Life is Wild! God is Good!
– Proverbs 23:33
5 Days from now… the chaos will descend and we will have an AMAZING time with VBS!
The above verse from Proverbs, “your eyes will see strange signs, and your might will imagine confusing things” couldn’t be more apt – especially for this year’s VBS. While we’re hitting the African Savanna… we’ve also got some surprises in store. And through it all, we’re going to be learning just how wild this life can be and how good God is – as we learn and re-learn to pray, through that prayer Jesus taught us.
Each morning, as we gather in the sanctuary, we will see Grandpa put his Grandson to bed, tuck him in, tell him a story, and together with us all, say our prayers. And the whole while… we’ll be learning about, and drawing closer to Jesus.
I’m excited to pull it off this year, just as in every year, and it’s all because of three things:
First, the unwavering commitment we have to Jesus Christ, and the desire that all of us want to learn and grow closer… and we’re willing to do some crazy things, to get outside of our comfort zones to do it.
Second, it’s the unwavering commitment to children and youth – we run this program for them, but we also run this program with them. We have more kids involved in leadership this year than ever before. As kids see themselves “up there” they realize there’s room for them too. And they start to imagine themselves singing and acting and being a bold follower of Jesus. Just this week I had a great conversation with a 10yr old boy, who had just got back from camp, and had a profound experience with their counselor… their counselor who at one time was just a camper, but grew up to be a VBS leader, a college campus leader and now a camp counselor, and all the while, was a mentor and an inspiration to others. Our commitment to children and youth means we not only invite them into our programs each Sunday, or let them take over our campus for a week in the summer, we also give them the keys and let them take charge – knowing that as they do, they grow more than we could imagine.
Third, it’s the unwavering service and support of the adults of this church – who spend months and months planning, gathering, ordering, sorting, creating and then teaching and leading for a week. We have well over a hundred adults who will volunteer hours and hours of their time across the entire year, for this one week. Some might only have a single hour in April to prepare crafts. Some might only be able to show up for a single day to help with snacks or manage sign-ins or the parking lot. Some will be here every waking our to make sure absolutely everything is as close to perfect as possible. It takes all of them to make it happen, and I’m so very grateful!
We’re looking forward to a great big ROAR next week – where we’ll see some strange, maybe confusing, but ultimately, awesome things take place through the hard work of over a hundred adults, for the sake of two hundred children and youth through the grace of Jesus Christ right here, smack dab in the middle of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
If you’re stuck at work, or traveling, and can’t be here midday during the week, put our closing program on your calendar, 6:45p, Friday, July 10. If you can’t be here for that, fear not, we plan to livestream the Opening & Closing – as much as we can – knowing that not all the music is able to stream, because of copyright limitations. As always, online is better than nothing, but… being in the room beats only being online.
Join us if you can – and if you can’t, your continued support through prayers and financial contributions has a HUGE impact in Canonsburg.
Thank you!!
Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus – and watch out for highlights of VBS this week!
Pastor Don