Vacation Bible School

Final Director's Report

2005-06-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

We had a final director's meeting to discuss our overall impressions of VBS. Here are the thoughts we had:

Highlights: The teacher’s packets. We felt that they really kept things organized. The food was excellent, especially the chocolate desserts for the adults! The recreation and music sections were wonderful.

Did we meet our goals?
- General
- We wanted everyone to have fun. We think they did.
- Increase community awareness of UBC. We’re not sure how successful this was.
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- Fulfilling our mission
- We wanted to make $100 for the mission project. Check.

- Nurturing our members
- Have 5 teacher meetings – we only had three, but that seemed to be enough.
- Do post-mortems – halfway there now!
- Teacher appreciation – yes

- Invite newcomers to learn about Jesus
- Challenge each kid to bring two friends to VBS – did that
- Have publicity packets available for kids to give to their friends – there were some
- Invitation letters to go out to any new parents for closing ceremony – did that
- Flyers in schools and to summer camps – did not do this.

- Attendance and staffing
- We wanted to fill all volunteer positions – we did that, with help from some ECC members
- We wanted to have 52 kids including 5 new ones – we had 49 and 5
- We wanted to have one high school helper per class – no, but it didn’t seem to be necessary.

Here are some general thoughts on various sections of VBS:

Opening Ceremony: Went very well. Carl is a superior emcee. We’d like to move the skit to the closing ceremony.

Classtime: It was thought to be too short. We think ending at 8:15 rather than 8:00, or moving to a 5-day VBS would be good. There were several class interruptions that might be minimized – maybe setting the offering plate outside the door. Having snacks already in the room was good though. The teacher’s workbooks were very good.

Mealtime: Also too short. It was unclear whether the meal was aimed at teachers only or everyone (since everyone came!) Maybe starting the meal at 5:15 would help. Transitioning from eating to upstairs didn’t go very well.

Mission Project: We liked Julia’s presentations. We wonder if the goals of the mission project were clearly understood before VBS started. We would have liked an announcement for each class’s donation amount, or a visual aid like a thermometer, at each night’s closing.

Publicity: Sign still wasn’t very clear – maybe the phone number should be dropped. Maybe using yard signs, like election signs, would have been better. We thought the wording of the newspaper announcement was a bit odd. The packets that were mailed out might have been significantly cheaper with lighter paper. We should have had a few extra packets several weeks before VBS. Maybe even some to set out on the foyer table.

Classrooms: We noted that some of the larger classes had some of the smaller spaces. We’re not sure what can be done about this.

Campfire: When the campfire was announced, everyone went outside, but they did their own thing: go to the campfire, play basketball, or wander away with friends. We would like to see this done more formally, like at summer camp. Everyone should be sitting down with a leader doing songs, maybe with ice cream bars or caramel popcorn.

Adult class: The class itself went well. Maybe renaming it the “Parent’s class” would help – we noticed many adults sitting around downstairs that we would have liked to have been involved. Maybe it could be moved outside or somewhere a little less formal.

Volunteers: We were impressed with the number of volunteers we had. We wonder if maybe some of the volunteers could have helped out in classrooms when not doing other things.

VBS Challenge: The prize baskets worked out well. They should have been available several weeks before VBS to generate enthusiasm. We’d like to see this done again.

Crafts: Crafts could have been done a lot more cheaply, but it would be a challenge to make sure they are church-related somehow. If we involve the craft leader much earlier, we might see if they are interested in designing their own projects.

Recreation: Terrific! We want to have it on all four nights instead of just three.

Skits: We liked having the kids involved with the skits, although it is a challenge to find rehearsal time. We would like to do the skit at the closing ceremony rather than the opening, as it gives away some of the things the teachers will be discussing.

Music: A highlight.

Closing Ceremonies: OK, but we were worried about the dismissal process. We would like to see all the teachers keep their kids until they are actually picked up by parents. This should be emphasized in teacher training.

Final Ceremony: Very nice, but about 15 minutes too long. With all the 3-5 year olds there, things need to move fairly quickly. We’re ambivalent about videotaping – some found it distracting.

Teacher Appreciation: Each night we gave a small token to each teacher with a message of appreciation and a mint or something. Very nice, and not expensive. Should be done again.

Meetings: We scheduled some meetings for classroom teachers and some for other volunteers. We think the meetings should have been divided differently – move craft/music/rec teachers into teacher meeting, although that might have made the meeting too big. Should this be renamed teacher training instead of meetings?

