For previous posts in this series: Part 1 | Part 2

We couldn’t have been more excited about the results of weeks of planning and preparation. We ultimately landed on doing our VBS from 10AM-Noon each day of Spring Break. Our rotations consisted of the bible story, crafts, snack, music, and recreation. The volunteers that signed up to help overwhelmed our team leader. Without their willingness, hard work, and dedication, we would not have been able to do what we did. For example, we had a couple of guys from our church who also work at a local workout facility and they transformed some of their activities and workouts they do with their clients and made them kid-friendly. They loved it! We also had a small team from Union University (in Jackson, TN) come and spend the week with us and serve as team leaders for the different grade groups.

Like many churches, we had a very small budget to work with. So we had to be creative. We opted to not spend dollars on many decorations, but instead, focus on the essentials while making sure the kids had fun while they were with us. One cool and fairly cheap idea we had was for each group to have a different color bandana – so we would be able to instantly know who was a part of what group. It worked out really well!

The week was capped off with a family event. We desired to be very intentional. We wanted the parents to hear directly from their kids what they learned throughout the week, and we wanted members from our church to connect with these new families. So on the last day, we asked parents to arrive at 11:30AM. They came in and we all gathered in a circle and our kids (along with our worship leader) sang some of the songs they learned throughout the week. The kids also shared about the different crafts they made and the bible story that went along with each craft. We ended the event by providing Chick-Fil-A box lunches for everyone! Our volunteers and church members intentionally spread out among the different families to have conversations with the kids and parents about what they learned as well as just getting to know them. We loved getting to meet new friends and hopefully by connecting in this way, as families might visit our church, they’ll have a familiar, friendly face when they show up on Sunday.

With over 40 kids taking part and getting to meet over 20 new families, we considered our first ever Spring Break VBS a success. It took tons of planning, preparation, and time to make it happen, and now we continue to pray that the Gospel message we shared each day would take root in the homes of these 20+ families and that the Lord would soon draw them to our church. Praise God for his provision and his grace! He showed up in a big way during our VBS and we are already looking forward to what He has in store for us in the future!!

If you missed last week’s post, CLICK HERE to catch up on our church’s story of how the idea of our Spring Break VBS was born.

Our location was set. Now the promotion and planning needed to take place. We had never done something like this before. Our church is only 2 years old and not being as established in our community, we have certain challenges that we know we have to overcome.

One of the biggest helps that we had was LifeWay’s Backyard Kids Club Director Guide. Like I mentioned before, we had never planned a VBS before, so this simple guide literally saved us hundreds of hours of putting things together. From the promotional ideas to planning our schedule, activities, rotations, etc. it had us covered. I remember our pastor saying it took out a lot of the guess work and mystery of what we needed to do. Although we weren’t doing a Backyard Kids Club per-say, all of the principles were still very applicable. And although we adapted a lot of the ideas from the guide because our context was different, it was a solid foundation and starting point.

We decided to concentrate on a limited number of families to reach. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the school was literally within 1-2 miles of over 3500 families. So we used the power of postal codes and postal routes to send out a postcard to a specific group of homes. We spent time passing out water bottles at our YMCA (where our church meets), having conversations with families in the surrounding neighborhood of the school, and getting the word out via our church member’s social media channels. We had to be very intentional about our promotion because our church is only 2 years old and not as established as most churches in our community. We wanted to target specific neighborhoods surrounding the school, and so we made sure those specific families knew who Redeemer Church was and what was taking place at the school just down the road.

Several weeks of promotional work was now complete. Together as a church family, we spent time in prayer asking God to draw families to our Spring Break VBS. We were never concerned about how many people would come, but that the Lord would bring those who needed to come and that we would get an opportunity to share the Gospel message and story of redemption to those who have not heard what Jesus has done for them.

Next week, I”ll wrap up our story and share what God did during our week of VBS. Stay tuned!

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When you think VBS, most of us think of summer. But when you are a smaller church plant, like my family is a part of, the summer months are often a challenge to organize a large ministry effort, especially a Vacation Bible School.

But perhaps there would be a better time during the year to hold a VBS? We know that VBS is a great opportunity to reach unconnected families and it is one of the largest evangelistic ministries that the Lord has blessed the Church with. We know that during Spring Break there are lots of families in our community that do not travel, do not go on vacation, and most parents need something for their kids to do while they are working during the day since school is not in session. And so when a small team from our church met to discuss ministry opportunities during Spring Break, the idea of doing VBS was born! Turns out, we aren’t the only ones that have had this idea! Check out this recent post on our blog that highlighted another church in our community who also held a Spring Break VBS!

Being a church plant though, we would have different challenges than FBC Gallatin. Obviously, location was going to be a challenge. The local YMCA (where we meet each weekend) would still be open for business and could not accommodate us during the day, so that option was out. The type of facility we desired needed to have plenty of indoor space for small groups, but also ample space for recreation. We needed access to restrooms, tables, chairs, etc. And we needed our facility to be in a location that is easy to get to and is well known to the community, in order for families to be comfortable letting their kids be a part. Our wish list seemed impossible to meet.

But what about all of those school buildings that are sitting empty during Spring Break? Would it be possible to find one that fit all of these criteria? By the Lord’s grace, our pastor was blessed to be able to reach out to a specific principal in our district who agreed to let us use part of their facility, including the cafeteria and the gym. Not only was the space ideal, but the location of the school was within 1-2 miles of over 3500 families! We were pumped!  The biggest piece of the puzzle had been solved.

Over the next couple of weeks on the blog, I’ll share more about our experience with our Spring Break VBS. We saw over 40 kids (which represented over 20 different unreached families) take part. We couldn’t be more excited! More to come, so stay tuned!