Mechanicsville Baptist Church holds Vacation Bible School
When talking about Vacation Bible School here at Mechanicsville I have jokingly said,” This aint your Grandma’s Bible School”! Sadly, it is true. Due to the world we live in now and the conditions that most children live in today we can’t have Vacation Bible School like so many of us grew up attending. It breaks my heart! I loved VBS growing up as a child. Going to VBS with my Mother and siblings, having cookies and Kool-Aid, cutting and gluing construction paper (I was so excited to be able to be old enough to use the glue all by myself) and singing “Zacchaeus and the Sycamore Tree”. 
Today most children don’t have parents that bring them to VBS, they have so many wordily things that distract them from learning about God, and they live in a society that obeying God is not COOL! So, we have to become really creative and fun to get their attention and to get them here! The decorations and methods of getting them here may have changed over the years but God’s word has NOT! That is what we must focus on. Teaching them lessons and making sure we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to each person that comes to VBS. We get a variety of ages (Nursery to Adults) and we get people at different places with their walk with the Lord. A lot of the children are lost and unchurched, some are new Christians trying to figure out what’s next in their walk with the Lord, some have strayed from the right path and need help getting back to walking with the Lord and some are older Christians who need to recharge their walk with the Lord. We have to make sure we meet the needs of each of these. That is not always easy but with the help from the Lord and His guidance we do! This is part of the reason I love VBS as much as I do. I can’t explain my love and passion for VBS without tears streaming from my eyes. In the beginning I agreed to direct VBS because I was asked to. That changed quickly. I direct VBS because I am being obedient to what God has called me to do. It is because of His blessings that we had another successful year. We had 37 Salvations, 24 Reconciliations with their walk with the Lord! We collected 5,407 items for TLC ministry in Darlington and we collected $2,547.89 with our sock offering. This money will go to help enhance the MBC playground, so we can continue to use what God has blessed us with to reach more boys and girls. (Yes, ministry happens on the playground too!) This year God chose for us to study Noah’s Ark but not your typical story of the animals two by two. We studied Noah’s obedience to God. Even though he was surrounded by sin and ungodliness, and people mocking him for his walk with the Lord, he was obedient to what God called him to do. Build the Ark and save his family and the animals. In preparing for VBS I realized that I personally needed to work on my obedience to God. It’s easy to be obedient when it is something we wanted to do anyway. But we have to ask ourselves how obedient are we when God calls us to do something out of our comfort zone or something we don’t feel we are qualified to do. After hours of prayer and preparing the VBS that God wanted us to have I am Thankful for the results! Worship each night was such a highlight. The children, youth and adults all truly worshipped! It was a blessing to see the altar full every night. There were times that we could not even see the Pastors for all the children and adults at the altar. The investment of love and time many Grandmas put into so many of us showed up at VBS. So, I guess this “IS Your Grandma’s Bible School”! Thank you to all the volunteers who gave of their time and love this year to make this another successful VBS at Mechanicsville. Thank you to all the Grandmas here and in Heaven for teaching us the true purpose of VBS. To share the Gospel of Jesus!!
