Vacation Bible School is an old-fashioned idea.  I’m now 53 years old, and I can’t remember not going to a church with a Vacation Bible School.  In any church I’ve been a part of, it has been an important part of the church’s culture.

Oh, the details have changed.  We hold ours in the evening, a concession to a world in which most parents work during the day.  Our approach is different.  Our music is more up-beat, the sets are more extensive, and–if you come to our church–the dramas are wilder and wackier than ever. 

In this year’s VBS, I play the part of a NY cab driver, “Cabbie Jack.”  Some people are already having fun at my expense by calling me “Crabby Jack.”  I started doing dramas in VBS in 1986, so this is the 26th year that I’ve been some version of “CJ.”  The children and even the adults love seeing their pastor (normally a pretty serious guy) act in a crazy drama.  I’m not much of an actor, really, but the kids pick up on my enthusiasm and my love for them.  It works!

And that’s why we still do Vacation Bible School.  It works.  Vacation Bible School is still an effective way of reaching people with the love and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Children still come–and so do teenagers and adults.  They still listen to the message of God’s love and Jesus’ death on the cross.  They still set aside other activities to come to church five nights in a row.  We still see many people become believers in Jesus during VBS.

So we keep doing it.  And, despite the additional workload and the thousands of details it adds to church life, we still love it.

If you live anywhere near Avondale, we invite you to come and join us.  And if I sound excited, it’s because we love VBS at FSBCA!