Slimed!

One more year of VBS complete

Tonight was the closing PowerLab Celebration Program and I have to say it was a night I will not soon forget. The children shared the songs they learned this week that I hope will help them to remember how powerful God can be in their lives. Will did a wonderful job with the children, leading them and really getting into the motions. Brent was the best Professor Wilbur around, I am sure. I kind of think Craig and Mark enjoy being CC and MJ a little too much, don't you agree? Many thanks to Casey, Kim, and Carolyn for keeping the children occupied and ready until it was time for them to enter the stage. I apologize if I am forgetting people, which I am certain I am. I also want to thank Anne, Nacole, Trip and Rebecca for helping with the final part of the program...the sliming. I think.

Ah, yes, the sliming. At the end of the program, Anne revealed the final offering count for the week, including (1) the offering of the children, (2) the offering of a donor who agreed to match the children's offering if all four slime candidates agreed to be slimed, and (3) the parent's offering. The grand total was $2,560 which will pay for 16 children to go to Discovery Camp this summer. Even though that slime was ooey, gooey, sticky and cold...it was worth it to be able to be a part of giving a child the opportunity to let Jesus be the Lord and Saviour of their life. Many thanks to Jenny Dean, Will Reese, and Brent Speer for joining me in the sliming...in the baby pools...on the stage of the Worship Center...in front off all those people, forever remembered in photographs and videos. Perhaps someone will send me some of those photos so I can post them here because I didn't get any pictures since I WAS GETTING SLIMED!

Yes, it was yet another successful and fun week of Vacation Bible School at the Mulder Church. We had 160 children and 144 volunteers grace our halls this week during PowerLab. I need to stop being surprised with all the help I get from the congregation (and community) during VBS. It is a great place to be to have a good time learning about our awesome God!

But, it isn't the end...just the beginning of planning for next year's VBS!

Day 5 complete!

Get up and tell the world about Jesus! That is what we left our kids with tonight on our last night of Power Lab VBS. I pray that all of the kids left with an excitement for the Gospel and for living it out in their actions, including telling others. I think we had around 117 children tonight and have no clue how many volunteers.
I pray that all of the children that came to VBS will come back tomorrow night with their families for our closing PowerLab Celebration Program.

We ended the night with the results from our Camp Discovery Missions offering. Thank you to all of the adults who so willingly stuff our kids pockets and give them the opportunity to give. We made the offering a fun competition, but I do hope that all of the kids and adults understand that our offering is our opportunity to give back to God for what He has so richly blessed us with. That being said, last nights reveal showed that $1007 was collected to help send 6 children from inner-city Mobile to Camp Discovery at Blue Lake this summer! Of course, it also showed that I was the chosen one to be slimed! I cannot wait...and I hope to have someone join me in the sliming tomorrow night after the parents get their opportunity to try to match the children's offerings.

Several of our volunteers have been taking pictures all week and I plan to put together a slide show to play tomorrow night during the hot dog picnic in Carter Hall.

Thank you all for your help and support this week. It was a great week and one that I will not soon forget! But, it is not over yet. Everyone come on out tomorrow night for our grand finale. Please have your children in the craft rooms behind the Worship Center by 5:45 PM so they can line up to be ready for the program that will start at 6 PM. The children have worked hard this week to learn these songs that I hope will help keep the Bible Points in their heads and hearts for years to come.

Live Forever Formula

Night 4 of Power Lab VBS brought us 121 children (and 117 workers) that had the opportunity to clearly hear the Gospel of Christ. Everything we did was with the intention of showing and telling the children that there is someone more powerful than all the things around us.

Professor Wilbur returned tonight and tried to show us some Live Forever formula he has concocted...but we learned that only Jesus Gives us the Power to Live Forever! AHA!

Please pray for all of our children that heard the Gospel tonight. Pray that the seeds planted in their hearts yet again will be watered and nurtured until they reach maturity.

I look forward to seeing all those bright and shining faces again tomorrow night!

