Vacation bible school 2008

We had a great week of Vacation Bible School last week. There were 40 kids who attended, and a total of 93 people came to the Family Fun Night on Friday. This was the first year we tried having our BBQ and music concert on Friday night instead of Sunday morning, and it was a big success. Here's an article I submitted for publication in our local newspaper, the Hi Desert Star:

Island music and children’s voices filled the air last week at First Southern Baptist Church as they hosted their annual Vacation Bible School. “Vacation Bible School is one of our favorite weeks of the year,” said Pastor Stephen Jones. “We love to meet children from the community and provide a place for them to have fun and learn about Jesus.” This year’s theme was “Outrigger Island: Living God’s Unshakeable Truth.”

Throughout the week, children brought coins and raised over $125 for Guide Dogs of the Desert. This organization based in Palm Springs breeds and trains guide dogs and then provides them free of charge to people with blindness. On Wednesday, the children got to meet three trainers and three guide dogs.

To help with VBS, the church hosted four college-age “summer missionaries” for the week: Tim Bohrer, Akila Brummett, Jourdon Glaspar, and Casey Johnson. “When I first heard of Yucca Valley,” said Akila Brummett, “I expected just to see a barren desert, but I’ve discovered the people are very loving here.” Tim, Akila, and Jourdon are all students at Cal Baptist University. Together, the four missionaries are spending their summer getting ministry training at local churches around the Inland Empire.

Vacation Bible School concluded last Friday night with a free BBQ for all the families, a bounce house, slide show, and concert highlighting all the songs and Scripture verses the children had learned during the week.

We praise God for this year's VBS, and pray we'll continue to build relationships with many of these families to bring them to Christ.