Vacation Bible School - Tips for Inviting Children and to Keep Them Coming Back!

Hello! We are back again this week to discuss more about planning a fun and successful Vacation Bible School. By the way, what makes a VBS program successful? In my opinion, you can count it successful if you are able to make contact with new children that have never attended your Sunday school class and if you have met a few parents as well! After all, that is the goal - to meet new children and parents, praying that they might begin attending services and come to Christ! A more open and relaxed atmosphere like a week of VBS provides a wonderful opportunity for the community to see what you are all about and how you work with their children.

One important rule to guide you throughout the program - 

What if a stranger came knocking on YOUR door to invite YOUR child to attend a daily Bible school? 

Think about it!

What would you like to see in that person or in the way he invited your children? 

What are some things that might cause you not allow your children to attend?

Thinking about the situation from the parent's perspective helps us better understand any hesitation we might receive from parents or children. It also helps us think more seriously about how we will go about inviting children to attend.

I believe the best way to invite children and actually have some attend is to walk around the village/city and hand out flyers, hang up posters, and do your best to meet the parents. We even gave out candy or balloons with the invites as well just for effect. The kids become much more interested when they see a big bunch of balloons walking around!

Our daughter (2007) ready to walk through the village
and hand out invites to our first VBS!

When you are walking around and not in a car, you are less intimidating and more approachable for anyone to come up to you and take an invitation or inquire about the VBS program. Obviously, you may need to drive to an area due to the distance away from your church or area where the VBS will be held, but then get out and walk around a bit so you can personally hand out invitations to children and parents.

Another great encouragement to help the kids get excited about coming out as well as bringing new visitors during the week is a point system. We have used a point system every year, and it is a great motivator. Here is the general breakdown we use...

Attendance

Memorizing Daily Memory Verse

Bringing Worksheets back each day

Participation

Bringing a First-time Visitor

VBS 2007

The point values can be determined based upon your needs/plans. One determining factor for us is that we have a "store" at the end of the week where the children can spend their points to purchase toys and small items. Usually, on Thursday evening, my husband and I pull out all of the items so that we can give them "prices" based on the number of points the children have earned during the week. We do this in order to be sure that every child can take something home, even if he was only able to attend one day during the week. 

Preparing the store - VBS 2012

VBS 2009 Store

Another idea that we tried this past year with our Olympic theme was to award the first, second, and third place winners for most verses memorized and most visitors brought. These children were rewarded with gold, silver, and bronze medals. This was a great idea to me, and I think we will implement it into future VBS programs even though we will use other themes besides the Olympic theme.

Scripture Memorization winners (2012).
They were wet from playing water games!

I will leave you with one more piece of advice in using a point system. You must have a very organized method to keep track of each child's daily points.
This gives us great material for next week's VBS post! 

See you then!

Chicken & Biscuit Pie

 

Do you like chicken pot pie?

I do!

When I was growing up, my mother rarely bought pre-fab food, but every once in a while, when the little pot pies were on sale, she'd buy them. We only got to eat them when we had a baby sitter, but oh, how I looked forward to them!

Now that I'm grown, I love the IDEA of pot pies, but I'll be honest, I'm still working on my pie crust techniques. Until I found this recipe, I just dreamed of those cute little guys I used to love to eat.

A biscuit topping!?! I can do that.....mom taught me to make biscuits when I was big enough to hold the fork and bowl and cut in the butter!

No more dreaming of pot pie, now I dream of eating it!

Chicken & Biscuit Pie

Filling:

4 Tbsp. butter

1 c. onion, finely chopped

1 rib celery, finely chopped OR celery seed/salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)

1/3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. chicken stock

1 1/2 c. whole milk

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

2 1/2 c. cooked chicken, diced or shredded

2 c. vegetables of your choice (frozen or leftovers)

salt and pepper

Topping:

2 c. flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. cold butter, cut into 1/4-in. pieces

3/4 c. milk

Melt the butter on the stove top in a large oven-safe pot. 

Stir in the onion and celery, then cover the pan and cook them for 7-8 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the flour, stirring for 1-2 minutes to lightly brown it. 

Whisk the chicken stock into the pan. 

When it starts to thicken, whisk in the milk.

Add the sage, thyme, chicken, and vegetables, continuing to stir until the mixture is heated through, about 5-7 minutes.  

