Lead Well

One thing about VBS is that it takes a lot of supplies. Crafts, games, decorations, Bible stories and so much more all need stuff.  It’s a lot to handle and can be one of the biggest line items in your budget. To keep my costs down, I’ve used this one fundraiser for years with great success. Full-disclosure, I got the idea from Group VBS way back in 2008, and I’ve been iterating on the idea ever since. Here’s the idea: Create a Donation Wall. Groundbreaking, isn’t it?  I thought so.  But after using it year after year I found some great benefits. 1. Church members who can’t serve will give. I noticed quickly that many people in my church are unable to serve at VBS for various reasons but are happy to give. Every year, I’d have a few people who never served, but would pick up several donation cards (more on this later) every week and bring me the donations we needed. Many never came on a single night, but they played as big a role as anyone else. 2. You can u...

Recently I visited James River Church in Ozark, Mo.  James River is one of the largest Churches in the Assemblies of God and have a great children's ministry. I love to visit other churches and see how they do things. While I was there, I saw great idea for games and toys before service. Our kids love to find fun things to do before service begins and for us our games are on a cart and the kids have to play on the floor.  This is usually not a problem, except the colossal mess that's left when service begins and ends.  In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep all the pieces together for the multiple board games.   Kids will be kids. While I was walking through James River's children's area, they had these games stations set up with a game or two on each table.  I thought this was a fabulous idea and am looking forward to implementing it in my own area. Do your kids play games before service? How do you set them out? Please...