26 JUNE 2008

A message from Billy…..

Unbelievable! Amazing! Fantastic! There are not enough adjectives todescribe what we have experienced at Grace Avenue these last two weeksat Vacation Bible School. Maybe you were here, maybe you weren’t, butthere are undercurrents of what we do all year long in these two weeks. Our ongoing stewardship of prayers, presence, gifts and service, sow seeds, making it possible for us to share the love of Christ with over 600 children in just the last two weeks. Let me remind you how:

     This was the first year of being in the new Learning Center facility for VBS.
What a gift it is. In the past we have had to struggle, juggle and even at times limit participation because our facility was not what we needed it to be. Now we have not just space, but rooms for every kind of VBS activity and every size of VBS group.  Your ongoing support of our Building Fund and programs like the Birthday Challenge have made this possible.

     We had an amazing army of volunteers during VBS. Both weeks were filled
with adult volunteers (both men & women) and teen helpers. We had volunteers
leading singing, crafts, recreation, science, storytelling, drama and snacks. Many of our volunteers were group leaders getting their group from place to place and providing spiritual guidance along the way. We have collogues at other churches tell us on a regular basis: “We would never do two weeks of VBS. We could not get enough volunteers.” Do you realize that because of the volunteer spirit of this church, our VBS is larger than many churches in our area that have four or five times as many members as we do?

In order to pull off an endeavor like our VBS you need decisive, organized and
visionary leadership from the staff position responsible for that program. For us that person is Kristen Lane. Kristen has once again demonstrated her skills as one the top Children’s Ministers anywhere. Some CM’s would never dream of something this wonderful. Others could never pull it off. Kristen does both with grace and a servant’s heart (and all this just 12 weeks after having a baby).

As we finish the summer and hear about lower attendance and giving; as we begin the fall and hear requests for volunteers to teach, sing, usher, greet
and serve in the Pumpkin Patch; as we get close to the end of the year and we consider budget requests to get our staff at even an average wage with their peers, let’s remember the unbelievable, amazing and fantastic lessons we were taught by this year’s Vacation Bible School.

With you on Grace Avenue,

Billy Echols-Richter