Miscellaneous: Should we plan for more backups for sick teachers? We didn’t find out until very late that the emergency exit signs are supposed to be off unless a breaker trips.

Closing Ceremony

2005-06-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

We spent the whole service Sunday on VBS - I thought it was great. We did four songs using the instrumental music from the CD, and all the kids got up on stage and did the hand movements that went with the songs. We printed bulletin inserts so the grownups could sing along too. The Level 2 class did a short presentation, and they did the closing day skit. Finally, the choir sang a song with a solo by Cynthia, age 9, and she did a great job. The only problem was that the whole thing went a trifle longer than a normal service. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!

Just the two more meetings to go, then we have to put together a file for next year, and go dark. I'm not sure who will be directing next year, but I am sure we'll find out soon!

Day 4

2005-06-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

The last day of VBS. Everything went smoothly, and the closing campfire went well. We drew our "Visitor Challenge" prize packages, and our son won one of them, which doesn't seem quite right, so we'll share them with another kid that brought some guests.

The adults seemed more interested in s'mores around the campfire than the kids did! I think the biggest hit with the older boys was when I went to the car and brought out my basketball pump. There were five or six balls bouncing around, and every one of them needed a little air. Three of them were in my transportation car, but I didn't have the heart to stop the game until about 8:45 since they were having so much fun.

All the crafts are done; all the songs are sung. VBS is over for another year. But rather than have a sermon this Sunday we'll have our closing program. It will mostly be a regular service, but we'll have VBS songs instead of our regular hymns, kids will take the offering, and we'll have a couple of VBS related presentations. To wrap everything up, we'll schedule one final director's meeting and one final teacher's meeting to give everyone a chance to talk about what went right and what went wrong. I'll post about those after they happen.

Day 3

2005-06-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

I finally got the camcorder there and working and got some good shots. The theme for day 3 was "Believe the King". The littlest kids, the two-year-olds, mostly just stay in the nursery, but the nursery leader brought them out to do the craft, which was painting a little lion. There's several rows of lions in the corner of the crafts area looking very nice! I taped the oldest class as well doing recreation; they were playing a "Capture the Flag" style game. I avoided jumping in though...they also managed their first visitor of the week, so it looks like we'll have to buy those movie passes after all! The 3-5 year-olds painted puppets for their craft time - they were very proud of them and spent a lot of time trying to eat my camera. Dinner was hot dogs and mac-n-cheese, with a spectacular homemade chocolate mocha brownie for dessert! It comes of taking care in choosing the kitchen staff. Final evening class tomorrow with the campfire at the end. I think we've managed to buy our Heifer Project bees and rabbits as well.

Day 2

2005-06-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

I left work a little earlier today and managed to get the kids there in time to have dinner. One boy was a bit frightened by the loud noises in the opening program and had to stay out in the hall, but everyone had fun. The 4th - 6th grade class had just three kids tonight, which is just as well as the teachers were sick again and the teenagers came to the rescue. They are a true blessing to the church. Recreation was an obstacle course and hula hoops - I missed seeing 7th and 8th graders running it, unfortunately, but watching the 3-5's with their hula hoops was a joy. They painted their own puppets for craft time, while the older kids made suncatchers. The rain's held off for both days so far! Dinner was homemade pizza - everyone thoughtfully left me the whole veggie pizza for myself and some terrific apple pie. Forgot my camcorder again tonight so still no video, and the battery went dead in the still camera. Aargh! I borrowed Pastor Annette's camera and took some bad pictures. Her camera is nicer than mine but I don't work it very well.

Day 1

2005-06-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

Day 1 is in the books! We had around 30 kids and nearly as many volunteers. Registration wasn't as smooth as we would have liked - the problem is that most of the families are veterans and the kids already know what they're doing, so they don't bother to check in. But the opening program was great and the music leader is doing a super job. The 3-5 year old class had 10 kids, 9 of which were boys, but the girl was still the toughest one of the lot. The K-3rd graders had the biggest class with 15 - what a job for those teachers! while the 4th-6th grade teachers both called in sick, causing our stomachs to turn somersaults. But one of them sent her teenager and the teen's boyfriend in her place, and a blessing they were. I had six kids to pick up and got caught in traffic on the way there, so my kids had to wolf their dinner before the program started, and I forgot to charge the camcorder battery so no video. But at one point I was sitting upstairs while all the kids were busy, and I turned to someone and told them everything was going so smoothly I didn't know what to do with myself! She offered to start a small fire in the sanctuary, but I declined. Tacos for dinner - delicious!

