VBS Meeting Notes from February 9, 2011

We met last Wednesday evening to talk about VBS. One of the goals of the meeting was to discuss Bible Stories that would help illustrate the God Makes Me Incredible: How God changes us into what He wants us to be. One of our younger team members, Mindy Peterson had a great suggestion: how about Saul of Tarsus changing to the Apostle Paul. Then we were off and Running!  We decided to focus on the Life of Paul for this VBS - since God really did make him Incredible. Here is a further breakdown of our discussion.

• Sunday, July 31.  Saul of Tarsus went from persecuting followers of Jesus to teaching people to follow Jesus, and boldly. We can also talk about the Gospel, how then Saul obeyed Jesus and was baptized into Christ. We also  talked about Paul putting on the Christian Armor.

• Monday,  August 1. Paul Travels. We can use the "vikings" idea - boats at sea and how Paul traveled on Roman boats. Another thought was when Paul departed the Ship in Malta and the poisonous snake bit him - but had not effect on him. Paul was  a courageous traveler - but as a prisoner - because he was brave enough to teach people about Jesus, no matter the cost. And he saw opportunity no matter what his circumstances.

• Tuesday, August 2. Paul is not afraid to speak for Jesus, even when he was in dangerous prisons. There are several prison illustrations from Paul's Life. The one we talked about most was the Acts 16 story of the Philippian Jailer - when Paul could have escaped, but didn't and so many became Christians because of his willingness.  Paul was content to in be Jail for Jesus - he was not in jail for doing wrong - just for talking about Jesus. 

• Wednesday, August 3. Will be a mixer - possibly a meal or an ice cream social with a brief program highlighting our week. The main goal is to encourage the kids and get  to know their parents.

We brainstormed some people in addition to the normal workers we hope will be able to help us this year. Alicia C., Matt & Laura W., Mike & Peggi M., Doug & Melissa W., Vince & Shannon S., Richie & Tiffany M., Rob & Sherrye D., Tracy & Tammy M., Troy & Robin H., Dean & Susan M., Ross & Stacy S., Kent & Traci H., Tony & Melody A., Butch & Pam S., and others.

Other  concerns are T Shirts.  Rusty wants to print T shirts now that tie in LTC and VBS to advertise. There are some hangups with taking this approach.  One of them is that we would have to sell several of them to make the math work. We took it to consider.

Other items we need to work on:

• Meal for WORKERS - it will be difficult to get kids fed and to VBS on time - so we hope to find help to provide a light meal for the worker bees each evening.
• The Wednesday plan needs to be worked out.
• We need to adjust the schedule because the time frame is 2 hours, rather than 2 1/2 hours. One suggestion was to do more "teaching" during the skits that teachers can build on to reinforce.
• Tracy S. volunteered to teach 2's/3's.

Next meeting is March 2, 6:00-6:45, Room 100.

Update Run In Window About VBS

VBS Plans

We are still working on the plans… but our VBS is shaping up to be another wonderful VBS event. Here are some highlights.

Theme. The Theme is “God Makes Me Incredible”. Two Reasons.

• First, Incredibles 2 is due out next Summer—so theme will automatically be on kids’ minds—as well as mine and several other adults I’ve talked to.
• Second, LTC Connection. This is a dream come true for me. God makes us Incredible, and we are More Than Conquerors! This year, we are asking our LTC Coaches and Participants to plan to use their projects in our VBS! Not only are our kids being encouraged to lead by LTC, they have the opportunity to share the Gospel right here in our community. Yeah, pretty stoked about that...

Date. The date is Sunday, July 31 through Wednesday, August 3. The time is 6-8 in the evening.

• We are starting on Sunday evening for three evenings of VBS program and instruction. Wednesday will consist of a Mixer for everyone and a Short VBS Program.
• We are trying the evening time slot, to allow people who work during the day to help us without taking vacation time, which is getting to be a premium. We want this to be a CHURCH WIDE event… So, please make plans to help.
• Got teacher anxiety about prep? We have blocked the building the entire weekend before VBS to allow for prep.
• This should be well before school starts… and still give time for a breather before the school year.

