Vacation Bible Adventure was a climactic experience from the first moment on Monday night to the last moment on Friday night. The children entered the newly remodeled WOLKids Church and were entertained by Pedro the puppet, Beary the bear, and Hallelujah Hugh during opening ceremonies. Darren Shipley led the children in praise and worship. Our children can really praise the Lord! Afterwards the children enjoyed listening to an interesting, yet powerful Bible story by Pastor Smiley Elmore or Darren Shipley. The messages ranged from the importance of knowing you are special in the Lord’s eyes to understanding why we need the amazing Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

Each evening, the children had a blast in the kitchen making and eating a story related snack with Linda McDaniel and various assistants. During game time, the children played dodge ball and freeze tag with Mr. Kevin. They even participated in an indoor potato sack race! In the craft room with Kristi Kubalek and her helper Lindsey Battenfield, the children made charming crafts to remind them they were created by an Almighty Lord. One night the children made a mirror to view one of the Lord’s most wonderful creations - themselves! Other crafts included handprint pages to remind them they are unique from their handprints to their eye prints, and drawings of themselves to help them understand they are so special in the Lord’s eyes that He sent His only Son, Jesus, just for them.

The last evening of Vacation Bible Adventure was an especially fun-filled night. The children began the evening with praise and worship under the church’s park shelter, and then munched on warm pizza. During the rest of the evening, they alternated between eating refreshingly cold rainbow-colored snow cones, jumping in a bounce house set up on the church playground, and playing on the other playground equipment. The children were having such fun; they didn’t want to leave when the evening was over.

Throughout the week of VBA, the children had a fantastic time romping, playing, and eating colorful snow cones, but more importantly they learned the Lord is, and will forever be, their Friend! Twenty-three children were born again and one child rededicated his life to the Lord. Six children received information on being baptized in the Holy Spirit. A total of 130 very special children attended Vacation Bible Adventure along with fifteen first time visitors. We’ll be calling the visitors to invite them back to our exciting WOLKids Ministry.

We would like to thank all those who helped make VBA such an enormous success. We had seventeen gracious adults and teens that helped throughout the week. We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you for donating your time and talents to bring children into the Kingdom of God!