We need some help

We really need a few people (no children, please) to stay after the VBS program on Thursday night or to come in Friday during the day to help us move tables and chairs in preparation for the Program Friday night.

We also need help after the Program on Friday. We need help to get the church back in spotless condition to be ready for the Worship services on Sunday morning.

Please stop by the Registration desk tonight or Thursday and let us know if you are available any of these times. Thank you in advance for your willingness to serve in this area!

Oh, no, you never let go...

Day 3 is under our belt and I would have to say it was a success! We had two very special visitors tonight during Sonic Sing and Play. Professor Wilbur was busy in his lab tonight, so Special Agents, err, I mean Associate Professors CC and MJ showed up and helped the children to learn how Jesus gives us the power to be brave. AHA! We learned that Jesus gave Peter the courage to walk on water. But, what happened when Peter took His eyes off of Jesus? He sank...just like we do when we take our eyes off of Jesus. Aren't you thankful that He never let go of you! I know I am.

We had 128 children and 120 workers tonight! AHA! For the past few years, Day 3 has always been our least-attended night and this year continued that pattern. We are so blessed to have so many people who want to come out and help during VBS. I am told this is not the case at all churches.

Bible blast looked like a blast and Dan is doing an incredible job telling the story every night. I love that the children don't just hear a Bible Story, they participate in it as well.

We are still encouraging the children to choose a slime candidate with their mission offerings. Tonight, Desi assisted me in garnishing more support to be slimed. I am determined to beat out Jenny for this honor. I have always wanted green slime oozing down my chin.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

Day Two Complete!

Well we made it thru day 2! Day 2 went very smoothly thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who showed up to help. We had 135 children and 117 workers! AHA! I was able to make it to a few more stations tonight to see all the fun the children were having. I was amazed at how quiet and under control the preschoolers were at their Wacky Works crafts tonight. Miss Valerie and Miss Sandy have some amazing powers in that room! The Preschoolers are doing very very well and seem to be having a wonderful time. Professor Squeaky Beaker (aka Miss Anne) definitely has her Lab under control.

On night 2 we learned that Jesus gives us the Power to help others! AHA! We learned Romans 12:13 "When God's people are in need, be ready to help them." We also learned that Jesus gave sight to a blind man. One of the favorite songs of the night was Amazing Grace...the souped up version! I hope and pray that our kids are starting to make connections between all aspects of worship. They may not realize how it all ties in, but by constantly repeating our Bible point, learning a Bible verse, plus hearing the powerful stories from the Bible about the great things Jesus has done will help bring it together for them. I hope that these things all work together as they form relationships with their Saviour. And for those that don't yet know Christ as their Lord and Saviour, I pray that everyday these things are seeds that are planted in their hearts.

I am really looking forward to Tuesday night as we seem to have worked out most of the kinks.

The children seem to be excited about our mission project. Well, they may actually be a little more excited about HOW we are raising money to support the project. We have 4 large water bottles on the stage steps -- one for each of four candidates: Jenny D., Will R., Brent S. (aka Professor Wilbur), and yours truly. The children are choosing who gets SLIMED based upon which water bottle gets the most money. I am a bit concerned, as a certain someone wrote a large check and dropped it in my water bottle!! But, Jenny D. seems to have a marketing strategy to ensure she gets slimed. Go figure. ;)

If you are working at VBS, THANK YOU! Everyone is doing a great job. If you are not working, stop by and see what is going on.

Day One complete!

Jesus gives us the Power to be Thankful! AHA!

I am thankful for a smooth day. I planned to blog about it last night when the day was over, but I came home and was just too tired to even blog:) I am happy to report that we had almost as many volunteers (135) as children, which is never a bad problem on opening night. We had 137 children in all and I anticipate even more tonight.

