Taking an adventure
Kids learn motions to the songs during VBS at West Hartselle Baptist Church. The VBS entitled “Big Apple Adventure” concluded on Wednesday.
VBS gives kids a chance to learn about God
Churches across the Hartselle area are participating in Vacation Bible School in June and July as a way to teach children about developing a relationship with God.
One in particular is West Hartselle Baptist Church, which finished up its VBS on Wednesday. The church began its VBS a little different than others by starting it on Sunday morning during Sunday School and continuing it nightly Sunday through Wednesday.
In addition to that, the church offered adult VBS on Sunday night. Its youth will have its own VBS each Sunday night this month.
“We decided to offer VBS for everyone this year,” said the Rev. Jack Redfearn, pastor at West Hartselle Baptist. “We had adult Bible school for parents and our youth is having it each Sunday night. Although the main part of it is this week with the kids, everyone is getting the chance to participate in VBS.”
The theme for this year’s VBS is the Big Apple Adventure, which will be used by numerous churches in the area. First Baptist Church and Walden’s Chapel Baptist both used the same curriculum last week while many others will use it during other weeks during the month.
Some churches decide to do VBS during the evening hours, but West Hartselle still continues to do VBS during the daytime.
Redfearn said it worked out much easier for his church to do it during the day because many of the workers are school teachers during the year.
“Many of them are out of school right now and have free time during the day,” Redfearn said. “It takes a special kind of person to teach our kids and I’m glad that we have a lot of great teachers to help make this special.”
West Hartselle has had about 100 children attend the four-day event. They began the day with a session together in the sanctuary.
Then the children are split up into group depending on their age. They will rotate between four different stations.
The theme has many elements of New York City in it to help kids connect with the word of God. For instance, at the craft station, the students made taxicabs. Another station was the musical backstage, which taught the students motions to the songs during the day. It was decorated to look like a backstage of a Broadway theater.
Students also had the chance to get a snack, but probably one of the most important stops was the mission/evangelism room. This is where the students had the opportunity to accept Christ and also learn how to tell their friends and family about God.
After a prayer, Redfearn played a “faith” game with the students where each kid had to trust Redfearn to catch them when they fall.
“We hope this is a life-changing event for the kids and that they will take what they’ve learned and live for God,” he said.
Other churches conducting VBS this week include Hartselle First United Methodist, Shiloh Baptist and Tunsel Road Baptist, which held a one-day event last Saturday.
