Vacation Bible School 2010

   Vacation Bible School for 2010 is well on its way! As the State team was preparing for our first ever Vacation Bible School Institute (VBSI) we had no idea what to expect. We were simply praying that we would see over 2,000 VBS workers trained for this year’s VBS. The event was held at Jersey Baptist Church, and the place was abuzz. Jeff Slaughter even came to town! With a full LifeWay bookstore on site, we were ready. This event would kick off all of the training that was going to take place this year. What a pleasant surprise it was to see over 500 people on site! Over 75 children participated in the musical and Jeff Slaughter led us in all sorts of cool Western moves.

   It was a great two days of excitement, training, fellowship and awareness for those who were there. After hearing about everything we had planned for this big event, Jerry Wooley, Director of VBS LifeWay, made a personal appearance. He reminded us that Vacation Bible School is still the number one evangelistic tool being used by churches today and that for every person trained for VBS, one child comes to know Christ. What a great reminder!

   There were six regional clinics conducted across the state in the month of April and to date, we have well over 1,000 people trained for Vacation Bible School, praise the Lord!!!

   One new and exciting announcement about VBS training is that, starting this year, it is now available on E-Quip. This is a FREE on-line service from your State Convention. Simply go to www.scbo.org, click on Mission Ohio E-Quip, then type in VBS and it will take you to the core classes that were recorded. We were not able to video all of the classes that were offered at VBSI, but we captured the ones that were most attended. I hope that next year we can have all of our core classes recorded and ready for you to view. This is a great way to bring your church VBS team together for group training, or simply watch it yourself for personal training.

   I want to say “thank you” to our State and Regional teams that worked tirelessly to make all of this happen. Without your help all of this would not have happened; to Jeff Slaughter for making our first VBSI come alive (and we hope to see him next year!); to the LifeWay Bookstores of Columbus for giving their time to help us during our VBSI event. 

   Thanking our LifeWay bookstores reminds me that I need to address some misinformation which circulated during our event in Dayton. This information incorrectly state that the reason there were no bookstores at our regional events was because LifeWay had “cut us off”. This is simply not true. We have a very good relationship with all of our bookstores and their managers. The decision to not have bookstores at our regional clinics was my own. Therefore, I apologize for words that were spoken out of turn and ask you to understand the decision.

   As I close, let me remind you of how IMPORTANT it is to fill out the VBS Report at the end of your event. This is a detailed report that will help us track more than just enrollment figures from the Annual Church Profiles.

   Most of all, I want to thank you for your work in Mission Ohio because together we can make an eternal difference in the lives of children and their families.

Blessings,

Dwayne Lee