A Brand New Colossal Coaster at Silver Dollar City!

Katie DeCilloWhat does it take to build a colossal coaster? At Silver Dollar City, they start with the desire to give families an all-new thrill, something they can experience together and create memories worth repeating!

Outlaw Run - Worlds Steepest Wooden Coaster - Silver Dollar CityTheir newest coaster, Outlaw Run, is making history as the world’s most daring wooden coaster. The new $10 million ride sends passengers soaring through the Ozark Mountains on a ground-breaking wood coaster that includes several firsts. Outlaw Run features the world’s first and only double barrel roll on a wood coaster, with a 720-degree (double) barrel roll. It is the only wooden coaster to twist upside down with a record-breaking three inversions; the world’s steepest wood coaster with a first drop of 162 feet (more than 16 stories) at 81 degrees – nearly vertical; and the second fastest wood coaster in the world, reaching a top speed of 68 miles per hour.

Outlaw Run Inversion - Silver Dollar City

Outlaw Run - Barrel Roll - Silver Dollar Ci

You can ride Outlaw Run now through December 30 (weather permitting!).

Be sure to check out Silver Dollar City, host of the VBS 2013 Theme Video Series!

Top 10 Ways to Use the Kid’s Activity Pak Books

ruth smallYou just never know what you are going to learn at our VBS Preview Events! This past January, I got to hear Kelli McAnally share some creative ways to use the kid’s activity paks with preschoolers. Kelli wrote the 15-page storybooks for the VBS 2013 Kid’s Activity Pak: Babies–2s and the VBS 2013 Kid’s Activity Pak: 3s–Kindergarten.

vbs13-3-k-act-pak-cover

 

 

  1. Act out the book—kids choose colored craft sticks to determine which character they will be.
  2. Match colors in the book—kids draw pieces of colored paper out of the VBS 2014 Inflatable Coaster Car.
  3. Match letters and words—match foam letters, clothespins with letters, or tiles with letters to those in the book. Easy words (such as “God”) also can be matched.
  4. Listen for a word—kids clap or raise hands when they hear the word.
  5. Make up a finger play or hand motions.
  6. Create cards with review questions on one side and answers on the back. Use with a flip chute.
  7. Record the book on your phone—Play the tape while kids follow along in the book.
  8. Put the story in order—talk about what happened first, next, and so on.
  9. Make a flap book using sticky notes.
  10. Count items—use craft sticks to tally.

Kelli also gave us some great tips for reading with preschoolers.

  1. If preschoolers are on the floor, you should sit on the floor.
  2. Hold the book so kids can see it as you read.
  3. Encourage children to talk about the pictures during the reading.
  4. Allow a child to turn the pages.
  5. Guide children to ask questions about the book.
  6. Respect the child who chooses to look at the book alone.
  7. Provide time after a book is read for kids to respond to the plot and characters of the book.
  8. Read a book many times for kids to connect with the characters.
  9. Encourage children to play out the story from a book.
  10. Allow a younger child to skip around in the book if he wants.

Thanks, Kelli, for the books you’ve written and for teaching us how to use them!

Happy reading with your kids at Colossal Coaster World!

VBS New Testaments

thomasLooking for a special gift for new Christians, a meaningful “souvenir” from VBS for kids, or something to take into the home of an unchurched family who visited your VBS? The VBS New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs fit the bill perfectly! There are lots of things to love about these New Testaments, but my personal favorite feature is that the very first pages of these Bibles feature 30 days worth of kid-friendly, kid-centered devotions. So not only are you putting the Word of God in a child’s hands, you’re also helping him learn how to read the Bible and apply it to every day life.

devotions

 

Another nice feature is that the plan of salvation is clearly outlined throughout these Bible’s pages. Key verses are highlighted to make them easy for kids to spot and directions to “turn to page # and read ____ verse” make it easy for a child to use his own Bible to share the Gospel with a friend. There’s even a section that deals with questions kids have about what being a Christian means and what happens next.

 

The back of each Bible contains fun games and activities that encourage children to use their Bibles and reconnect with the things learned at VBS. These activities can even be used during VBS for those times when you need a little something extra to fill the time.

activities

 

The VBS New Testaments are available in HCSB and KJV to match the VBS curriculum. Take a look at them for yourself at your local LifeWay store or on the Web at www.lifeway.com. Got a great idea for using the VBS New Testaments? Feel free to share it with others by posting a comment here.

13 HCSB_COVER13 KJV_COVER

Three Simple Statements

Posted on: by

carol-2Three simple statements, yet they are key to helping you be successful in leading VBS. Have you noticed them? Take a look in your Bible Study Leader Guide, they are right there on the first page of each session. Right along with the Bible story information and the life application. See them now? Good.

Allow me to explain, these three simple statements will help you know if the kids you are leading have made the connection during your lesson. Think of them as objectives, if you will. These statements let you know exactly what you want kids to know when they walk out the door each day. As you are teaching, you can use these statements as a check point to be sure you are reinforcing the main ideas of the day with the kids.

Generally the first statement will be a recall or reminder of information found in the Bible story. The second statement will move kids into applying what they have learned to their own lives. And the third statement generally involves the daily challenge. Each age-group Bible Study Leader Guide includes these statements in leader guides for grades 1-6 they are called “Connection Points” and in the preschool guides they are titled, “What Kids Need to Know.”

All the activities and discussion have been written with these three objectives in mind. By staying focused on the objectives throughout each session, you can maximize the limited time you have to reach kids for Christ!

