This summer, more than 67,000 excited children filled Alabama Baptist churches for Vacation Bible School (VBS) and almost 6,000 of them made professions of faith.
According to James Blakeney, an associate in the office of Sunday School for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), most churches in the state convention used the theme Game Day Central: Where Heroes Are Made. The program, created by LifeWay Christian Resources, spotlighted various Bible heroes using sports-related activities and crafts.
At press time, 1,568 churches reported 177,096 people involved in some way in VBS and $376,969 in missions offerings this year.
Blakeney believes enrollment will rise to about 250,000 and the number of professions of faith will increase when reports from all participating churches are received.
“From all the reports and conversations I’ve had, it’s been one of the best (Bible schools) ever,” he said. “There have been much more positive comments about how easy the materials were to use and how much the children enjoyed the music.”
Truett Brown, director of family ministries at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cullman, in East Cullman Baptist Association, gives this year’s program high marks.
“I’ve been doing Bible schools for 15 years now, and I think it was probably one of the best that I’ve ever been a part of,” he said, adding what made VBS possible at Northbrook Baptist was the teachers and volunteers who gave their time and the overwhelming response from the community. “I give credit to the Lord.”
This year, the church transformed its foyer into a stadium and turned classrooms into locker rooms to get students excited about the lessons.
“But Bible school is more than the decorations, although it is a big part of it,” Brown said. “The most important thing is sharing Christ with the kids. Before they taught Bible school, our teachers had a training meeting where they were (taught) how to lead a child to Jesus.”
All together, 1,200 association and church leaders were trained in state VBS clinics and 9,609 local church leaders were trained by Alabama Baptist associations this year, according to Blakeney.
“Alabama has led the Southern Baptist Convention for 10 years in VBS training,” he said.
“Alabama has a great heritage in VBS. The networking of directors of missions, associational VBS directors and the SBOM (is) important to continued excellence in VBS.”
One of many churches reporting good results is The Baptist Church at McAdory, McCalla, where enrollment nearly doubled after only two VBS programs.
To keep the students interested throughout the week, volunteers at the Bessemer Baptist Association church turned the sanctuary into a sports arena, including a cheering section in the choir loft and a spirit line at the entrance.
Becky Rainey, children and preschool minister, attributes the growth to increased publicity and the church’s relocation.
Publicity for the event included the use of newspapers, signs in members’ yards and at shopping centers, a large billboard in front of the church, fliers and a kickoff event the Saturday before VBS — a tailgate party using the Game Day Central theme. Church members even planned a Bible school parade but it was rained out.
“It’s the largest outreach our church can do each year because you reach more families and children in the area,” Rainey said. “It’s a fabulous outreach tool.”
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