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove the pan from the stove top and heat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Meanwhile, make the biscuit topping by combining the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the dry ingredients.  

Add the milk and stir briskly, just until the dough pulls together. 

Flour your work surface and turn the dough onto it.

Using floured hands, knead the dough 2 or 3 times; then flatten it to about 1/2-in. thick.

Using a small round cutter, cut the dough into biscuits and place as many as will fit, barely touching, on top of the filling. 

Bake the pot pie until the biscuits are golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. 

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy! 

Sunny-Side-Up Saturdays

This week, we have some stories from Donna Schepers. She and her husband Stewart are missionaries in the Dominican Republic. They have 4 children: Delayna 15, Julianna 13, Seth 6, and Jesse 5. She blogs at http://donnasdominicandaily.blogspot.com/ if you would like to follow her blog.

The boys, or maybe it is just Jesse, really keep us entertained. That entertainment doubled while we were traveling on furlough! Jesse pointed out every stop sign; and when it was a large sign, he yelled (at the top of his lungs), “STOP!” He also pointed out all the "oil pumper" things (oil wells), and he got very excited any time that he saw a train. He also asked, "How many more aisles (miles) until we are there?"

We were at my mom's house, and my boys just about gave her a heart attack. I was in the room packing, and I thought the boys were playing with Delayna outside. All of a sudden, my mom started screaming, "SOMEONE HELP THE BOYS; HURRY!" I took off running, not sure what was wrong. What had happened was that Delayna had come inside, and the boys had gone up to the top of the hill and gotten in my mom's utility wagon and were riding down the hill in it (through a maze of trees with a ditch and a road at the bottom). Somehow they had stopped halfway down, and Seth was about to give a push to get them going again when I got out there and stopped them. My mom was sick the rest of the day. I told her that now she knows how I feel daily!

One night in a motel, Seth was lying on the bed looking up at the fire sprinkler in the ceiling and said, "Don't tell me that is the fan!" He is so used to ceiling fans; he thought that was a very small one!

Then, we were at our first meeting at a supporting church. I was talking to the pastor's wife, who was very pregnant, and Jesse almost punched her in the stomach. I told him not to do that and said that she had a baby in there so he needed to be careful. He squatted down and looked up under her shirt; then, he stood up and said, "She does not have a baby in there!" I was trying not to crack up!

Stu was fixing a pipe. In the middle of cutting it, his saw broke, and water started pouring out everywhere. He was frantically trying to get it stopped, and Jesse walked up and said, "Dad, what were you thinking!?" You can't tell what we ask him all the time, can you?

Then we have Seth, the quieter one. He was praying for lunch the other day, and in the middle of his prayer said, "Lord, please help Jesse to close his eyes while I am praying."

Thank you for those stories, Donna! I really enjoyed them.

If you have a language blooper or some other funny story that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at loconsford@gmail.com.

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!

Vacation Bible School - Getting It on Paper

Hello again! I hope you are joining us again this week as we talk more about the planning of a schedule for a VBS program on your mission field. If you missed last week's post, I advise you to read it since it gives more information regarding the first steps of planning. This week, I hope to help you get all the ideas flooding your mind onto paper so that you are well prepared for the week of VBS to arrive!

One of the first things we must talk about is the THEME of your VBS program. Now, as I told you in the previous post, my husband and I hold a week long program in the summer; so I will use a week-long program as the example. Remember, you can hold a VBS program anytime of the year as long as you can be sure the children are free to attend. We have been dreaming of a winter program as well, but we have some work to do before we have a building where that could take place!

Back to the THEME. This is one of the most fun things about planning, but it also requires a whole lot of time and thought. I will say one thing here that might surprise you! It is great if you have a theme with daily lessons that flow beautifully and oh, so smoothly, but honestly...the kids don't care as much about that as you do! Please don't misunderstand me. It is great to have a theme, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in the theme that we forget to strive EACH day to use the story or lesson, no matter what it may be, to teach and share the Gospel. Also, it is not always easy to translate or convey our American 'play on words' in the daily themes; so be aware of not making your decor and ideas too "American." Now, I want to share a few themes that we have used here in Russia in our VBS programs. The details are too lengthy to list in this post; so if you would like any more information regarding these themes, please feel free to contact me at:  danddsterling@juno.com

