Embark on the Great Jungle Journey: VBS 2024!
“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17
All aboard! Welcome travelers! I’m your VBS Director, Rebakah Bussa, aka Cruise Director for 2024! I’m so excited for the epic journey awaiting the kids of our church family and community this summer at WCC’s Great Jungle Journey VBS! I’ve been involved in the VBS ministry in many roles both at this church and at other churches through the years. I love VBS, but I honestly resisted taking the helm in this role. This year however, I felt like God would not allow me to say “No” though, and through His gentle nudges, He opened my mind and slowly (or quickly) changed my heart and has made me so eager for the opportunity to serve God and our church in this way. Now instead of hesitant, I’m incredibly thrilled and blessed by what I’ve already been learning through this curriculum about God’s creation and the lessons prepared for us. I hope you all are ready and eager too because He has something to teach all of you this summer as well!
VBS Director, Rebakah Bussa
It’s a jungle out there, and we are ready to explore it June 9-13! Are your children ready to go on a journey with us? Listen! Look! Smell! Touch! Taste! Join us in a world of wonder as we delight our senses, captivate our hearts, and embark on an epic cruise investigating the Bible from Genesis to Revelation! We will cruise through the rainforest and make stops along the way at the 7 ports of call representing 7 key historical events in the Bible known as the 7 C’s of history:
Day 1: Creation
Day 2: Corruption & Catastrophe
Day 3: Confusion
Day 4: Christ & Cross
Day 5: Consummation
Each day will be full of excitement and adventure awaiting your children, right from the beginning with the Jungle Jam assembly, followed by Rain-or-Shine Bible time where we explore the 7 C’s of history in creative ways, and then travel from Tree-mendous Science and Crafts to Rainforest Recreation and Canopy Cafe Snacks! It’s an epic adventure they won’t want to miss, so plan for them to swing in for some fun!
How can you help?
Pray for our lead team! Pray for wisdom and an adventurous spirit as we prepare to boldly and unashamedly proclaim God’s glory to His children this summer!
Pray for the kids exploring with us this summer, that they will come ready to learn and grow and be softhearted towards learning the lessons God has for them. Jesus said in Luke 18:16, “Let the little children come to me…” So we pray for the to come, both to VBS and to come to know and love Christ.
Collect packing paper from Amazon shipments. You know, that brown paper bunched up in those smile boxes from Amazon? We have a use for them, so send them our way!
Sign-up to volunteer! We’ve recruited all of our teachers, but we need Crew Leaders, AKA Jungle Guides, to travel with the kids from station to station. You will guide either 6 preschool or 7 elementary explorers throughout their journey, and help them with the planned activities. Email Heather Olsen, our volunteer recruiter, to sign up hlotoyou@gmail.com or watch for the volunteer sign up link that will go live on May 1 here!
Watch for work nights! Many hands make for light work as they say. There will be several work nights leading up to VBS week where we will transform our church into a rainforest cruise destination! These dates are pending, but watch for announcements on Facebook and Instagram as well as in our Friday Newsletter.
A few words about VBS from Pastor Greg…
Why I love Vacation Bible School!
When I was a kid, I loved VBS because of the snacks. Primarily cookies and Kool-Aid. As an adult I still like VBS snacks. Most of you know, I rarely turn down a snack – even the ones considered healthy.
As a minister I love VBS because it often reaches children who cannot go to church. I know one of those children. My wife Tricia. My wife was born in Hollywood, California but grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. Her family did not attend church or worship God but she did go to Vacation Bible School most summers. It was at a Bloomington, Indiana church where she heard the message that Jesus knows her and loves her.
Tricia would eventually accept Christ when she was 16 at First Christian Church in Odon, Indiana. I became the Youth Minister at this very church in 1984 and we met when Tricia came back home for summer vacation after finishing her Junior year in Evansville, Indiana.
Please don’t discount the impact VBS can have on the life of a child. Here’s my plea. Become a Jungle Guide for VBS this coming summer at Westerville Christian. You might be the one who plants a seed in the heart of a child and that seed begins to grow when they become a teenager or an adult. And that is the reason is why I love VBS.