With three vans, children, teens, adults, and coolers full of sandwich meat and peanut butter, the Children's Ministry set off on our trip to the Creation Museum Saturday morning. Awake at the unearthly hour of three a.m., we loaded up on as much coffee as we dared and hit the road by four thirty. Hubby, baby, and I brought up the rear of this caravan--Earnest T. and Thelma Lou were riding with friends.

We arrived at opening and eagerly got in line. We wanted in alright, but not just to see the exhibits. It was cold outside! After the obligatory group photo, we started wandering through the self-guided tour.

I really like the museum, but fluent readers are the target audience. Our baby liked a lot of the colors and noise, but it requires lots of reading to understand the message.  There are stops along the tour for kids who need interactive time--exploring Noah's ark, a puzzle bench, and creative displays are very nice.  The petting zoo and grounds provide plenty of room to play and run. The swinging bridge and the pontoon bridge were fun for all the children in our party [including the adult children!].

Hands down, we enjoyed the planetarium the most. I could hear my kids whisper, "WHIT!" in excited recognition as the narrator began the story. Paul Herlinger of Adventures in Odyssey lent his vocal talent to an outstanding presentation about the universe.  The Dragon Legends video was very well done, as well.

There are only a couple of things I would change. MORE DINOSAURS! and MORE DINOSAURS!  Did I mention the bookstore? Yes, I would definitely change it--it's address, that is, to match mine! Oooh la la, is it nice. We had a terrific time, and I can't wait for the next issue of Answers Magazine. Thanks, Friendship, for sponsoring this trip for the children!

We are so excited--a group of families from church are going to the Creation Museum tomorrow! To celebrate and "bone" up on what to expect [sorry, I know it's a corny pun, I just couldn't resist], we'll be having a special Jonathan Park school-day today after our basic lessons.

We recieved the latest issue of Answers magazine yesterday and can't wait to read it. I think I'll take it with me to read on the way up. On our last trip, we didn't get to the dinosaur room or the petting zoo. We'd really like to do that this time. The fact that we are going with some of our favorite people in the world makes this trip even better!

My goodness, headlines are enough to give you a migraine.  It isn't hard to imagine these times as closely paralleling those of Noah. I'm waiting for the SON to rise and call us home!

In a fit of Baptist humor, I quipped to my husband recently, "Boy, now'd be a terrible time to find out those mid-tribbers were right."

We had such a great time at homecoming--lots of friendly faces, great music, outstanding preaching, and out-of-this world food.  Jerry and Little Jan Goff were our featured singers, and Dr. Jerry  delivered a message that took us thorugh the book of Philippians.  We were blessed to have them with us.

We had a death in our church family this weekend. A sweet little lady who'd been on chemo and was counting down till her last day of treatment--she wanted to try to come eat with all of us. She was also really looking forward to the Southern Gospel music. Now she's with the Master, which I'm sure is a better homecoming than all she'd hoped homecoming at Friendship would be.

One News Now had a headline called, "Southern Baptists Continue To Resist Public School Concerns"  .  I'm all for parents having the right to pull their kids out of bad schools and for Christian parents to see what a wonderful opportunity home education is.  We are enthusiastic homeschoolers who love the freedom, flexibility, and excellence that home education can offer. This article, though, kind of makes it sound like the SBC doesn't care about kids, or that the denomination is too wishy-washy or afraid to take a stand on various issues of education.

When we have to pass a resolution about bloated membership rolls that reveal around 10,000,000 professed Southern Baptists don't darken the church door on Sunday mornings, is there really a lot of hope that these same people are going to come up with the energy and conviction to educate their children though homeschooling or private Christian school? Methinks it's unrealistic  to bemoan the lack of resolutions encouraging Christian education when we have so many who aren't even participating in nominal Christian activities, i.e. regular church attendance.  It's a bit like putting the cart before the horse.

Here's hoping and praying that we can have a revival among the people already on the rolls! 

Liz had asked me a when I first posted about our church's VBS theme how it compared to the Lifeway selection.  I haven't compared them--I can only speak as a student from the adult class. I liked what I saw very much. My pal Kasey over at SOUTHERN FRIED could probably answer more specific questions about the curriculum.

First and foremost, six children accepted Christ as their Savior. That is what makes it a success!  We are very thankful for these precious little ones!

This VBS seemed to flow very smoothly. Having been in church all my life, as some of you have, it's probably no surprise that VBS sometimes turns into a drama-charged showdown between competing creative/administrative types.  Hopefully that's never happened to YOU, and it sure hasn't been the case the last few years at Friendship. We have two great administrators who keep Christ  the focus of VBS, can cheerfully motivate others, are good financial stewards, and just plain fun to be around. They take the Bible VERY seriously and start planning VBS in January with much prayer to see souls saved. That is THE goal.  Keeping Jesus first is the most important ingredient for any program--not just VBS.

Then, we are overflowing with helpers. I've never seen anything like it--from folks who naturally know how to organize registration to people who can decorate on a dime, to an audiovisual team that seems to pull miracles out of their sleeves [at least that's how all the "tech" stuff looks to me] to teachers who just want to share Jesus--everyone just seemed to take the job they were given and do their very best. More than once I thought about Paul's analogy of the body watching these amazing people work. And there was such a spirit of joy, too.

In my humble opinion, stressful vacation Bible schools happen when folks try to do too much. The goal this year was to simplify and streamline--to keep it completely about Jesus. Crafts were simple but fun, lessons were straight forward, and the opening and ending ceremonies [including puppet skits ] were short and sweet.  Schedules were clear, right down to which class went to the fellowship hall for snacks when.  Kudos Mark and Kasey for a great VBS!

