Posts Tagged ‘lifeway kids’

VBS Workers Needed! Where Are They?

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wooley1 2013Recently we asked our VBS Facebook friends to share their prayer needs. Overwhelmingly the requests were for additional workers. Although I wish it were not the case, this response did not come as a surprise. Time and again we hear from VBS leaders that one of their greatest needs is willing workers.

Here are six steps to consider during the final days of enlistment for VBS 2013.

Step 1: Put your strongest and most experienced workers in speaking or lead roles. This will take the pressure off apprehensive volunteers and well as scale back the pressure on you to find workers who already know how to teach or lead the different areas of VBS.

Step 2: Look beyond the usual list of workers. It may be that the very best VBX leader is someone you have not even considered. I write from personal experience here. We were desperate for workers willing to spend a week with sixth graders. We had a lead teacher but no one else had stepped forward.

One afternoon Dava (our VBS director) said, “I think we should ask Tim if he would help us with the sixth grade.” Obviously my response was, “I can’t see Tim saying yes. I really can not see him relating to sixth graders.”

Thankfully Dava won the day and asked Tim, who obviously said yes – otherwise there wouldn’t be a story here.

To put it simply, Tim was awesome! After VBS he came to me and said he would really like to continue the experience by working with sixth graders in Sunday School. How often does that happen?

Within a few months Tim became the director of the department, and within the year he had expanded his ministry to include an extremely successful community outreach basketball program for inner city kids.

Thankfully Dava looked beyond the usual!

Step 3: Realize that quiet often the problem with recruiting volunteers might just be you and your attitude about enlisting. It is not unusual to find a director who is uncomfortable personally asking people to help. As a result, the director depends on bulletin announcements – the lest effective way to enlist workers – and then is bewildered when few if any respond.

Typically there are more people then we realize who will say yes if personally asked, but will never respond to mass appeal. If you have a difficult time recruiting personally, enlist a team of people who are good at it. In this way you are recruiting only a few people who in turn will recruit the masses. Beside, getting more recruiters on the team will help take care of the issue of looking beyond the usual list of workers.

Step 4: You also need to realize that there are potential volunteers who are willing to help, but might never volunteer because they feel inadequate,or are afraid to volunteer only to be rejected because the position has been filled by someone else. Often a hesitancy to volunteer has more to do with fear of rejection then fear of the job.

Step 5: When you do ask someone to help, make sure you know what you are asking him to do. Give him a list of specific responsibilities using terminology that is self explanatory. For example, don’t ask me to be the lead teacher for the first grade class without telling me exactly what a lead teacher is expected to do. When people know exactly what they are being asked to do they are much more willing to agree.

Another aspect of Step 5 is don’t ask someone to just be a warm body to fulfill worker/student ratio in the classroom. No one – even if they say they do – wants to just be there with no responsibility or purpose. Believe me, I have been recruited as a warm body and it was the most boring and uncomfortable thing I have ever been asked to do. When you ask someone to be a helper, make sure you have at least a short list of expectations. People willingly serve when they recognize and identify with a purpose. Give every worker a purpose and show him how his job fits into the big VBS picture.

Step 6: Realize that no matter the size of your church, finding enough workers is not easy. It is all proportional.

While in seminary I served at a church of about 75 regular attenders. A friend served at a church of about 5,000. I desperately needed two additional workers for our preschool Sunday School. One day I whined that if I were at a church the size of her church I wouldn’t have a problem finding enough workers. She quickly informed me that while I desperately needed two preschool workers, she needed a new group of 250 preschool extended teaching time workers every Sunday.

Lesson learned! No matter the size of the church there is always a need for workers. AND no matter the size of the church God has placed just the right number of volunteers.

As we approach the Day of Prayer for VBS this Sunday (May 19), know that LifeWay’s VBS team is praying for you and the workers needed for the harvest in your community.

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

Beginning Well…Ending Strong Part 2

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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!

 

Beginning Well…Ending Strong

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Purple Shirt PhotoAs a piano student – way back in the dark ages – I disliked recitals even more than the dreaded daily practice sessions. Compositions I knew well enough to play in my sleep would mysteriously and instantaneously vanish as I stepped on the performance stage.

In prep for these moments my teacher would always say, “Jerry, begin well, finish strong, and everything in between will take care of itself.”

In explanation, she told me the confidence gained by beginning well would carry me through the entire performance, and the confidence gained by finishing strong would get me back on stage for the next performance. I know I never had a perfect performance, but I learned a valuable life lesson that I believe applies to VBS.

Most likely you have already started planning for VBS 2013, but whether you are knee-deep into the process or just getting started, here are six steps to insure you begin well and end strong.

Step 1: Determine the purpose of VBS: When first asked, this question often sounds ridiculous. Of course you know the purpose! But in reality there are many reasons or purposes for VBS. It is possible that every member of your team will give a different reason for why VBS is being conducted. To begin well it is important that every member of the team have a common purpose for why your church is spending the time, money, and people resources to conduct VBS.

I hope your purpose is connecting people to the Gospel, and connecting people to the church.