Volunteer commissioning

2005-06-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

We put our prize baskets out on the registration table and the kids were three deep trying to get a look at them. We'll have to remember to get them out earlier next time!

We did the volunteer commissioning today during the service. It was very nice; the 3-5 class came upstairs to watch and also to watch the emcee, Carl, give a two-minute presentation to drum up excitement. He is so good at that - came in wearing his safari outfit and pith helmet - and had worked up a series of sound effects that he triggered by remote control from a PowerPoint deck, starting with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and some Tarzan yells. He read out his "Top Ten Reasons to Attend Vacation Bible School" and got the kids pretty cranked up, so that was fun.

After church was the time we had set for teachers to decorate their classrooms. We had arranged for a spaghetti dinner to be provided afterwards but almost everyone was gone by dinnertime so we cancelled that. Everything is pretty much decorated now. In a panic, we ordered 5 extra pre-K workbooks and craft projects, to be shipped by UPS Overnight, which cost a fortune, but as my wife said, "I can't bear the thought of a four-year-old looking up at me with doe eyes and saying 'I don't have a book!'". So peace of mind is cheap at the price :)

I overlooked a letter that I need to write to parents, inviting them to the Thursday night campfire and the closing ceremony on Sunday, so I wrote that up tonight and will have to print it during class time tomorrow, when I will hopefully have a few minutes to do it. We set a hymn for the closing ceremony and added another song, so hopefully that is almost together. I'll work with Pastor to get a bulletin printed up. Next stop: VBS. I will be at the church at 5:15 and borrow a van to go pick up some of the kids who need rides. Places, everyone!

Church setup is complete

2005-06-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today was dedicated to setting up the general church. Vines are hung all over the church and a dozen large animals are up as decorations in the sanctuary. The tent is set up outside for eating before VBS and the classrooms have all been cleaned. I'll post some pictures when I get them.

Director's meeting notes

2005-06-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is our final meeting before VBS starts. Saturday we will pitch the tent and Sunday the teachers will come in and decorate the rooms. Monday, Gina is teaching a class and Cathy is signing in kids. I will be working a videocamera and dealing with emergencies, as well as driving kids in if they need rides.

An announcement went in to Spirit 95 and we were also in the newspaper's Religion section, although we thought the wording was a little odd. Better than nothing at all! We verified that most of the things that we needed to happen are happening; the skits are being worked on; the opening ceremony people are talking. We want to have our VBS Challenge baskets available, so Cathy is going to get the prize collections to Gina and she will finish them out. We've given tentative student lists to the teachers.

There was a family who might need rides that came in on Sunday. Cathy will call them to double-check one way or the other.

For next Sunday, Cathy and Ben will do a "Top 10 reasons for attending VBS". Carl will read it out.

Gina has emailed the Level 3 teacher, no response yet. She's still planning to put name tags together.

Becky volunteered to do a closing ceremony skit, so that was nice.

Last year, we called some of the families who we sent invitations to but didn't respond. It didn't seem to be terribly effective and rather stressful, so we decided not to do that this year.

We're planning on Pastor Annette to do the volunteer commissioning on Sunday, and we need to send an email to all the teachers to make sure they will be there for setup. Also, we've been assuming that Pastor will be taking still pictures but that needs to be confirmed. We also may be short some art supplies, but that's something we probably won't need to worry about until Monday.

Good luck everyone! The work starts in earnest come Saturday!

Safari Celebration

2005-06-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to work up a plan for our closing ceremony, the Sunday after VBS ends. Pastor Annette and her family will be out of town, so we're a bit on our own. Here's the schedule I've come up with:

Prelude: Rob ?

Welcome: Sheila

Passing the Peace

Sing: Discover Jesus the King

Biblical Reading: Matthew 2: 1-12 (Kid)

Moment of Silence

Prayer of Invocation / Call to Worship - Sheila

Sing: Something from the hymnal

Biblical Witness: Mark 2: 1-12 (Kid)

Take offering (Three kids for ushers?)

Biblical Reading: John 20: 19-31 (Kid)

Volunteer recognition (Ben)

Biblical Reading: Acts 1: 1-11 (Kid)

Talk about missions project (Julia)

Closing skit (Becky & Crew)

Invitation song: Kum-Ba-Yah

Closing Prayer (Julia?)

