Some churches write their own Vacation Bible School (VBS) material but hold VBS on church grounds. Other churches choose to conduct VBS offsite but use pre-written materials. First Baptist Church, Springville, chose an even more unique approach this year and took its VBS one step further — by both writing its own material and holding the event outside of the church walls to reach its community.
The result? “It caught on like a firestorm,” said Andy Waits, associate pastor of First, Springville. “We had more nonchurch kids attend … than church kids.”
The idea for an offsite, personalized VBS started with church member Angi DuPre.
Waits explained, “We had been doing the traditional VBS for many years and always seemed to get the same results — mostly our church kids and kids from other churches. We wanted to reach kids who did not go to church anywhere. Angi came up with the idea of taking [VBS] to [Big Springs Park in downtown Springville] where they had a splash pad that many kids come to during the summer.”
First, Springville, fully embraced the idea to minister to its own community and do something designed to reach the lost and disciple believers, Waits added.
The church wrote its own material for the event based on the Book of Jonah and created its own graphic art — even the theme, crafts, snacks, music and games were all envisioned in-house.
The term “VBS” was repackaged as “Summer Blast,” and every child attending the event received an orange glow-in-the-dark T-shirt, which attracted other children to participate, Waits said.
DuPre, who served as Summer Blast’s director, added, “[Summer Blast] was all outdoors and just a different kind of setting that was … very much a success.”
She noted that seeds of the gospel were planted during the event, which was held June 2–6 from 6 to 8 p.m. “I think that our church made a difference in our community,” she said.
Waits agreed. “Deeper disciples were made; when the kids left Summer Blast they knew the entire story of Jonah — not just that he was swallowed by a fish but why and how that applies to our life,” he said. “The community now sees that we are interested in building relationships with them. … Most of all, God was glorified because His people chose to step out of their comfort zone and take the gospel to a lost and sinful world.”
He added, “For generations we have asked the community to come to us, but this year we went to them. We don’t want to be seen as the high church, looking down from our hill. We want to be seen as the historic church that is still alive with the Holy Spirit … and that cares about people.”
Waits noted that if “a 198-year-old First Baptist Church” can produce this type of event, other churches can too.
“We believe the Scripture teaches that if you focus on spiritual growth and making disciples, the numbers will take care of themselves. We were much more concerned about the spiritual growth of this event than how many kids showed up each night,” he said.
Looking ahead
Both Waits and DuPre noted that with the success of the recent event, the church plans to conduct Summer Blast again next year.
“We learned a lot and have a few minor adjustments,” Waits said, adding that the event’s overall format will remain the same for 2015.
DuPre wanted Summer Blast’s format and materials to be easily reproducible for others to use — and even implemented in other countries. She said First, Springville, recently sent a missions team to Ecuador and, while there, the team used some of Summer Blast’s materials to minister to children.
For churches interested in learning more about First, Springville’s Summer Blast and how they can reach their own community through this type of outreach, call the First, Springville, church office at 205-467-7979.
“We would love to speak with them and share more of the story of what God is doing through this event,” Waits said.
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