Helping Haiti through Vacation Bible School January 21, 2010

Southern Baptists are mobilizing to assess disaster relief needs after the largest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti the evening of Jan. 12.

The initial Southern Baptist disaster relief effort will be led by Florida Baptists, who have had ministry relationships in Haiti for more than 20 years and currently have six staff members who live and work in the country, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response (BGR), a Southern Baptist relief and development organization. The International Mission Board does not have long-term personnel stationed in the country.

Initial funding for the relief effort will be provided by the IMB’s disaster relief fund which operates on a “dollar in, dollar out” basis, which means that 100% of the money donated is used to provide disaster relief. Contributions to the relief effort can be made online at gobgr.org.

Apart from donating to the disaster relief effort via gobgr.org, you can help greatly by joining in focused prayer for Haiti’s 9 million people, more than 80 percent of whom live below the poverty line, said David Brown, who with his wife, Jo, directs BGR work in the Americas.  (To see the full article, go to http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?StoryID=8281&LanguageID=1709.)

The Saddle Ridge Ranch missions rotation recommends a mission action project in partnership with Baptist Global Response (BGR) to provide In-Home Care Kits for AIDS patients in Sub-Saharan Africa.  In light of the huge need in Haiti, your church might consider giving an offering to BGR’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

As the situation in Haiti changes, I’m sure there will be other opportunities to give and serve through your Vacation Bible School this summer. We’ll do our best to keep you linked to Christian organizations that are working in this devastated area.

Resources:
LifeWay’s Haiti Response page: www.lifeway.com/haiti
International Mission Board site: www.imb.org
Baptist Global Response site: www.gobgr.org
Florida Baptist Convention site:  www.flbaptist.org
Free Sunday School lesson about responding to natural disasters: http://www.lifeway.com/fileclick/?id=8346

A Little Christmas Cheer from LifeWay VBS! December 14, 2009

Thanks to LifeWay News for a little coverage on how we are thinking about Vacation Bible School, even during the Christmas season!! – Check out Ho, Ho, Yes! It’s VBS!

And as a Christmas gift to you, we are giving away 2 free downloads of Worship KidStyle songs from Lifewayworship.com. Enter the code CHRISTMAS2 during checkout to receive your two free downloads

Maximum value $3. Must be used in one session. Expires 12/31/09.

Space is limited at VBS Preview Events! December 1, 2009

Two of our VBS Preview Events are already sold out (January 8-9 at Ridgecrest and January 29-30 in Nashville), so you’ll want to go ahead and register soon to make sure you have a spot!

AND – To celebrate our newest preview event locations (Ft. Worth, TX and Las Vegas, NV), we are giving away a free VBS 2010 Quick Scene Wall Art set (an $8.99 value) to anyone who registers by 12/15/09 for the following events (and if you’ve already registered for one of these events, we’ve got you covered!)

VBS Preview 1 – January 14 – 15, 2010,  Travis Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Worth, TX
VBS Preview 2 – January 15 – 16, 2010, Travis Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Worth, TX
VBS Preview Sneak Peek – January 22 – 23, 2010, Green Valley Baptist Church, Las Vegas, NV

To register by phone, call 800.254.2022.
*An email with a coupon for a free VBS 2010 Quick Scene Wall Art set to be redeemed at the VBS Preview Event will be sent to all Fort Worth and Las Vegas attendees who register by 11:59 PM on 12/15/09. Coupon can only be redeemed at the VBS Preview Event. Coupon will not be honored at LifeWay Christian Stores.

VBS Mission Project Idea – Providing Beds to Orphans November 6, 2009

Because Sunday, November 8th is Orphan Sunday, I wanted to let you know about a mission project opportunity that deals with helping orphans. Statistics say that there are more than 143,000,000 orphans in the world (some say up to 210,000,000), and as you are beginning to plan your Vacation Bible School, consider doing a mission project that will help meet the needs of these orphaned and abandoned children.

There are many organizations that do work to aid orphans around the world, but I want to let you know about one that was founded here in Middle Tennessee that is called Sweet Sleep. This non-profit organization was started by a friend of mine, Jen Gash, after she went on a mission trip to Moldova and saw the living conditions at the orphanage she visited.  The mission of Sweet Sleep is simple – to share God’s love by providing beds to the world’s orphaned and abandoned children.

