insane because of the things we declare as truth. Because that truth is so contradictory to the truth the world claims.
The world tells us it’s OK to do whatever we want after sitting in a church building for two hours on Sunday. Christ’s message is that it matters how you live on a daily basis. The words that come out of your mouth matter. The way that you pursue relationships matters. We don’t like that message very much.
But the incredible thing we see in Mark 8 is that we have the hope of knowing that, if we die to ourselves, die to our worldly concepts and ideas of how we should present the Gospel, we in turn can pick up the cross. We gain the partnership of the Holy Spirit, and as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7, it gives us power, love, self-discipline. We are not alone. We will never be alone.
So for the sake of my students understanding the whole truth, it’s up to me [in partnership with the Holy Spirit] to declare truth into their lives. Even, and especially when, it’s not something they want to hear.
For the sake of our family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and even strangers, it’s up to us to push our arrogance and pride aside and live as people who declare the entirety of Christ’s message.
Because it is truth. It sets us free. It gives us life. It overpowers sin. It saves, heals, restores, and reveals the way we were meant to live. And it’s not to be censored or watered down.
- Lauren Francis, RH Communications Team