VBS = ER

Yesterday, Shawn and I helped out with a one day VBS at East Rock Community Church. This is a new church that is being planted here in Roxboro. It use to be Front Street Baptist Church, but the members chose to disband for several reasons. There were very few people that were still a part of that church family and they didn't have a full time pastor. In fact, I am not even sure they had a part time pastor. Anyways... they deeded the property and church building over to our local baptist association. Shortly after this happened, Rev. Tim Bowes, decided to start fresh and reach out to that community. He, along with Brett Carver, have stepped in to plant a new church. Shawn and I have had the opportunity to help with prayer walking, door to door surveying to meet the neighbors and ask about needs, and, as you can read in the title, VBS.

We were set and ready to go! All of the classrooms inside were decked out for the sports themed VBS. Shawn and I were in charge of recreation. This was right up Shawns ally being a PE teacher and all. We were all excited.

Before I go any further with this story, I believe I need to back up a bit. Well...let me see... oh yeah. Tim and Brett have been doing Bible studies in the parsonage since June. On Wednesday evenings, Tim meets with the adults and teens for a study while Brett takes the kids for Bible lessons. Then on Sunday afternoons, Brett and Tim have been doing Bible studies with teens. (This is where their hearts really are.) Anyways, Tim recently told Shawn that the Bible studies have grown so much that they had to split and do more than one. He also told Shawn that at the last one, there was standing room only! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

So- in preparing for VBS, Tim visited over 37 families who had been coming to the Bible studies. Most of them said they would bring the kids. He also passed out over 200 fliers in east Roxboro. The word was out! People had prayed and prepared! Now it was in His hands to stir them and bring them!

9:00 rolled around- no kids... 9:15- no kids... then Willie chimed in... "these people ain't 9 o'clock people" (well- his choice of the word was not people, but a word that begins with the letter 'n' that is only politically correct for him to use) :-) ya'll just gotta know Willie! He is a rising 9th grader that Brett has taken under his wing. He is quite a character- and a new believer!!!

What is VBS without any kids?... umm... exactly- nothing! So, a few of the workers (who had brought their own kids) decided to parade through the neighborhood to find the kids. Signs in hand, kids with pom-poms and Willie carrying a giant inflatable football... what a sight! They managed to round up a few kids and VBS was on. Tim decided that he and two of the other guys would go around the neighborhood again while things got moving.

(top pic) This is Brett, Tim, and Willie posing with the signs. (bottom pic) Tim, Willie and Antonio heading out on bike with signs in tow to round up some more kids for VBS. Now, as you can imagine, this does catch some attention! :-)

A few more kids to come, but more importantly, a bunch of high school guys show up. After all, it was about lunch time. :-) Like I mentioned before, youth is what Tim and Brett have a passion for. Gangs are a real issue in this area and the need for the Lord is great. The turn out for VBS was less than expected, but the number of high school (and some older) guys that showed up was much more than we dreamed. God works in mysterious ways! His plan is bigger than ours and He showed us that yesterday.

I am sure you are still wondering how the ER fits into all of this... well let me just tell you. It was time for lunch at VBS- hotdogs-yumm. To give all the kids time to eat, Brett, Shawn and all the guys went to play some backyard football before they came to eat. They decided to play tackle instead of touch. Shawn's comment was more than true, "Someone always gets hurt when playing tackle, but count me in." I guess he just didn't realize it was his turn. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes of playing here he comes shaking his hand. He was a little redin the face and his first words were, "I think I broke my fingers and might need to go to the hospital." For any of you women who married a stubborn man, the word hospital told me it was serious. So that's where we headed for some x-rays. Two hours later and he gets a splint and a referral to an orthopedic to see if he needs it pinned. Talk about exciting!

When we got out of the ER, we went back over to the church to see how things finished up. Brett informed us that he had a small Bible study with the guys after football and he thinks they made a few new connections! That's what it's all about... building relationships- building bridges to share the gospel. Even if we don't always understand the way things are going, God does!

Here are a few more pics from VBS...