Spanish VBS Choreography!

Did you know we provide a choreography DVD for our Spanish customers? We began producing a Spanish choreography video for VBS 2010: Saddle Ridge Ranch. I’m so thankful to Angel Ortiz and Elizabeth Works, fellow LifeWay employees, who always are on set to interpret! Otherwise, I would have no idea what’s being said! It gets comical at times.

Constanza, our terrific on-camera host, listens to the English music and watches the choreography DVD. Then, she learns the Spanish songs and alters the choreography as needed. (Sometimes, there is no Spanish word that exactly matches the English word, so the songs and choreography have to be altered.)

The DVD is available in the Spanish Sampler (EBV 2013 Muestrario en español), product number 005490073, $69.99. Be sure to share this news with your Spanish congregations!

Colossal Coaster World Choreography in Espanol! from LifeWay VBS on Vimeo.

2014, Here We Come!

Discovering what our next VBS is going to be is one of my favorite activities as a member of the VBS Team. I have no doubt that God directs our path as this decision is made each year. I send a big shout-out to our terrific VBS 2014 Think Tank participants! After a lot of dreaming, discussing, and praying, we have our general idea (and I love it!). Now, we are working on what the exact title should be and looking at Bible content possibilities. I’m very excited about the theme! I think you’ll love it!

Please pray for our LifeWay VBS Team as we begin to dream what this should look like and what God would have us bring to children, youth, and adults in 2014.

We are enjoying a holiday, and hope that you are as well. (At least I hope all my team members are able to be off today, enjoying time with family and friends or perhaps a little downtime for themselves!) We look forward to seeing many of you in January and February!

On Today’s Agenda . . .

As a member of the VBS Team, I get this question a lot: “You mean you have stuff to do all year?” Yes, yes, and yes! I was at the dentist office recently and the receptionist said to me, “Now that VBS is over, I guess your work has slowed down.” Au contraire, mon ami! We are in the crunch of trying to get 2013 ready and to the printer, and beginning development of 2014, all while churches are wrapping up and evaluating VBS 2012!

I keep a set of index cards, one product per card, and I write on each card what steps have been completed so I can keep up! Here’s my current rundown. . . .

1) Worship Rally DVD

• THE DRAMA: Working with the video editor on a daily basis right now; got approval from my management team on the content and overall appearance just a couple of days ago. Waiting for the editor to make final tweaks and send me an approval copy.

• THE CHOREOGRAPHY: Performance segments have been approved. Viewed the instruction segments over the weekend, and three corrections need to be made. I’m waiting to see those ASAP.

• ABC segment: Video editor #2 is working on that now. It’s due to me any minute for my approval.

• Still waiting to see “Scenic Footage” segment and the “Video Trailer.”

• I’ve created the DVD menu and just sent it to the DVD author.

2) Music Rotation Leader Guide

• Received a final approval copy from the graphic designer. This is being routed through our production editor and editorial project leader first, then will come back to me with any needed corrections marked.

3) Club VBS: Jungle Jaunt DVD

• This is due to me from the DVD author today. If everything looks OK, it will go on to the duplicator.

4) Spanish VBS Choreography DVD

• Talent enlisted. Waiting to receive Spanish recording and typeset music to send to her so she can create the choreography. (It has to be different because many of the words differ from the English versions!)

There are more products on my list, but this is probably more info than you care to read already! I will say, though, that everyone on my team feels fortunate to be able to work on VBS products. So, next time you’re wondering—yes, we have enough to do all year (and we are thankful for that)!

VBS at My Church

What an exciting week we had experiencing Amazing Wonders Aviation at my church— Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN! When we entered the sanctuary, it looked like an airplane had come straight through the ceiling and was just hanging there! Great way to kick off the aviation feel each day. Our average daily attendance was 1,846 (1,380 kids plus 466 volunteers)!

I taught in one of nine kindergarten classes. We usually had 22 kids and six workers in our “Kindergarten G” group! (“Go G-fliers!”) Three of our helpers were teenagers who did not take on leadership roles, but assisted the three adult teachers. That was a great help! For many of the senior high students this VBS is “training” for those who will travel to Chicago to conduct VBS there.

Our church provided a training event called “VBS University” where all volunteers had an opportunity to receive age-group or rotation group training prior to VBS. Our leadership also provided enrichment sessions such as “Leading a Child to Christ,” “Using Teens Effectively as Volunteers” or “Guiding Behavior.”  It was a great time to get folks excited and prepared for VBS.

This is not the only VBS that happens—it’s just the first. The materials are reused to conduct six other VBS events in downtown Nashville, Chicago, Georgia, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Israel.  The missions offering taken during VBS goes to help support the ministry of these other mission VBS events.

Most importantly, 52 children made professions of faith this week. We expect that many other lives were influenced and changed, and that we will continue to see children ADMIT, BELIEVE, and CONFESS.

Video Bloopers!

I love to watch bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage from movies and television shows. Did you know you can see this type of footage on the VBS 2012 Worship Rally DVD Set? Back in the day when we actually shot the video on tape, we would end up with lots of bad takes and extra footage we couldn’t use in the actual drama. Much of it would end up in our bloopers. In today’s digital age, most of those extras simply get wiped off the video card.

Tim Cox

So, coming up with bloopers has become more challenging for our video editor, Tim Cox.

The bloopers always show up in our “Credits” section of the DVD. Here are some fun things to know as you watch the bloopers for this year’s video:

• The guys had to spin that propeller probably 70 times or more before the plane started.

• Michael Kennedy who played the part of our “ground crew chief” is the owner of the fabulous plane we used.

• You’ll see Bill Cox, our video director, hiking up Waimea Canyon. That was a hard . . . let me emphasize . . . HARD hike! We had passed the “End of Trail” sign before we began that descent into the canyon! There’s always a moment every year when I ask myself, “What am I doing here?” Hiking up this canyon was that moment for me in this particular shoot.

Those are just some fun tidbits to know as you watch the credits this year. Enjoy!