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I also mentioned to the music leader that our 3-5 year olds do a good job singing Beautiful Savior, so I think it would be really cool to work that in. We'll see what she says.

Wi-Fi in church

2005-06-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

A church in England is making news for offering Wi-Fi. (Thanks to this site for the link.) Wi-Fi is actually available at University Baptist as well, although it's not there as a selling or drawing point or anything; it's there to cut down on the amount of wiring that needs to be done :) But congregants are welcome to use it if they like. There have been no instances of computers being fired up in the sanctuary that we know of, but we may have to add this as a selling point. It hadn't occurred to me before, but I think it's a good one. I'll have to check with Pastor first.

Director's meeting notes

2005-06-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Gina has prepared the VBS challenge cans and entry slips and offering baskets. Each class will be asked to bring change to donate for our missions project.

We verified that the tent will be set up on the 11th and everything else on the 12th. There seems to be some confusion over the exact dates - we'll have to check the bulletin for accuracy next week.

Gina checked with the fire station on regulations for our closing night fire. It's really a campfire and not a bonfire, which requires fewer permissions. But even if it was very large it would probably still only be $5 or so for a permit.

Cathy had a list of last-minute items that need to be checked on:

Make sure the skit set designer and skit producer are working together. Cathy will look into that.
Make sure the music director is ready. Ben will check.
The Level 3 class teacher is having a graduation party on setup day. Gina is going to check to see if she wants help decorating her room. Also, we decided not to order student books for any classes except Level 3 - we need to find out if those are needed.
Cathy will make sure that a tarp and table coverings are ready for the crafts table.
Gina will verify that the exit lights are working properly.
We need to verify that the Recreation and Level 3 assistants are willing and able.
Cathy will verify that the opening ceremony is in order. This will require communication between the emcee, the music leader, and the skit leader.
Cathy will also check on children that might need rides.
Ben will write a letter to send to parents inviting them to the closing ceremony on Sunday.
Gina will prepare nametags for staff and children.

The church missions and worship committees will be responsible for the ark, so we're leaving that in their hands. Cathy is starting to work on thank-yous for the teachers and she asked Ben to get some clipart for them.

Cathy worked on prizes for the challenge – she has a dollar-tree basket with some animals for Pre-K. For the middle levels, she has some bendy animals and safari equipment that will probably work for both. Cathy will arrange baskets and bring some to the next meeting to be looked at. The oldest class will be getting movie tickets, but we'll hold off on ordering them until we know that they actually have eligible kids :)

We still need an announcement to go to Spirit-95, the local Christian music station. Ben will give that to Cathy and she will drop it off. Cathy also plans to send postcards for pre-regs

We decided that we will draw for the VBS challenge at the closing ceremony on Thursday before the kids go out to the campfire.

Ben needs to contact Pastor Annette to see if: the bulletin has the schedule right; if Thursday has no recreation period; who will be doing Children's Worship for this week; does she need a commisioning ceremony; can she publicize our workday on Saturday.

We need to get an orientation folder to the crafts leader, who doesn't attend this church.

We'd like a Missions Committee member to talk at the closing ceremony for ten minutes or so.

We'll meet again Sunday evening for real last-second stuff!

Fundraiser lunch

2005-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

After church yesterday we did a fundraising lunch. We provided delicious sandwiches and begged for VBS money :) We got about what we got last year, I think, around $200. (We'll probably have a total budget of around $500.) My wife did some wonderful decorations, using paper bags for vines and leaves cut from green cardboard. She added some "safari" snacks she found in a magazine - live worms (hot dogs cut lengthwise), snake eggs (grapes), dried ants (dried cranberries), and jungle juice (green Hawaiian Punch.) We were a little disappointed in the attendance since not every chair we put out was filled, but it went pretty well I thought.

The oddest thing about this whole experience for me is continually asking people to do things. Now that our lunch is over, we've next scheduled a scenery painting day for June 4th, and then the Saturday before VBS will be a setup day. In the meantime, it's time to get announcements in the paper and on the radio.

Meeting today

2005-05-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

The support staff met today. Setup, cleanup, arts and crafts leaders, music leaders, and drama leaders were the goal, but we didn't have music or drama representatives, and only one from crafts. Still, it went ok. We've created folders for every volunteer, showing scheduling, goals, guidelines, and other things we think are important - tornado and fire procedures, for example. We also decorated the church basement in our safari theme, and got our registration table ready in the foyer. It's time to start ramping up - VBS is just three weeks away!