2007: Jesus Gives Salvation - Verse: Luke 19:10
2008: Jesus Is the Light - Verse: John 8:12
2009: Bible - A Living Book!
2010: How Decisions We Make Today Affect Our Future - this was not printed any where on the flyers or worksheets, but each day we taught about important decisions that affect our lives, i.e., Choosing proper friends, Listening to good advice, etc.
2011: The Heart - Verse: Proverbs 4:23
2012: Olympic Theme

Once you have a theme, you must decide on a DAILY  SCHEDULE of events. This is remembering that you have already determined a daily time frame which you need to be sure you can fill completely with activity but not go over. Remember: Plan to keep the children busy at all times.
Busy children = control!
Here are the activities we include daily in our schedule:
*Registration (we will talk more about this later)
*Introduction/point tabulation time
*Song time
*Bible lesson
*Review game
*Craft time
*Snack time
*Game time
*Object Lesson (we haven't done this every year)
*Dismissal time - gives you a few minutes to hand out worksheets/remind children to invite friends and come back the next day.

VBS 2008 Puppet show

The first couple of years, we also had a daily puppet show to help drive home the point of the day's theme. Puppets are a great way to keep the kids coming back each day by having their dialogue or story continue throughout the week. Also, if you do not have access to puppets, skits are another wonderful tool to help illustrate the daily lessons or themes.

At this point, you will do yourself a huge favor if you take the time now to determine:
your logo for the program which will be used in the printing of the flyers and worksheets,
each song to be sung,
each Bible lesson (obviously this is the skeleton that you build everything around),
daily worksheets (if you plan to use them),
a daily review game,
a daily craft,
plan the snacks and drinks for each day (and who will bring them),
and four or five daily games (always plan for more than you need, just in case).

Trust me! Making all of these decisions now will be such a relief to you as the coordinator. It will give you more time during the week for all of the last minute problems you may have to fix, allow you more time to tally points (if you choose to use a point system), and allow you to focus more on any teaching you may be doing during the week. (Sometimes the coordinator wears many hats!)

Now that all of these decisions have been made, you can begin the paperwork part of preparing:
*Flyers and posters to be printed.
*Songbooks (will they be printed professionally? by you? What will be the cover design?)
*Daily worksheets (more to come on this in future posts)
*Verse lists for the children to have a concise list of all the verses they will hopefully memorize throughout the week!

Now, once you have jotted down some notes regarding which activities you wish to include each day of VBS, print out copies of that daily schedule for each of your workers. Here is an example at the end of this post of one for you to see from a previous VBS we held. I translated most of the important information for you into English. 

Please stick with me as we continue next Wednesday talking more about VBS! Again, if you have any questions or would like to know more about anything in these posts, please write me. I would love to hear from you!

_________________________________________________________________________________

VBS – Day 1

Jehosophat  - Choose your friends wisely.  

Memory Verse: Proverbs 13:20 - “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

“Общающийся с мудрыми будет мудр, а кто дружит с глупыми, развратится.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

Программа (Program):

1.         Регистрация - Foyer        (Dee/Nancy and Lydia)   20 мин. (11:00 – 11:20)

2.         Предисловие-Main Hall  (David/Dee)                    30 мин.  (11:20 – 11:50)

Молитва (Prayer)   (David)

Explanation of Points (Dee)

                        Song of the Week: “Мы Бодрей на Жизненном Пути Пойдём ”

Object Lesson: (Dee)

Songs: (Dee) “Если Счастлив”, “Да Любит Он!”, Счастлив Я Всегда! 

                                                                        Divide into groups

Younger 6-8 years (Lydia/Dee) – smaller auditorium

Older 9-up years (David/Nancy) - main auditorium

3.         Lesson – Jehosophat/Verse: Proverbs 13:20               15 мин.  (11:50 – 12:05)

4.         Review Game: (Nancy-Older kids/Lydia-younger) 15 мин.  (12:05 – 12:20)

**AFTER LESSON YOUNGER KIDS SENT IN TO MAIN AUDITORIUM FOR SONGS**

(Nancy, Lydia, Elizabeth - set up for snacks in foyer while Dee sings with kids)