Our decorating team turned the sanctuary into a jungle with bamboo poles, dino trails, paper flowers, greenery, insulation board dinos, paint and contruction paper. Not being very creative myself, I love watching people who are.  They built a puppet set out of pvc large enough to hold three people . We aren't a deep pocketed church--these people did all this on a dime! A tree fell on our decorating team leader's house the Sunday VBS was to start. Her son and son-in-law cut the tree off her house, and proceeded to bring more greenery in for decoration. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!

Teachers decorated their own classrooms. It was very nice to see that the classes for the little ones were rather spare on decoration. These teachers weren't there to show off at ALL--they knew that too much visual stimulation would detract little minds from the message! [Yes, many of them were homeschoolers or public school teachers/aids!]  The older classes got into the theme a little more and their students really appreciated it.

The puppet skits went so well. The two in charge of that area recorded all the skits beforehand on cd after practicing to avoid that "drop the microphone while performing" effect. Then, they had several people practice with the puppets. That way if one person couldn't be there, someone else could easily step in and work the puppets. There were at least six different people who were able to do this. The script for each night was attached to the back of the stage so the puppeteers could keep up with the pre-recorded voices.  I got a good view of this from the piano bench and got tickled more than once at the puppeteers antics--especially when Michelle and Jessi worked the puppets. They are just such joyful women, you can't help but smile around them, but when they get tickled---look out!  The kids loved it too.

Crafts were so simple this year. What a REFRESHING change! They were simple and easy enough for kids to carry home each night.  In years past, some of the more involved crafts--while generating oohs and ahhs--generally got left behind for church folks to try to find a place for in the hopes children would return to claim them, or were so detailed that time ran out before kids could finish them.  After about six or seven months of waiting around in various classrooms, the items eventually get tossed. Honestly, how many painted painted terra cotta pots, concrete sidewalk pavers, birdhouses, and popsicle mansions really become valued keepsakes? Not many judging by the way kids and parents would leave them behind!  

The Dino Detectives materials came with long coloring strips to handout. Our kids really enjoyed them because they could bring them home to finish. The craft team added some other crafts like  dino puppets and painted picture frames with pictures of the student.  Older classes made fleece baby blankets to donate to the neo-natal unit at the local Children's hospital to put over incubators. The kids were good sports about not taking a "craft" home and this sort of thing appealed to the teens. They were crafting for a good cause!

I like this particular VBS theme because it included materials for all ages. Our VBS is at night and the whole church gets a class of their own. Our administrators had a hard time finding a curriculum that included teens in their materials.  It was a good introduction for people who may be scared of Genesis and the questions it raises, or for folks who aren't familiar with good ministries like ICR or AiG. Our adult class enjoyed it and had lots of serious discussion.

We reached an offical high of 191, but I think we made it past 200 on several nights because some adults later in the week admitted they hadn't registered---they thought only the children were supposed tp do that!.  The offering was huge, and the ice cream social was a success. I was there but couldn't eat any. Baby Atkins #3 is very tempermental about what Mom gets to eat!  Everyone around me said it was really good. Over and over again. [sigh]

We did have a bit of cheating, though, in one class. The teen class had a goal to reach forty in attendance. Their teacher had promised to shave his head for summer if they hit forty. By Thursday night they hadn't quite made it, so the adult class offered to help. Word apread quickly, "GO TO THE TEEN CLASS--KRIS NEEDS A SHAVE!"  We had young married couples, middle aged people, and seniors in wheelchairs show up. Obviously we weren't teens, but we were young at heart. By the way, I'm sure the teen teacher is appreciating his new summer 'do with the soaring temperatures this week!

We are looking forward to several baptisms soon as a result of the professions of faith. God is so good! I think this was the best VBS I've ever seen.

This week we are having vacation Bible school at my church, Friendship Baptist. The theme is creation-based, and as a Christian homeschooler who loves creation science,  I  find the theme VERY exciting--as does the whole Doehill crew!

If you're in the area [Maryville], come join us. I hope to get some pictures of the decorations, too, to put on the blog. My friend, Nancy, is the most creative-on-a-dime person I know. She and her team has transformed our new sanctuary and foyer into a jungle!   The sound team had fun playing "dino" footsteps and growls and calls over the speakers. The kids last night really enjoyed it. I think the adults liked it too. I spied more than one of our seniors trying to walk on the "dino footprints"  trails.  There are classes from nursery to adult.  If you come, look me up [I'm the pregnant lady at the piano!].

The Stories
 Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
   Who Made The World?

  Genesis 1:26-29 - 2:4-25
   Why Am I Here?

  Genesis 3
   How Can I Be Right With God?

   Genesis 5:5 - 8:19
   What Happened To Dinosaurs?

   Genesis 8:13 - 9:17
    Does God Keep His Promises?

Church info:

Friendship Baptist Church

3310 Old Niles Ferry Road

Maryville, TN 37804

http://www.fbcmaryville.net/VBS.htm  

From the church website:

June 1st - 6th 2008
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Commencement on
Friday, June 6th.

For any questions call:
Mark Moses  865-254-5754

Transportation:

There will not be a van or bus schedules for pick-up, but anyone who does not have a way to the church is encouraged to call
Mark Moses at 254-5754.

Oh, yes, we'll be having an ice cream social after the Friday night VBS commencement. MMMM!!!!!