I'm resting & reflecting on this past week of Vacation Bible Camp. Today has been a long day, at the end of a long weekend, at the end of a long week, at the end of a long month! Yesterday alone, I worked 17+ hours getting ready for Sunday. I'm exhausted, but its a "good tired", having spent myself on an event that reached literally thousands of kids & families with the Gospel of Christ. We've been preparing for this week since last fall, and its been worth every bit of effort and energy we invested.
We had planned this event different than any event we have ever pulled off before. Our goal was to try and reach a higher percentage of unchurched people in our community than we ever had before, so we did some dramatically different things this year. We moved VBC to the end of the summer, right before school resumes, to be able to promote our fall programming, which all begins next week. And we moved it to a mid-week and weekend event, running from Wed. through Sunday, to try and get unchurched on our campus across a weekend, and introduce them to Hebron on a Sunday, with our VBC Family Celebration this morning.
In every way, VBC this year met or exceeded our expectations. We had hoped for at least 1000 in attendance every day, and we averaged over 1450 Wed. through Friday. We weren't sure what Sat. would hold, and we hoped to keep it above 1000, and 1301 came back! Having never done a VBC Family Celebration on a Sunday morning, in our huge church gym, we really had no idea how it would go, and how many would return for it, beyond our own people. People began showing up at 8:20am, and kept coming in until almost 10:30am! The place was packed- the bleachers were full, 600+ chairs on the floor were full... there had to be well over 1200 kids & families in attendance. It was an amazing morning, at the end of an amazing week.
This evening, after some much-needed rest this afternoon, I took a much-needed motorcycle ride. The sunset was beautiful, the air cool, the roads deserted. I thanked God for these peaceful moments out in the creation, and I thanked Him for entrusting us with so many kids & families during VBC, and helping it be so successful. Ultimately, it was all about Him anyway, from start to finish.
Some people get to my age and find that success, wealth, position, etc., no longer satisfy, and begin to look for work and causes they can invest in, to feel they are making a difference in the world, and not just living for themselves. I've never had that problem. Though I'll never make the "big bucks", never be famous, never find myself on a "Fortune 500" list- I'm making a difference in children's lives, and their families. God has graciously chosen to use me to help reach a generation for Christ, and ground them in the Word of God and in a daily walk with Him. I would not trade my life for anyone else's. VBC again reminded me- I'm right where I'm supposed to be, doing what I was meant to do. And that is very satisfying to me.
We had planned this event different than any event we have ever pulled off before. Our goal was to try and reach a higher percentage of unchurched people in our community than we ever had before, so we did some dramatically different things this year. We moved VBC to the end of the summer, right before school resumes, to be able to promote our fall programming, which all begins next week. And we moved it to a mid-week and weekend event, running from Wed. through Sunday, to try and get unchurched on our campus across a weekend, and introduce them to Hebron on a Sunday, with our VBC Family Celebration this morning.
In every way, VBC this year met or exceeded our expectations. We had hoped for at least 1000 in attendance every day, and we averaged over 1450 Wed. through Friday. We weren't sure what Sat. would hold, and we hoped to keep it above 1000, and 1301 came back! Having never done a VBC Family Celebration on a Sunday morning, in our huge church gym, we really had no idea how it would go, and how many would return for it, beyond our own people. People began showing up at 8:20am, and kept coming in until almost 10:30am! The place was packed- the bleachers were full, 600+ chairs on the floor were full... there had to be well over 1200 kids & families in attendance. It was an amazing morning, at the end of an amazing week.
This evening, after some much-needed rest this afternoon, I took a much-needed motorcycle ride. The sunset was beautiful, the air cool, the roads deserted. I thanked God for these peaceful moments out in the creation, and I thanked Him for entrusting us with so many kids & families during VBC, and helping it be so successful. Ultimately, it was all about Him anyway, from start to finish.
Some people get to my age and find that success, wealth, position, etc., no longer satisfy, and begin to look for work and causes they can invest in, to feel they are making a difference in the world, and not just living for themselves. I've never had that problem. Though I'll never make the "big bucks", never be famous, never find myself on a "Fortune 500" list- I'm making a difference in children's lives, and their families. God has graciously chosen to use me to help reach a generation for Christ, and ground them in the Word of God and in a daily walk with Him. I would not trade my life for anyone else's. VBC again reminded me- I'm right where I'm supposed to be, doing what I was meant to do. And that is very satisfying to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment