VBS is not the faint of heart

When I signed on last year to do VBS before I started at Affton Christian Church, I had only experienced VBS in my hometown that had a joint effort with the other churches and only had a theme for the week. Certainly no book, and certainly no extravagance.... Boy was I missing out!

This year I worked with Trisha (and helped a little, she bares most of the kudos for working hard at making this go off without a hitch, I only helped where I could...) and VBS happened! This years theme was "Sky" which sounds so simple that it almost seems like it's not a theme, but the creators of this product did a great job using "Sky" as an all inclusive week of fun, games, and learning about God. We learned to "Trust God" and that "Anything is possible with God". We watched movies about Chadder the Chipmunk and did science experiments in "Imagination Station". Overall it was a great week.

Some of the wonderful things that I learned about ministry last week are:

1. Feeding children is a lot like feeding picky sharks. They will swarm when it's something they dearly want. Apparently those things are: popcorn, Popsicles, and ice cream.

2. Apparently the presence of a pastor makes me uncomfortable or feeling like they are being judged. Please please please don't feel this way! If I wanted to be in charge I would ask to be, I'm so grateful you're doing the hard work so I can enjoy working with kids that I am certainly not judging you!

3. Kids get more wound up the later it gets. By the time we reached 8pm I was ready for a nap...and my group was ready for a marathon!

4. Lay leaders are the most hardworking, caring and important individuals in the church. There were countless hours put in by non paid people to make VBS happen and I'm humbled by the amount of enthusiasm and great work that went into making VBS happen.

5. No matter how inclusive the material of all issues related to a bible story a child will always ask a question guaranteed to make most adults uncomfortable! Thankfully (?) I was there to field a couple of those question. However, adults shouldn't worry so much about the questions! Answer them if you can, or simply say "I don't know, let's think about that. or Let's ask Pastor so and so. or Let's try to find some bible stories that might help us."

I'm so thankful VBS taught me some wonderful things and taught my children some wonderful things.

Thanks to Affton Christian Church for the wonderful week!

Joplin: one year later

going to Joplin a second time was both easier and harder. It was easier because I had already seen first hand the destruction. I had already seen the devastation and met some of the survivors. However, it was also harder. Hard to see how much hadn't changed in a year, hard to see how much was still left to do. Hard to see how few volunteers were there compared to the last time.

I met some wonderful people in Joplin this time around too though. We planted trees for three families who had lost their home in the tornado. They told us their stories and were so gracious and kind to us. It was amazing to see the hope of a community come together. It's also not easy to see the overwhelming number of those still in need.


There were boards filled of people who still needed help of some sort. We were overwhelmed to find that out, only to find out that there were stacks of papers that were still sitting in a file that couldn't be even put on the board until other needs on the boards had been fulfilled. Joplin still needs us. They are a community who will rise from the ashes and has already started, but so many people still need the support of churches, people, and organizations. Let us not forget those so close to us.