There are probably very few children (or adults) who have not attended Vacation Bible School at some point in their lives. Either in their own church, another neighborhood church, grandparent’s church, or a friend’s church, It was an important part of the summer and was an important part of life … to be with friends and learn more about the Bible and God while doing crafts, study, and recreation.

  I can vividly remember standing on the front steps of my boyhood church in East Atlanta, smelling the gardenias that lined the steps, while waiting while we listened for the piano inside the sanctuary began playing the processional. First in the procession were the flags (American and Christian) and the Bible and the school followed in grade order and stood while the flags were placed in their holders at the front. Following that were the pledges to the flags and Bible and a song for each one. During that first session, we learned to memorize a scripture passage, several songs, and heard a story about a missionary. Then we were dismissed to our classes for the rest of the morning.

  In our classes we had more Bible Study (I loved the flannel graph stories), more lessons about missionary work about the United States and the world, we did crafts, had refreshments (Kool-Aid and butter cookies which we wore on our fingers like rings), more music, and indoor or outdoor recreation. I loved those summers as a kid in VBS and loved the summers in later years when I was a teacher in VBS. It made a difference in my life and in the lives of all the children.

  This past week, I had the absolute pleasure of working in a local church with their VBS/JAMS camp with a bunch of kids. They had the good ole’ VBS in the morning, had lunch, and then the JAMS camp in the afternoon. JAMS stood for “Jesus, Art, Music, and Science.” Classes were held in cooking, woodworking, jewelry making, puppets, talent improve, pom-pom cheering, choir, learning percussion, learning ukulele (my class), black light drama, photography, and other subjects. The children learned some useful, fun, and educational things, plus continued to learn about God and Jesus. Then on Friday night, the parents and families came to see what we had done and it was amazing to see the parents hugging and loving on their kids for what they had learned and accomplished. When the week was over, my “bucket of happiness” was full and overflowing for the children and the difference this church and workers made in their lives.

  We, as the church, often feel that we must continue to make things bigger, better, and more entertaining rather than stick to what works and has worked for many years and generations. Vacation Bible School works. Or, it works for the churches where I have been involved. Just teaching children about God through fun activities, but having that important one-on-one time to know them and know their needs. The huge programs don’t always offer that … entertainment is the impetus, not learning to know individual children and spending some quality time with them. It can be done, and some big churches do it well, but it is hard to do with new formats of summer programs. The old-school VBS does it and I experienced it once again last week. My life is better and I thank The Church at Jodeco (Jodeco Road Baptist Church) for letting me spend a week with your children and adult leaders. I know they were blessed, but I think I was blessed even more.   And for today my friends, this has been the gospel according to Jimmy.