Help Us. Ways to get involved:

• Pray. Please pray. More than anything, we want God to take what we see as a unique opportunity and use it for HIS good.
• Planning. Our next planning meeting is Wednesday, Feb 2, 6:00-6:45. We’ll have to run a tight agenda to honor everyone’s time. Anyone welcome to join us.
• Ideas. I welcome ANY ideas. We want to include every ministry that we can in this effort. Contact me anytime.
• People. Start talking about this with friends, neighbors, and relatives. Excitement is contagious. We’ll get some literature put together soon, but this page is a good start.
• Willingness. Every year you prepare crafts, classes, snacks, provide rides, and give us lots of smiles… keep ’em coming!

Meeting notes from January VBS Meeting

VBS Planners
This page is especially for people helping plan and lead VBS 2011. You can contact Rusty Maynard or send and email to everyone helping when you send to vbsplanners@centerandpark.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

NOTES from our Last Meeting (emailed to everyone who came and/or Rusty could think of)
I appreciate the wonderful group that met with me Sunday about Vacation Bible School and Teacher Update.
In this message (and also posted at centerandparkorg, look for the "God Makes Me Incredible" button)

I apologize if you get multiple copies of this - I'm working on that - but it's challenging to keep all the lists straight. I appreciate your patience.

• Update to All Teachers
• Date and Time for Vacation Bible School
• Theme for Vacation Bible School
• Our next meeting to work on VBS (February 2, 6  p in room 100)

Update to All Teachers

• Mark April 30 on your calendar, which is a Saturday. We are having a special workshop for teachers and anyone interested in working with our kids. We have a guest coming from IUK to work with us and we will also offer some other training - so please mark the date. Click here for more info on the workshop.
• We are continuing to work on our curriculum filing and planning. More to come.
• LTC is underway. We changed the Bible Class teaching event so that students actually teach under a teacher - and tour the resource room, rather than just video a class. Please help students with this effort.
• Our children's ministry is growing, we had a record crowd last Wed night.

Date and Time for Vacation Bible School

• We wrestled with this issue for a while. Since more and more couples are both working, we think we need to adjust our time of day to allow more couples, especially our men folk to help mentor our children and especially children who don't have a male role model.
• We did some checking to eliminate doubling up as much as possible and set the date and time.
• Date: Sunday Night (July 31) through Wednesday Night (August 3)***
• Time: 6 p to 8 p each evening, except Wed may be shorter.

***Wednesday evening will be a celebration & short program - a mixer of sorts - NOT another night to teach!!  :-)
***Also, since we are starting on Sunday night, we blocked out the calendar for the entire weekend right before VBS to allow for easier prep and set up - this is to avoid anything being scheduled in the building to inhibit prep for VBS.

Theme for Vacation Bible School

• We want for LTC projects to be used in our VBS this year - we see a lot of benefit in this for everyone.
• Also, the Incredibles 2 movie is coming out this summer - Which I can't wait to see - LOVE that movie - this will help our publicity.
• We settled on:

God Makes Me INCREDIBLE
(more than conquerors)

The idea is that it is by following God's Word that we are more than what we can ever be on our own. I think this is very exciting!!!

Our next meeting to work on VBS (February 9, 6  p in room 100)

• Time passed quickly, so we agreed to take this info to pray and think about how we can make it work. We need to think about:
• Classes on Bible Stories we can use for the various ages.
• Rethink our rotation schedule to fit the Time  Frame.
• Think of PEOPLE who can help us.
• Added by Rusty: In addition to LTC, I would like to see how Scouts or SLS or Golden Agers - or other ministries can be visibly involved- or represented - to encourage those works.
• We have allotted 45 minutes for our next meeting -- and we will have to stick to our agenda.
• We did not discuss super sundae Saturday yet, for time sake.

Request of You

• Please Pray about this opportunity.
• Mark your calendars so your family can participate and help out.
• PLEASE SEND THOUGHTS, SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS, CONCERNS to  me ( rustym@centerandpark.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

I praise God for YOU!   I can't wait to see what God does with this effort!