Author Archive

National Cotton Candy Day

No trip to a theme park is complete without cotton candy. In fact, it’s such an integral part of the experience, we decided to name the snack rotation for Colossal Coaster World after that wonderful mound of spun sugar goodness. Today is National Cotton Candy Day. Why not celebrate by learning how to make cotton candy that will last the entire week of VBS. It’ll even last the whole summer! Click on the video below and I’ll walk you through it step-by-step.

Cotton Candy Cafe

Fake cotton candy looks good enough to eat & is so easy to make that you’ll want to use it everywhere… promotion, registration, decoration… the list goes on and on. How do you see yourself using cotton candy during VBS at Colossal Coaster World? We want to hear your ideas!

Familiar Faces Coming Soon to a Worship Rally Near You

You never know what you might end up doing here at LifeWay VBS HQ. One day you’re just working away and the next thing you know, you’re being called in to help out on the video shoot for the Worship Rally dramas. Now our video producer, Lynne, is just about the nicest person you’ll ever meet, so when she calls… you come running! But I don’t think any of us knew how many people from LifeWay Kids’ Ministry actually made it INTO the videos until they came out.

Of course these are all cameo appearances… but I guess you could consider this our collective big screen debut. Be on the lookout for us in the Worship Rally videos this summer. Hope you enjoy this little sneak peek!

Angel Ortiz is the man behind all LifeWay Kids resources in Spanish. We are SO grateful to have him heading up the Spanish VBS team. Look for Angel and his lovely wife, Rosalía, as “the TV watching couple.”

James Hargrave’s day job is with 1st-2nd grade Sunday School (Bible Teaching for Kids). But it’s not uncommon to find this showman, magician, and all-around good guy lending a hand to the VBS team. James really loves VBS!

Richard VanCleave is married to our VBS team leader, Rhonda. He got tapped to play a lawyer, but we won’t hold that against him. Richard is actually an area pastor.

Lynne hates being on camera… so SSSHHH!!! Don’t tell her we put her picture up. Lynne looks pretty convincing as a boom operator, but she also served as the producer of these videos.

Here was my big break! See me? That’s my arm on the far right. Hollywood, here I come! A big thanks to Candace (the Queen of VBS), Landry Holmes (Kids Ministry Publishing managing director), and Jeremy (Kids Ministry graphic designer) for sharing the spotlight with me!

Surprise! There’s Gordon, one of our VBS graphic designers. Gordon whipped up the sign he’s holding in the picture and somehow ended up on camera when he delivered the sign to the site of the video shoot!

You’ll recognize Carol’s name from the many VBS products she edits, but her husband and son really earned their keep in a BIG way this year. They are responsible for the amazing toy roller coaster you will see featured in the video. Jeff and James spent TWO whole days constructing the roller coaster together… and still liked each other at the end!

Joyce Frazier’s name was mentioned on an earlier slide, but here she is sliding a t-shirt on the grand prize contest winner. I can’t tell you any more without spoiling the plot. You’ll just have to wait and see what’s going on here when you get the DVD!

Sneak Peek: Coming Attractions

You will not want to miss out on VBS Preview events this year! The team has been hard at work planning new “rides” and “attractions” for Colossal Coaster World that are sure to delight the young and the young at heart. And let me tell you, from what I’ve seen so far, these coming attractions will definitely be worth the price of admission! Today I’m going to give you an exclusive behind the scenes look at two of our newest attractions… the Design Lab and the Creative Zone.

 

The Design Lab will take you inside the heart of Colossal Coaster World for hands-on training and personal consultation with our VBS design team. Mini workshops are available to allow you to hone your skills and learn techniques to take back to your church. Don’t forget your camera as part of your Design Lab experience includes an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at ALL of the VBS sets created for Colossal Coaster World. Be sure to grab your tickets early, as they will go quickly!

 

Learn how to bring the magic of Colossal Coaster World to life in The Creative Zone! This interactive area showcases the best Colossal Coaster World has to offer such as games, crafts, and snacks. Here you’ll find exclusive bonus ideas that can only be found at LifeWay Preview events. The Creative Zone is also the home to the world’s largest (and only) VBS snack contest. Create the best delectable, edible treat and you could be a big WINNER! Be sure to drop by early and often to catch all the excitement! Who knows, you might even catch a balloon animal demonstration or two.

 

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets today for this once in a lifetime experience. We’ll see you at Ridgecrest, Ft Worth, Nashville, or Kissimmee!

VBS & Fall Fest

Could there be a more perfect way to reuse VBS decorations than at your church’s fall festival? LifeWay Kids had our own fall festival last week… complete with food, candy, and games. Candace & I put our own spin on the classic “fish for a prize” game and totally decked out Candace’s office door with decorations from the Great Barrier Reef (Amazing Wonders Aviation).

You can check out more of the great games, booths, and decorations from our fall office party on the Kids Ministry 101 blog all this week!

We want to hear from you… Does your church do any kind of fall festival? How have you reused VBS decorations for other church/community events? Give us all some inspiration!

VBS 2013 on Pinterest!

It’s never too early to start planning, right? If you’re itching to get a jump on VBS 2013, check out our Colossal Coaster World board on the LifeWay Kids Pinterest site. There are already lots of great ideas. Here are some of my favorites…

What a cute hot dog cart! I wish I’d had this for Big Apple Advenure!Source: goscoutcreative.com via LifeWayKids on Pinterest

This is the same technique we used to create an “Enter” sign for Coaster Alley (Bible study) in our decorations. Fun!

Source: ohhappyday.com via LifeWayKids on Pinterest

A perfect roller coaster experience for younger preschoolers!

Source: ikea.com via LifeWayKids on Pinterest

What ideas have you come up with?  If you’re on Pinterest, leave us a link to your VBS 2013 board in the comment section!

Say Y-E-S to Preschool V-B-S!

VBS season is in full swing & while all of you have been gearing up for VBS in your churches, all of us on the VBS team have been doing the same thing! It is so wonderful to get to experience VBS “from the trenches”… not as a job but as Kingdom work! I taught kindergartners this year… 31 of them, in fact! Out of those 31, only 7 were from my church. VBS really is an incredible outreach tool!

This year, my church tried something a little bit different. We added a second worship rally to our schedule that was specifically for preschoolers & kindergartners. The morning kicked off for 1st-6th graders with the traditional Worship Rally, but preschoolers started the morning in their respective rooms. Then at 9:40 (when all of the big kids had cleared out), we got to fly in for a worship rally designed just for us! We had a fabulous leader who basically modified the preschool music rotation teaching plans so that we could sing songs, play instruments, move around, and talk about the daily Bible stories in ways that just wouldn’t fly if preteens were in the room. But it was perfect for preschoolers! We even had time for offerings and practicing the theme song each day.

The kids’ favorite song from the week had to be one called “Always”… and it played a significant part in one of my all-time favorite VBS memories. The song lyrics are almost identical to preschool’s Day 2 verse: “Be strong. Do not be afraid. God is with you” (Joshua 1:9). On Wednesday morning one of my kindergartners came in the door and walked straight to me. “Miss Melita,” she said, “last night at bedtime I got kind of scared. But then I remembered that song. I sang it to myself probably 4-20 times. And you know what? It worked! God was with me, and I wasn’t afraid anymore.”

WOW! A 6-year-old child connected the truth of the Bible to a real life situation because she had “hidden it in her heart” through song. Wow! That’s what it’s all about!

Here’s a little video of “Always” from our preschool worship rally. And if you’re really good, you might be able to catch a glimpse of Gordon, too! Enjoy!

Always — preschool worship rally