Соединить (Regroup)   - Everyone in foyer for snacks

5.         Snack time         Gather point cards                10 мин.  (12:20 – 12:30)

 (Nancy, Elizabeth, Lydia - Set up for craft in smaller auditorium)

6.         Craft:  Friendship - Hands (Everyone help as needed)   30 мин.  (12:30 – 13:00)

7.         Games  (David, Nancy, Elizabeth, Lydia)                        45 мин. (13:05 –13:50)     

8.         Dismissal  Main auditorium                                          5-10 мин.  (13:50 – 14:00)

                        

          Домашнее задание  (Give out homework sheets)

                        Молитва (Prayer)       (David)    

Roasted Chicken & Overdone Potatoes

Looking for a delicious dinner that is super tasty and doesn't require too much hands-on time?
I've got one for you today!

Roasted Chicken With Overdone Potatoes {Done Two Ways}

1 whole chicken
Spice Option #1:
      2 garlic cloves, squished
      2 Tbsp. lemon juice
      1 Tbsp. olive oil
      1 tsp. Italian seasonings
      1 tsp. salt
      1/4 tsp. black pepper
Spice Option #2:
      lemons in salt
6 medium potatoes, peeled, quartered, and boiled until just tender

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pat chicken dry.
In a small bowl, combine garlic, lemon juice, oil, and spices (if using spice option #1).
Spread Spice Option #1 OR Spice Option #2 all over the outside and inside of chicken.
Place chicken in a shallow roasting pan, leaving room for the potatoes.
Roast uncovered chicken for 20 minutes, until juice begin to accumulate on the bottom of the pan.
Brush chicken with drippings, then add boiled potatoes.
If there is not enough drippings to coat the potatoes, drizzle with a little more oil.
Continue roasting for another 45 minutes - 1 hour, or until the chicken is golden brown and well-done (a leg should move easily when you jiggle it), and the potatoes are nicely overdone (can baste from time to time if you wish).
Remove from the oven, carve the chicken, and serve hot.

Either way you choose to make it, you will end up with a moist, flavorful, delicious supper!
Enjoy!

Sunny-Side-Up Saturdays

In our area of Ghana, there are ditches beside most roads. These ditches can contain anything ranging from dirty dish water to sewer. One can never tell exactly what might be in those ditches! On one particular road, there is a big canal on both sides of the road, but it contains the same things that the ditches do. The other day, our children went somewhere with Daddy. While waiting for something, they were standing on the side of the road next to the canal. The children are like their father in that they can strike up a conversation with anyone. While they waited, they were talking to a young man who was wearing only underwear. As they were getting into the car to leave, the boy to whom they had been talking jumped in the canal. When Gilbert got home, he said, “Mom, we had a brand new friend, and he jumped in the sewer ditch!” The way in which he said it made it sound as if their “brand new friend” was no longer “brand new” after jumping in that ditch!

A few years ago, we lived with another missionary family for six months. We were both missionaries in Ivory Coast, but all of the missionaries had left Ivory Coast at that time due to civil unrest. So, we shared a house in Ghana for a few months. While reading through some old e-mails, I found something funny. Their oldest daughter was about five at that time. One day, she picked up the seam ripper and said, “Mom, I know what this is – a toothpick!”

When we were in language school in France, there was a lady who worked in the nursery at the school who befriended us. We did not have school on Wednesdays. A couple times a month, she would have us come to her house on Wednesday. We would practice our French with her. She spoke English well and could correct us when we went astray. We always had coffee and some type of pastry. One day when she offered us more pastries, I said that I was full, or at least I thought that was what I said. I said, “Je suis plein,” which if taken apart word by word says, “I am full.” We learned that day that there are some adjectives that are not used with “am.” They are used with “have” instead. I should have said, “J’ai plein,” meaning “I have plenty.” She explained that “Je suis plein.” means “I am drunk.” Oops!! Oh the joys of learning a foreign language!!

If you have a language blooper or some other funny story that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at loconsford@gmail.com. Next week, we will have some stories from Donna Schepers, missionary in Dominican Republic.

Check out the new website, www.missionaryonfire.com, a place to hear interviews with long-time missionaries. Let their stories inspire you to do more for the Lord. The first interview is with Frank Drown, a missionary who went to the mission field in 1944.  

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!

