I'm currently serving in two churches. I've been active innumerous ministriesat Lexington Baptist Church outside of Columbia, SC for the past seven years.Last summer, my wife and Ijoined the launch team of a church plant in Northeast Columbiacalled Crossmark Church. God is doing great things in both churches. It's an honor to be a part!

I asked Sandi Self, the children's minister at Lexington to write an entry for this site. Each week, she ministers to over 700 children. She has a passionate heart for reaching kids and families and views VBS as an important tool in that mission:

There are as many different ways to do Bible School as there are churches. All day, weekend, 4 days, over Easter or Christmas break, in Sunday School…regardless of the format, the main thing is to keep the MAIN ONE as the main thing.

Evangelical in purpose, VBS is a target for the Evil One. He would prefer that the elements (decorating, recruiting, snacks, etc) take the place of Jesus. But we are wise and in using that Divine Wisdom, we use decorations and snack and rec and music and rewards and other methods to point to THE REASON for Bible School.

Here' ;s The Great Balancing Act:

The Old Testament says there is a time and place for everything. Use logic and moderation in setting the tone in a VBS room. If the decorations overpower the Bible learning time, consider taking away some of it.

I heard a famous movie star say once that when she was ready to go out on the town she would look in the mirror for one last glance before getting in front of all those cameras. If there was one thing that stood out about her makeup, hair, or clothes and it was so “attention demanding” that the rest of her attire was unnoticed, she replaced it with a more subtle version.

May Jesus and His love be our theme, no matter the decorations/theme. If someone is held back from teaching by being overwhelmed by decorating, an idea is to select several who really “get into it”. Let them use $20 or so per classto decorate a corner or a theme wall with little things around the room and throughout the building tohighlight the theme. Let the teacher teach and decorators decorate. Remove the excuses and enable the gifted!

How many children attending your VBS is the definition of Success? Limits in VBS can be defined by the size of the worship center, size and number of classrooms, or amount of budget. Could it be that our true limits are our teacher resources? Never sacrifice safety/security and quality in classroom learning for more children. Ratios of children to workers should be followed to be sure we can teach God’s Word and that we don’t spend all of our timeshushing or disciplining children. Some feel one teacher for 30 children is adequate.

In a VBS setting, as with all church settings, please follow the “two-deep leadership” rule (Two teachers minimum at all times in all classes). This rule protects us and our children from all sorts of security and safety issues, but it also helps to have children receive some individual relationship-building inside the classroom. A thought I have had recently is this: God offers blessings in working with our children. Volunteers must step forward with a cheerful, receptive heart to receive those blessings. A sense of guilt or duty only breeds disgruntled volunteers and gives way to complaints and impatience.

As God provides the leadership, so grows our VBS. He provides the creative minds, sincere hearts and focused minds to teach the children. Perhaps the definition of success should be that the children were safe and loved.