I'm a bit worried about music and drama, haven't communicated much with those leaders. I'm pretty worried about the closing ceremony since I'm not at all sure what we'll be doing! But I'm sure it will be all right on the night.

2005-05-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Important weekend for VBS. Saturday morning we will have a meeting for many of the volunteers, just to make sure we're all on the same page on crafts, music, and other setup and cleanup details. Then on Sunday we're having a fundraiser lunch. My wife has been working overtime creating decorations for the lunch, and Gina has been working hard to make folders for all the volunteers, giving information on the schedules and rooms, etc. We'll also set up our registration table for the first time this Sunday. This kind of means I'd better update my website, which still has photos from last year :)

More than 40 packets went out this weekend, so we hope to have a lot of kids registered by the time VBS starts. We have a goal of 50-55 kids signed up.

2005-05-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

I like VBS because we are able to teach about Jesus in an entertaining and memorable way, as we have a different theme each year. VBS is a great way to get to know our church family better, as well as an outreach tool to our friends and neighbors.

I've been involved with VBS for as many years as we have offered it at UBC. I have served as craft leader, craft helper, and teaching assistant in past years. This year I decided to teach the preschoolers because I teach them during Sunday School and thought that this would be fun to get to know them in a different setting and hopefully meet some new children as well.

Sheila Maben

Preschool teacher

University Baptist Church VBS

Invitations go out today

2005-05-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

We send out a little package to each family that we think is likely to attend VBS. It consists of a letter to the kids on stationary we ordered, a letter to the parents on church stationary, a long registration form, and a CD with the music. We've set ourselves a goal this year of getting 5 new kids to come, and in order to get there we've set up a challenge and a prize drawing for the kids who bring the most visitors. Whether this package will help with that task I'm not sure. It's nice to get the CD's out and let the kids start listening to the music well before VBS starts. I suspect publicity money could probably be spent better, but since our total attendance will most likely be less than 60 I'm not sure one way or the other. We'll see.

Next director's meeting will be Thursday, and we're planning a meeting next Saturday for all the non-teacher helpers - that's the craft, music, and skit leaders, and the setup and cleanup people.

Churches that blog

2005-05-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

A church marketing website has put up an article on churches blogging. This is UBC's second blog; Pastor Annette started one some months ago but only did a few entries. This blog will take a bit of a different tack - along with my entries on the progress of getting VBS organized, we'll be posting some articles from teachers and others who are involved in VBS, as well as links like this one, to various other sites who are doing things that we find interesting.

2005-05-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

I got involved in Vacation Bible School as a really little kid at First Baptist Church, Bedford, Indiana. My mom was a teacher, helper, crafter, cook and following in those footsteps is one of the joys of my life as a mom and a church woman. As a pastor, I consider VBS a vital part of the religious education of our own children, whereby the Christian story is layered in their memory and worldview, year by year. For neighborhood children and others who come to UBC once a year for this week in June, we offer an experience of church they will remember as safe, fun and happy; led by grown-ups who recognized them, prayed for them and loved them year after year. I am looking forward to another week of good work among good people, instilling the faith in another generation.

Annette Hill Briggs

Pastor

University Baptist Church

2005-05-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

I am one of three directors for Vacation Bible School this year at University Baptist Church. I am starting this blog to keep anyone who is interested up-to-date on what our plans are for VBS, and also to provide some extra commentary on the actual week itself. It should be interesting. I'll post a little bit about myself, and hopefully I'll solicit some articles by, on, and about some of the other teachers and helpers as well.

My involvement with VBS came about last year when I and my wife were asked to do publicity. Apparently publicity had hardly ever been done before, so when we put some effort into it, and got in the newspaper, on the radio, and some in-church events, everyone thought we did a pretty good job. When this year came around, the director of past several years gave us some broad hints that we might be able to replace him. We weren't sure if we could do it or not. We're still not sure, but we teamed up with an Indiana University graduate student and hopefully the three of us will be able to put something nice together. And if not, hopefully this blog will give the next director some hints for what not to do :)

First post

2005-05-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

University Baptist Church Vacation Bible School Safari Adventure is just around the corner! We've got a very exciting week planned this year, with live animals, an adult class, and a bonfire on Thursday night! If you live in or near Bloomington, Indiana, Register Online today. It'll be a great time! VBS will be held from 6 to 8 PM each night from June 13th through the 16th.