Vacation Bible School

I was baptized as a Methodist Christian at six months old and have been to Sunday school classes, bible studies and youth group for as long as I can remember. Our church has a contemporary choir that anyone ages sixteen and older can join. When I was younger, I loved going to “big church” (what I used to call the sanctuary) and listen to the cool music every week. Once I turned sixteen, I was determined to be in the choir. However, I was hesitant because upon joining, I would be by far the youngest person in the ensemble. Before I came along, the youngest person in the ensemble was 28 years old. It was cumbersome at first because everyone was talking about their children and work lives and I had nothing to offer in the conversation due to my age. I felt awkward in those situations and would keep to myself, not speaking in fear of saying something foolish or irrelevant. However, I loved the music and performing so much that I would not let my age get in the way of doing what I wanted. I started to get out of my comfort zone and involved myself in the conversations they had. The more I engaged in discussion, the more comfortable I felt with the people around

I was raised in a home that was Baptist, but we did not attend church every week. I did attend church by myself from the third grade through the ninth grade. We lived in an upper-middle class neighborhood that was almost 100% white. My aunts and uncles, as well as my grandparents, lived close by so we visited frequently.

I have never known a time in my life where I have not gone to church. With that being said, it’s not my largest priority. I tend to get distracted during the school year with deadlines and hanging out with friends. It’s when I’m able to go on a mission trip that I can truly show and see what I believe in. I have been on four mission trips altogether and this summer I took a leap of faith and left the country for the first time to serve. Nicaragua held the same focuses as trips in the United States, but what I consider a mission trip from my experience in the past was not what this trip had in store.

Chances are if you grew up in the south, then you most likely have been to a church service before. I remember as a kid getting the wakeup call every Sunday morning from my mom, “Get up and get dressed for church!” Even if I did not feel like going, she would drag me out of bed and make me go. Anne Lamott writes about the same thing in her essay “Why I Make Sam Go to Church.” Lamott wrote “Why I Make Sam Go to Church” in 1999 as part of a collection of autobiographical essays in a book called Traveling Mercies. My main reaction to this work was a positive one. I thought the essay was eye opening in a sense and it shows that everyone needs guidance and help from others sometimes.

The church that we used to attend -Wooddale Baptist- was a mega church just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. Every Sunday, I had the same schedule consisting of Sunday School, snack time, and then “Big Church,” which was with the adults. Due to the unthinkable amount of kids, I was never given the opportunity to make anything more than acquaintances. Every Sunday it felt like I met someone new, plus I only got to know their surface layer identity. Once we started at my new church, Aldersgate Church, my social and religious outlook improved. Starting on the first Sunday, my family and I had made plenty of good friends. We even had dinner plans with two strange families after church that night! Little did we know that these two families became the most supportive and trusted people we would ever meet. Also, the small community within the church and the pastor inspired me to grow in my faith than ever before. I began to enjoy Sunday school, and understand the lessons. Exchanging churches changed the way I worshipped God, and gave me the chance to meet new

Since my freshman year of high school, I have been part of the senior youth council. This past year we took a mission trip where I

I grew up in the church. My father was a deacon and my mother was a Sunday school teacher. I never remember a time that church was not the center of my life. I experienced great hurt in my young life and nobody knew pain I endured. I would not realize until much later in my life the affect that one event would have on me. My teenage years were turbulent. These years were a time that was marked by poor choices and rebellion. I developed two lives. One I projected in the church and the other outside the church. I never really gave the fact that I was living a double life much thought.

Before going to Rocky Mountain High, I was already involved in church and youth group. I have gone to church ever since I was born, so that is all I have known. When I got confirmed two years ago, I started my journey to become a better Christian. After Rocky Mountain High, I now know with all of my heart that Jesus is my Savior. I chose to be a Christian because I believe not because I that’s all I know. Rocky Mountain High finally made me realized that and influenced me to be the Christ follower I am

For as long as I can remember my family and I have attended church almost every Sunday. Being from small town Iowa, everyone around me had always accepted the same ideas and beliefs as me, so I never had seen a different perspective. I had stayed within my comfort zone for fifteen years at this point in time, and I had no intentions of going outside of it any time soon. Part of being in this comfort zone was attending youth group every Wednesday night. Instead of being something I

Being raised in a Christian home, I attended church quasi-regularly up until the age of six. Church participation after the age of six became inconsistent, due to conflict in the church that required the

Church was boring and all the kids just wanted to go. My Mom, Blish, was nine at the time and filled with energy. All she wanted to do was go play in the perfect Atchison Spring weather. She was with her friend Sarah at church, and Sarah also wanted to play outside.

Nashville-based group LifeWay Research gathered 2,000 Protestant and non-denominational church attendees for a research sponsored by LifeWay Kids for the book “Nothing Less: Engaging Kids in a Lifetime of Faith.” All of the respondents go to church at least once a month and have children ages 18 to 30.

There has a been a time and place where you had the courage you didn't know you had. Vacation Bible School (VBS) of 2012 was the Amazing Wonder Aviation program. That was the year I decided to do the play. The things I had trouble coping with was practicing, performing, singing, and dancing in front of the church. Even though I wasn't fond of the idea at first, but a really good thing came out of it. I got saved because of that play in 2012.

My time within the faith community has impacted me both negatively and positively on complete opposite ends of that spectrum. As a baby believer, I accepted a job working in a large, two hundred staff member church with three thousand volunteers on the roster. Thus, began a six-year journey that exposed me to varying forms of Christian Community. Staff gatherings, retreats, a life group, missions and volunteer groups, the Christian motorcycle community, and Freedom Session small groups. I had never read the bible, been discipled, baptized, prayed out loud, accepted Christ into my heart, or even prayed the sinner’s prayer. I started my Jesus journey spending sixty hours a week with lifelong mature Christians who spoke the foreign language of

Ordinarily, most would say no to “Vacation Church School” when it comes to the elderly. However, after reading this article, I began to think how I can apply what I learned. Immediately, a list was formed as notes were made on the time of year, location, mobility of the elderly, class size, as well as, the different time of day for VCS. Likewise, heading in the elderly direction myself, no one wants to be left out, several ideas came to mind. Indeed, the need to take care of their physical and mental bodies was first in mind. Then, came the idea of people need to keep their minds renewed also developed throughout their lives, leading their spiritual prayer life. Not mention, the scripture-based