Five Things Easter and VBS have in Common

Posted on: by

bethany I love Easter! I’m like a little kid about it. It’s not eggs and candy and dresses. It’s the way Christ’s resurrection becomes real as dark winter fades to wonderful lively spring and we hear the old story one more time. It never gets old.

Come to think of it, neither does VBS. Which brings to mind what Easter and VBS have in common (in my quirky brain at least).

1. They’re fun! Easter comes with fun kids’ activities that, if we’re intentional, point the way to Christ’s death and resurrection.  There’s always a danger of letting activities gloss over the story and meaning of Easter, but if we work at it there are tons of ways we can celebrate the resurrection in fun ways with our kids. Check out our Easter Pinterest board for some ideas. There’s also the joy of waking up on Easter morning, knowing that Christ is risen! It’s always true but more real in the sunrise and pollen producing blooms beating out the death of winter. As mentioned, it makes me a bit giddy. VBS . . . well, I KNOW I don’t have to tell you why it’s fun!

2. Community connections. Both Easter and VBS give you a chance to meet kids (and families) who aren’t in church regularly and love on them. In fact, Easter Sunday is a good way to let a larger audience know about VBS. Consider preparing Save the Date cards to hand out to your Easter Sunday crowd so they can know about VBS ahead of time and hopefully plan to come. But don’t wait for VBS! Start building relationships with visitors at your Easter service, even if it’s talking just one person. You never know how God might use that relationship.

3. Volunteers! Easter and VBS often call for extra volunteers to be on hand in your church’s kids ministry since there are lots of extra kids to care for and extra activities to be accomplished. Think about volunteering if you haven’t already. If you’re in charge of recruiting helpers and teachers for Easter, VBS, or both, make sure you thank them for their hard work and sacrifice, and see this post for ideas about handling the extra traffic Easter brings. Try here and here for VBS recruitment.

4. Pause button. We get a chance to pause and realize that our problems pale in comparison to the grand story of God becoming man and dying for our sakes. Our problems also often pale in comparison to what others are facing. Look around on Easter Sunday for someone who could use help or support, then do what you can. Do the same thing during VBS.

5. They celebrate the reality that Jesus died for our sins and conquered death. They remind us to celebrate that truth often, to see it in new ways, to thankfully accept it, and to share it with others.

What’s your favorite thing about Easter? VBS? How can you use them to reach out to your community? Tell us in the comments.

Beginning Well…Ending Strong Part 2

Posted on: by

wooley1 2013Last Tuesday I listed three steps Pastors and VBS Directors need to consider to insure VBS begins well and ends strong. To briefly review, Step 1: determine the purpose of VBS, Step 2: establish dates and a budget that reflects the purpose, and Step 3: enlist a team to dream and implement the strategy.

Step 3 is actually two steps in one. The first, as I wrote about last week, is to enlist a dream team that will also become your core leadership team. This team will not only help you dream possibilities, but will help you turn the possibilities into realities.

Once you have enlisted your core leadership team it is time to enlist and train workers. I’ll share more about this topic in a future post.

Now that we have taken a second look at the three steps to beginning well, we’ll move on to three steps for ending strong.

Step 4: Put promotion/publicity strategies in motion. The key here is knowing your target audience. Who are you really trying to reach for VBS? Which segments of your community are you not only best able to reach, but best able to minister to once you have reached them? Once you know your target audience you can direct all of your energies and resources to reaching the people most likely to attend your VBS and your church. To learn more about creating a promotion strategy check out Six Steps to Reaching Your Target Audience.

Step 5: Stay focused throughout the planning stage and week of VBS. This might just be the hardest step of all. Back in Step 1 you determined the purpose (reason for conducting and desired goals) of your VBS. As you gained support from the congregation and enlisted and trained a team, you helped them understand and own the purpose. But now that VBS is in full swing it is easy to get caught up in the crunch of making IT happen and forget the very reason why IT is suppose to happen.

If IT (purpose) is building bridges to the unchurched, then everything – from registration to the final Amen – must remain focused on building bridges. Each Bible story, craft, and rec game should be used to build bridges to the unchurched kids, students, and adults who may be experiencing church for the first time. If the purpose of VBS is building bridges then sharing the Gospel message and nurturing relationships becomes the focus of every lesson, activity, and every minute. Ending strong means never letting anything get in the way of staying focused on the purpose.

Step 6: Put continued connection (follow-up) strategies in motion. To end strong we need go back to the purpose (Step 1) and change the way we think about VBS. Instead of VBS being “the event” in itself, it must become the catalyst to the event which I hope you will agree is continued connections. For many churches, more unchurched families are identified during VBS then any other outreach all year. When a child from an unchurched home attends VBS, a church hasn’t just discovered one unchurched person. The church has typically discovered – when parents and siblings are included – four unchurched people.

On average, ten percent of everyone enrolled in VBS claims to be unchurched. For a typical VBS of 100 people (both students and workers) this means 10 are unchurched. But in reality a church has just discovered 40 people who claim no church home or affiliation – yet were willing to allow their child attend your VBS!

A simple postcard saying, “Thanks for attending our VBS” is not enough. The postcard may allow you to check off the follow-up box on your to-do list, but it is not adequate if the purpose of VBS is building bridges with the unchurched. Building bridges requires continued connections far beyond the week of VBS, and continued connections requires a strategy. In the next few weeks I’ll share more about creating a strategy for continued connections. Until then, start working on the first three steps. It’s not too late to begin well and end strong!