All of the Station leaders are reporting good nights and I imagine that as the week wears on they will become great nights! I didn't get to make it to all of the stations last night, but I think I will have more time to do just that. Thanks to Clark Dorsey and Pam Bergmann for taking some great pictures of the fun we had last night. I will try to take some pictures with my camera tonight that I can bring home and post tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for our kids. Power Lab is a wonderful stepping stone in our kids lives to teach not only about Jesus and His miraculous Power, but how they can realistically live out His power through them. I believe VBS is just another seed that is planted in our kids lives that point them towards Godliness. In 10 years they may not remember every story, every craft, or every teaching moment, but I pray that they will remember VBS as a time that they really began to understand and participate in worshiping their Saviour and learning more about Him.

We begin tonight at 5:50...hope to see you there!

Decorating Day!

Thanks to all the folks who showed up to help us start the serious decorating: Jenny Dean, Debra Hamilton, Casey Hudson, Lauren Adam, Vicky Hollenbeck, Kim and Brent Speer, Wendy and Brittany McCartney, Jean and Sidney Bing, Taylor Stewart, Lee and Abby Carter, Barbara Brown, Valerie Dixon and Sandy Smith. I hope I didn't forget anyone!

119 and counting?

Registrations just keep flowing in at a steady pace. I am so grateful to all the parents who have helped by pre-registering their children this year. It will make check-in go ever-so-smoothly...and I know our registration mavens will be appreciative of that fact:)

I finished up the crewbag tags and printed the volunteer nametags earlier this morning. Our VBS decorator extraordinaire, Jenny Dean, suggested some additional decorations for the hallways that I hope will come to fruition...still working out the logistics.

Kim & Courtney Wallace finished up putting the tags on the suncatcher crafts. Thanks! Casey Hudson will be calling crew leaders over the next few days to remind them of their assignments:) Thanks, Casey!

112 and counting...

We are now at 112 children pre-registered and will be closing online registration on this Friday, June 6. This does not mean we are closing registration, just the online version. This will give us the transfer time necessary to move over to manual registration on Sunday evening. We will still have registration forms available at the Welcome Center outside of the Worship Center on Sunday morning.

More great volunteers

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Ken Hollenbeck and Ray Wall for the hours they spent in the hot sun today setting our Blue Ridge Mountain water bottles with concrete and PVC pipe to be used to hold our information and direction signs. Because of their willingness to help, I was able to finish printing out the signs to go on the pipe and the crew bag tags just in time before I needed to head back home to be Mom again.

Thanks also are due to Brent Speer who has agreed to a last minute 'cast' change for our opening skit:)

I also must thank my daughter, Lauren, for entertaining her brothers for a few hours while I got a little more work done at home this afternoon.

I want to share an off-topic subject. I am thrilled to report that my son, Max, has decided that he wants to be baptized. We are planning on a Father's Day baptism!

Decorating Divas

Thanks to our creative Decorating Divas who showed up this morning to help get started with the backdrops and other necessary administrative preparations: Jenny Dean, Kim Wallace, Anne Payne, Kim Speer, Debra Hamilton, Sandy Smith, Casey Hudson and I think Michelle Meeks may have sneaked in at some point -- along with a handful of children who joined in service:)

Jenny, Anne and Kim W. made a huge dent in the stage 'laboratory' backdrops, Debra made a cool DNA strand, Kim S. took a hold of prepping more crafts, Sandy S. created some cool gears, Casey laminated hundreds of trading cards and Michelle finished up some science fair boards.

Tomorrow's plan of attack: (1) concrete & PVC pipes in the Blue Ridge Mountain Water bottles as our sign bases (with the assistance of Ken H. and Ray W.) and (2) finish up the laminating of the trading cards and start on the signs for the water bottles.

Breaking 100

As of tonight, we have 105 children registered and I think we have enough crew leaders to handle 105 more. Thanks to all the newly registered volunteers!

We still need a few more volunteers to help with Snack Oversight and Transport. These people are needed from 5-6 pm only. After that time, they are more than welcome to stay and help in other areas, or they may leave.