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A truly original Vacation Bible School at New Beginnings


VVN/Steve Ayers
The week’s lessons culminated in a Friday barbecue attended by families of the Bible school students, volunteers and church members.
8/9/2012 3:13:00 PM

 By Steve Ayers

 CAMP VERDE - Vacation Bible School is about as American as apple pie and as much a part of summer as a lightning bug.

If you were ever a kid (and who wasn't) and your family regularly attended church, odds are you spent at least one week, over at least one summer, making little crafty items to take home, watching cheesy skits starring your friends and all the while learning the lessons of faith, hope and love.

For the most part the ideas behind the crafts, the skits and the lessons came from a service the church subscribed to --a canned lesson plan so to speak.

And although such a format may be good for some, it is not what the New Beginnings Church of the Nazarene in Camp Verde had in mind.

Over the last four years the church has developed a vacation bible school that they can proudly says was created in their own image.

This year the theme was "Heroes for God." The scene was the "Hero Valley Ranch." And the daily lessons were love, faith, courage, trust and obedience and learning to follow Christ's example.

"We are teaching the lesson of being heroes when it comes to rescuing others," said vacation Bible school director Lillian Cunningham.

The daily lessons used many of the traditional lesson methods, including skits, crafts and songs. And it employed the church's "puppet ministry," a lesson tool used every month during regular church services. And they even used technology where appropriate, including PowerPoint and DVDs.

Last week 44 kids between 6 and 14, with the help of nearly two dozen volunteers, reveled in the likes of a 9-foot Goliath falling on his face, a fiery furnace faux flames and a puppet by the name of Hattie Horse.

"We have so much talent here in the church we just decided we could put something together ourselves," says Karen Dickenson, who wrote much of the script. "We started last March planning the program and have had wonderful support building props and making it all happen. It turned out to be a big hit."

The week of Bible lessons ended last Friday with a barbecue for the families and the raising of over $300 that will be donated to local missions.


 

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