Vacation Bible School - Scheduling

One of the most effective ways to boost your Sunday school class attendance is to hold a Vacation Bible School during summer school break on your field of service. I say that because summer is not June, July, and August for all of us around the globe! For the next few weeks, I am going to share my experience in planning and executing a VBS program on the mission field. I pray these posts will be most helpful and encouraging to those of you who have been wanting to plan such an event in order to help grow your children's ministry.

My husband and I have been working in Russia for fourteen years. Just over seven years ago, we moved out to a village to begin a new ministry. After getting settled in a bit as a family, we secured a room in the local House of Culture to meet in for services. We immediately started a Sunday school class which met in the same room, just before the main service. Upon getting to to know a few families, we planned our first VBS program in 2007.  Since that time, we have held week-long VBS programs each summer. God has blessed, and these programs have become a favorite summer activity for many of the village children!

VBS Children and Workers  - 2007

In order for a VBS program to be a smooth success, most of the preparations are made in the months prior. Although you may be nervous about it all coming together at the last minute, I can honestly say that if you have prepared well enough ahead of time the problems (if any) will be minimal during the actual execution of the program. Then, as each day passes, you can relax a bit and enjoy the week more!

Very first day of our very first VBS 2007

Starting from the beginning of the planning process and building up to the week of the program, I will break down the planning process into several sections. In this first post, I would like to cover the scheduling part of the program.

Months ahead of time:
1. Determine WHERE you will hold the VBS program - Ideally you should have several rooms inside a building (in case of rain) and a nice yard or open field outside for more active games and activities. IF you have a situation like ours to where you do not have a building available and must meet outside, don't forget to have some sort of  tents or shelter in case of light rain.

2. Determine WHEN you will hold the VBS program - Planning the date requires much consideration. If you are in a smaller city or village, check with the school administration to find out their schedule so that you don't schedule a VBS program during the same hours of the school's day camp program times. Here in Russia the children also attend long summer camps. Often there will be a general date when most of the children leave for camp. Being aware of these dates helps you have more children in attendance and prevents them from missing either the beginning or ending of the program.

3. Determine HOW LONG the program will last (which days of the week and hours per day). We usually hold VBS on Monday through Friday from 11 am until 1 pm. If we have a daily craft time, we extend it until 2 pm. Speaking from personal experience, that is plenty of time! You may only be able to do three days a week. Whatever the case, do your best to ensure the best time frame for the most children to be able to attend. Also, remember you want to have a FULL schedule with little to no downtime. It is best to keep the children busy and not give them time to wander around because wandering results in a quick loss of control! Strict time frames help them stay busy, help the time pass quickly for them encouraging them to come back tomorrow, and help you maintain order.

4. Determine WHO (workers) will be involved. This is a big decision! You may not have anyone to help besides yourself (husband and wife); maybe you have several missionary families in the area, or maybe you have a few nationals to help out. Whoever you have as help, make sure the duties are distributed accordingly. A new missionary that has not yet learned the language will not feel comfortable leading the songs! Also, if you are helping another missionary and your job/s have been assigned to you, be sure to see them through to the end. If you volunteer to do something, do it! There is a balance that is necessary when working with other helpers in these type of programs. For one, people (nationals) are watching! They are watching the faces, personalities, expressions, body language, and interaction between the workers. They are watching how well the whole program is thought through and organized. They may not be able to pull something off like a VBS program, but they will sure be there to watch how you pull it off! Trust me, if you hold your VBS program outside, they will come to watch! That can be a good thing or a bad thing. The Lord can use a well-organized plan to help you win the hearts of your neighborhood, village, or city. The Devil can use a poorly organized program against you. Doing things 'decently and in order' (I Cor. 14:40) will be a huge benefit when you go to introduce yourself to those parents and grandparents later. When everyone understands what is expected of them and is committed to helping in whatever capacity needed, the whole program can run like a well-oiled machine!

Next week, we will discuss more of the paperwork involved in planning a VBS program. We will view a sample schedule, talk about themes, teaching materials, and such in order to work out the details of VBS planning.

In the meantime, please feel fee to write me at: danddsterling@juno.com with ANY questions, concerns, ideas for discussion that you would like to know more about so that we can be better prepared to use one of  the greatest evangelistic tools in Children's ministries - Vacation Bible School.