International Kids' & Families VBS Outreach!
A mother and son from Asia approached our VBS group, which was in the middle of a relay race involving water on a hot summer day in August. The little boy obviously thought it looked fun, and wanted to join the dozens of other children having such a good time. I greeted them, and invited the boy to join one of the teams. He gladly accepted, and followed me over to one of our groups of teens and kids. It quickly became apparent that explaining the rules and demonstrating how to do the race would take so much time that any team welcoming this newcomer would probably not win. I was super proud of our team of volunteer youth-leaders when they made an important and unselfish decision: we would rather take time to share the love of Jesus with this boy from another country, and lose the relay race, than miss out on an evangelistic opportunity and ‘win’ the race.
Ironically, the Apostle Paul compares the Christian life with ‘running a race’ several times in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 4:7). Our youth and kids chose wisely that day: modeling Jesus’ love for this newcomer leads to a ‘crown which will last forever’ (1 Cor. 9:25) rather than a fleeting ‘crown’ of winning a game. Overall, we had roughly 30 kids and teens, plus some wonderful parent volunteers, join us for the outreach. Due to fears over COVID, the international attendance was not what we had hoped, but the Lord did bless us with a few new connections with some Asian families.
It was also a blessing to see Trinia write the Bible skits, and make her directing debut by leading a group of youth (and one dad) in acting them out (photo – below).
Kristen led crafts, including teaching the kids and teens how to make some amazing giant bubble wands and bubbles! Nothing attracts a crowd and attention like giant bubbles on a windy day (photo – below):
Joyah helped me (Jesse) with games and worship music, and lots of parent volunteers made a huge difference in the lives of many kids and teens!