This organization means so much to me because there is an orphanage in Moldova that I have been going to for the last 3 years, and Sweet Sleep has provided a bed for all of the children that I know and love from that orphanage. Sweet Sleep has provided beds for many of the orphanages in Moldova, and they are now working in Haiti and in Uganda.

Consider doing a “Build-a-bed” mission project for your 2010 VBS.  Their website provides information on how to do the project, plus resources like downloadable videos and craft project ideas.

Just to give you a glimpse of what they are doing in Uganda, here’s their latest video, which you can download here.

VBS still top outreach event! November 4, 2009

According to a survey conducted among 801 Southern Baptist pastors by LifeWay Research, Vacation Bible School is still the top outreach event in the SBC! Here’s an excerpt from the article:

LifeWay Research reveals top evangelism activities

Written by Mark Kelly

NASHVILLE, Tenn., 10/7/09 – When it comes to evangelistic outreach, the most common methods Southern Baptist churches use these days are Vacation Bible School, feeding ministries, visitor follow-up and prayer for people who have not made a decision to receive Christ.

Most pastors, however, struggle to lead by example in personal evangelism, and churches don’t make the most effective use of available media to communicate with people who are unchurched, meaning those not associated with any church.

These were the key insights drawn from an online study, conducted by LifeWay Research, that asked Southern Baptist pastors more than 30 questions about their personal evangelism efforts, evangelism in their preaching, their church’s evangelism methods and advertising outreach methods used to reach their communities.

Events and ongoing activities

By far the most common outreach event conducted by Southern Baptist congregations is Vacation Bible School. Eighty-five percent of pastors say their churches held VBS in the past 12 months.

To read more of this article, click here!

VBS Tools Online Feedback October 28, 2009

We are about to start development on VBS Tools Online for 2010, and I need some help in determining what functionality needs to be added, tweaked, etc.  I started a forum about it on our VBS Community, but you can also comment here on the blog. Any suggestions?

VBS Music Preview October 20, 2009

At LifeWay Kids Conference last week, the Young Musicians Honor Choir from Oklahoma did such a great job with the premiere of the VBS 2010 Saddle Ridge Ranch music. I put together a video of some of the highlights for you, but I need to warn you ahead of time – I’m not the best videographer in the world (so you may experience some motion sickness while watching).

I really was blessed to see these kids worship as they sang these songs – It’s very touching to hear them sing “I just wanna be like Jesus” and be able to tell that they really do mean it!

Recycling VBS 2009 Decorations October 16, 2009

While at LifeWay Kids Conference, I stuck my head into the room where the VBS 2010 classes were taught to see the decorations. Turns out the teacher of the class, Mark Jones (from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma), had taken some VBS 2009 decorations and recycled them to work with VBS 2010! My favorite was the way he turned the Railway Station from Boomerang Express into Blazing Star Stables for Saddle Ridge Ranch!  Here’s a picture of that and some more decorations from the class:

Anybody else got some ideas about recycling your VBS 2009 decorations?

First glimpse of VBS 2010 . . . August 7, 2009

Although it’s not the primary reason we have LifeWay Kids Conference, it kinda serves as a first glimpse into VBS 2010 for those who attend. There is a premiere of the VBS 2010 musical, plus it’s the first time our VBS catalogs are available, and there are even a few classes about VBS there.

Besides giving a first glimpse of VBS 2010, this year’s conference promises to be GREAT! If you are a Kids Ministry Leader, make plans to join us in Arlington, Texas on October 12-15, 2009. In our general sessions, you’ll hear from keynote speakers and guests like Dr. Gary Chapman, D. Micheal Lindsay, John Kramp, Ken Davis, The Skit Guys, Dr. Mary Manz Simon, Dr. Richard Couey, and Chris and Diane Machen.

There are also a ton of workshops that you can attend! Click here for an alphabetical list of the workshops that are offered.

Early Bird registration rates have been extended until September 1st! And if you register and book your hotel reservation at the Sheraton Arlington by August 15th, you’ll be entered into a drawing to receive one night FREE during your stay!

Here’s a link to the LifeWay Kids Conference webpage where you can get more info and download a brochure.

Hope to see you there!

Some video from VBS Day! July 31, 2009

Thanks to our communication department for the great video of the activities from our VBS day! You can see some of the sets that were built and used during our VBS 2010 promotional video and photo shoot, see what the VBS shirts will look like for 2010, and hear from some employees who work on LifeWay VBS!