Step 2: Establish dates and a budget that reflects the purpose: The long, lazy days of summer have almost vanished and it is getting harder each year to schedule VBS at a time that does not conflict with other major events – both on the church calendar and the community calendar. If your purpose is to connect with unchurched families it is vital to make sure your VBS is not the same week as a major city-sponsored sports camp or at a time when a large number of your target audience is involved in summer school. You get the idea – check the community calendar as well as the church calendar.

Knowing your purpose will also help you budget appropriately. If your goal is connecting with the unchurched then you will want to make sure you have adequate budget dollars for both publicity and for making continued connections following the week of VBS. I’ll share more about this in a future post.

Step 3: Enlist a leadership team to dream and implement the strategy: If you are truly going to connect with unchurched families you are going to need to do more and do it better then you did last year. Invite four or five people to join you for coffee and spend a few hours dreaming. Start by saying, “If money were no object what would we do to identify and connect with unchurched families?” Of course money, or the lack thereof, is a debilitating obstacle, but until we have given ourselves the freedom to dream without limitations we will never identify the very best ways to reach out to the community – which are often the lest expensive!

Once the group of four or five have helped you dream, enlist them to help you implement the dreams. People are always more willing to commit to something they have helped create, plus the dream team has already acknowledged their interest by agreeing to participate in the dream session.

The first three steps are enough to get you started on the road to beginning well.  I’ll return next Tuesday with the next three steps for ending strong.

Building the Swing Ride

Materials:swing1

  • Cardboard carpet tube (often free from carpet/flooring suppliers)
  • Hammered, silver metallic spray paint
  • Yellow spray paint
  • Optional: painters tape
  • 2” thick rigid insulation foam
  • Jig saw with fine tooth blade
  • Colored duct tape
  • Circle punch (scrapbooking tool)
  • Holographic scrapbook paper (with adhesive back is ideal)
  • Large Styrofoam ball (Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnn’s)
  • Medium diameter dowel rods
  • Small diameter dowel rods
  • Red latex house paint
  • Paint brush and roller
  • Blue spray paint
  • 11×17” heavyweight paper
  • Swing template from Decorating Made Easy (CD-ROM)
  • Hot glue gun
  • Rotating Christmas tree stand (ours was purchased online here)
  • Dowel rod to fit Christmas tree stand
  • Scrap lumber
  • Screw gun & screws

 

1. Spray paint a cardboard carpet tub with silver metallic spray paint. Wrap with colorful tape (or painters tape and then spray paint again, then remove tape) to get a “barber pole” effect.

2. Trace a hula hoop onto 2″ foam TWICE to get 2 matching circles for the swing ride. Cut these out with the jig saw and line them up so they fit together. Glue together, paint, and then hide the seam with colorful duct tape. (This gives you a 4″ thick foam circle.) Embellish with holographic circles (cut from scrapbook paper) to resemble lights.

3. Trace the diameter of the outside edge of the carpet tube and then transfer it to the center of the 4″ circle. Cut all the way through so that it can fit snugly around the carpet tube. Slide into position on the top third of the carpet tube.

ball4. Paint a 10″ Styrofoam ball (or as large as you can find). Press it down onto the top of the carpet tube to mark where it needs to sit. You’ll likely need to “carve out” a place for it to fit over the tube. I used a paint can opener for that and it worked quite well.

5. Paint varying lengths and diameters of wooden dowels and then push them randomly into the Styrofoam ball all the way around… these will look like spikes. Position the ball (with spikes) on top of the carpet tube.

spokes

6. Paint long, thin dowel rods (2 per swing). Print the template from the CD-ROM in the Decorating Made Easy book and create as many swings as you need from heavyweight paper. Decorate as desired. Hot glue 2 rods to each swing and then carefully press them into the bottom of the 4″ inch foam circle. Tip: Push the rods in at an angle to make the swings look as if they are moving fast.

swing3

7. Find a dowel rod roughly the same diameter as a Christmas tree and screw it into the tree stand with the provided screws.

8. Trace the inside diameter of the carpet tube and then transfer it to a scrap piece of wood. Cut out with a jig saw then screw it to the top of the dowel rod (think “T”). Slide the tube over this and as the rod turns in the tree stand, so will the whole carpet tube!

stand

Building the Ferris Wheel

As an exclusive to our faithful blog readers, today and tomorrow we will post instructions to two decorating items that cannot be found anywhere else! These instructions are not even in the Decorating Made Easy book! We know you’ve been asking for them, so here they are… up first is the Ferris wheel. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the swing ride!

WR_set

 Materials:

  • 4×8’ rigid insulation foam board (½”thick)
  • Scrap pieces of ½” foam board
  • Scrap pieces of 2” foam board
  • Small scrap piece of ½” PVC pipe
  • Gorilla tape (stronger than duct tape)
  • Construction adhesive
  • Latex house paint and craft paint
  • Painters tape
  • Holographic/reflective scrapbook paper
  • Circle punch (various sizes)
  • Hot knife or heat gun
  • Jig saw with fine tooth blade
  • Optional: Low RPM (8 or so) DC motor, coupling, & housing (for bracing)

 

1. Use a makeshift compass to trace 2 identical half circles onto 2 pieces of thin foam board and cut out using a jig saw. Tape together from behind to make an 8’ diameter wheel.ferris wheel 1

2. Paint the wheel using either latex house paint or craft paint. Lay out your design with painters tape, then remove the tape after painting (see Decorating Made Easy for sample diagram). Tip: Purchase the blue insulation board instead of the pink and then you won’t have to paint a base coat… it’ll just look like blue sky behind the spokes/design!

3. Simulate lights around the wheel and spokes with holographic/reflective scrapbook paper. Use a circle punch to cut various sizes of circles, then attach wherever desired to the wheel.

4. If you want the wheel to move, make a small hole in the exact center by pressing the rod (attached to the motor) through. We attached our wheel directly to the rod with Gorilla Tape so that it would spin as the rod was spinning. If you don’t need your wheel to spin, simply tape it flat against the wall at whatever height you wish and attach the front pieces to it (building on in layers).

5. If the wheel will spin or be freestanding, it will need to be braced from the rear. Cut a scrap piece of 2″ foam into a circle (approx. 9-12″ in diameter) and push the rod (from the motor) all the way through the center to make a hole. Move it around a little to make the hole a little bit bigger than needed. Then cut a scrap of 1/2″ PVC pipe to approx. 2″ length and push it down inside that hole (needs to fit snugly). Use a little construction adhesive to hold it in place. This will help the wheel turn better because the rod didn’t squeal against the foam as it turned and it didn’t wear away or misshape the foam after hours of turning. Tip: Make sure the rod coming out of the motor slides easily through the PVC pipe. You don’t want that pipe too big or too small. Tape this foam circle to the back of the Ferris wheel. Make sure the holes line up exactly on top of each other. Then cut 4 “spokes” out of scrap 2″ foam (each approx. 2′ long). Round one end of each spoke so that it fits snugly up against the circle in the center. Be sure to place 2 “spokes” along the seam where the 2 pieces of the Ferris wheel fit together. This will give that seam stability. Then place the other 2 “spokes” on the opposite sides. Tape everything well to the Ferris wheel. When you get ready to put it in place vertically, be sure to get some help. It’s definitely a 2-person job!Ferris wheel sketch

6. Motor: If you got to see the Ferris wheel in action at any of our VBS Preview events, you probably checked out the back to see what was making it spin. We used the same motor that turned our airplane propeller in Amazing Wonders Aviation. Unfortunately, that particular motor and stand were built long ago so I can’t really speak to the exact specs for those pieces. I DO know the motor is a simple low speed or variable speed DC motor (approx. 8 RPM). These are available from any industrial supplier (such as Grainger, Harbor Freight, etc.). Ours has a rod and 2 couplers (couplings?) with the rod extending about 18-24″ (so that there’s plenty of room to incorporate the stand and anything the motor is spinning). We set our stand on top of a piano bench or plastic crate to get the full height we wanted. If the Ferris wheel will sit behind something else (like a roller coaster backdrop) you don’t have to worry about hiding any of that. Originally I had thought the Ferris wheel would sit in front of the coaster though, so I created a 3-sided box (think project board) and painted it black to hide what would be visible between the bottom of the spinning wheel and the floor on 3 sides. If yours will stand alone or be in front, that might be something you want to consider. (Or you can just drape everything with a black sheet.)

side sketch

7. Cut a round scrap of 2″ foam as a “spacer” of sorts between the base (the box where the motor is housed) and the spinning wheel. This just keeps the wheel turning smoothly and keeps it from rubbing against the motor’s base. It also helps eat up some length on the rod that sticks out (less to have to hide/cover on the front of the wheel).

8. Place the wheel on next. Then comes the piece with the “legs” (see below or Decorating Made Easy p. 30).

legs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Make sure the “leg piece” extends slightly above the spinning rod (rod goes through the top) and all the way to the floor. Measurements will vary. Cut the legs from a single piece of ½” foam (scrap is fine).

10. Trace a small hula hoop onto another scrap of 2″ foam and cut out with a jig saw. Use a hot knife or heat gun to smooth & seal the edges. This circle should be larger than the “legs” as it will be attached to the top of the leg piece and is the final piece of the Ferris wheel base. Paint as desired and finish off with a small wooden or foam circle in the exact center for added decoration.FW closeup

11. Center this circle on the top of the leg piece. Tape together from behind. Create a hole through the legs and into the outermost circle for the motor rod to enter, but be sure the rod does not go all the way through the outer circle.

12. Lean this final piece against the spinning wheel (with about 2 fingers space away from the wheel). There is no need to secure it as the angle and the support of the rod will keep it in place without needing to be secured. If needed, you could tape the legs to the floor from behind.

13. Trace 4 circles about the size of a small paper plate onto scraps of ½” foam. Cut them out with a jig saw or utility knife then cut them in half to yield 8 half circles. These will be the “baskets” where people would sit to ride. Paint as desired.

14. Tape the half circles from behind around the edge of the Ferris wheel.