I am at vbs helping right now

If you hide out in the Volunteer room. You can get the better snacks that get hidden from the kids

Invoking Jeff's name made me burst out in laughter. I've known him for ages

You should change it to Subscribe or drink Unsweetened Tea. We drink Unleaded Koolaid in the north.

Already subscribed..... And only Low Sulphur for me......and a couple of those Hydrox cookies....please and thank you.

Bahahaha ! I get it ! I house /pet-sit for a friend who frequently entertains her three nieces & I'd usually find glitter on the pets & then wore most of it home on me ! 🤣

👏👏👏👏

Teacher friends call it "the herpes of the craft world."

@@tejaswoman 🤣

Glitter is the absolute worst!!! 🤣😂

Amen 🙏 🙌

Eh

Just volunteered for our VBS and got asked if I wanted to help at the archery station, the knife throwing station, or the shooting station. We might need those triage skills 😂

That's. Awesome.

I learned literally nothing useful in a decade of VBS summers. I'm so jealous.

We call that voluntold.

I would have enjoyed that one. Not to shabby. XD

Thank you for your service we appreciate your efforts

Yep... I am an established VBS vet as well. LOL 😁

Having taught both VBS and Sunday School, I found the reality to be a lot darker.

Absolutely accurate! 😅

@@vickiwilliamson1420 your country thanks you as well

Something called “Oriental Trading”! Right!!! Every VBS, Sunday School and Elementary School teacher knows Oriental Trading! 😂😂😂❤

That one got me 😂😂😂

My dad had an orange juice can covered in dried pasta and spray painted gold…he used it as his pen holder at work until he retired!

@@kareninhtownmitchell9191 Awwwww I love that!

That's precious 💞.

Lol that's in my book

That's sweet!

Solid Beastie Boys ref

Made me think of Veggie Tales "Rack, Shack and Benny" one of my favorite videos. 😆

​@@vickiwilliamson1420 and now I have The Bunny Song stuck in my head.

Amen!

I definitely did too! 😂😂😂😂

I went to a VBS ran by a nondenom evangelical church in the 2000s. I also was Catholic. Years later my Catholic church did a VBS but we tried to make it more Catholic by talking about "The Saint of the Day" during lunch.

Whew! That's a bit of culture shock I imagine!

​@キャロラインCaroline GAH! Like catechism from September to the middle of May wasn't bad enough. Who willing signs up for that? Us Idol Worshippers got the summers off.

holy shit yes.

We Catholics now have our own VBS, and I have either volunteered or run them for at least two decades. When you see the statue of St. Francis or Assisi made of popsicle sticks and painted with temperas, yep, my idea. 😂😂

😂 yes He does

I was raised Roman Catholic too. We had no such fun thing as Bible School! When we moved to Alabama, I was invited to Bible School by a neighbor who went to The Church of Christ. That is one of the sweet memories of my childhood. Not only did I learn a new way of worship-I learned “This little light of mine” and tasted Sun Drop for the first time. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I’m 71 now, and will be forever grateful to the family that invited me. In fact, it made such a great impact, that I was director of Bible School in different churches as an adult. I made sure that all of my own children had the Bible School experience AND the privilege of going to a church camp in the summer!😊❤️✝️

Presbyterian bible school is nuts. I was raised Presbyterian.

The inflated tunnel is that a bunch of box fans with a bunch of garbage bags taped on top to make it the whale cuz that's what they did when you're at my vacation Bible School.

Okay the GASP I just released since that's what we did whenever I was volunteering with the "skit" part of Catholic VBS... many years ago since I needed volunteer hours to graduate Catholic high school AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAY WE DID FOR JONAH AND THE WHALE BECAUSE IT WAS MENTIONED IN THE MATERIALS... Lifeway(?) SENT OVER We were bougie and used someone's tent instead of trashbags tho, lol

@@godisgracious6098 it’s why I’m happy to volunteer, myself. One summer, I was helping with a VBS out in Idaho in a depressed area. We ran out of drink mix because kids were sneaking in and _eating it._ Poor things! We locked up the powder and got the church ladies to make extra cookies for the snacks. Word must’ve gotten around, because by Friday we had a lot of kids attending. 😄

@@llamasugar5478How sweet. God bless you. 😊

Growing up in churches of Christ congregations, we had materials from 21st-century Christian, or maybe Gospel Advocate if you were out in a rural area like my grandparents' congregation.

It was the oriental trading reference for me

@@doktortodesoh… that one hit a core memory I didn’t know I had.

​@@doktortodesalso!

This is 100% accurate.

Amen! 🙌🏼

Thanks for adding that Green Goblin reference from the Raimi series! 🙏

YOU GUYS HAD ACTUAL ADULTS?! WHO VOLUNTEERED?! Not fair, I want all the years post-age 12 back. I definitely never volunteered. And I was definitely in charge of my class.Sucked so bad.

As long as my crown isn't made out of popsicle sticks. 😉 But you know, HEAVEN, so those popsicle sticks will be extra nice.

Yours is the first VBS song anybody has mentioned on this thread that I recognize.

@@bigscarysteve That's an old children's Sunday school song. I guess someone didn't want to pay for the Lifeway materials and just reused the existing materials for Sunday school for VBS to cut costs. The old standbys still work just fine to bring people to Jesus.

I remember that song but not the sit on a tack part 😅

i've got the wonderful love of my blessed redeemer way down in the depths of my heart where? down in the depths of my heart where? down in the depths of my heart

And now I've got it stuck in my head too! 🤦‍♀️😂

I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS COMMENT.... IT'S SO TRUE THOUGH!!! In 2007, it was Game Day Central, in 2018, it was Game on. The only theme they have not reused has been a space theme. Unless I'm wrong--

Oh, so you went to the fancy church then. Name brand drinks and snacks? Me, I didn't even know what an Oreo was until I was... like, 35.

@@davetom8517 I heard him say that. We had those too. I tend to think positive thoughts!

Can I get an "Amen!"?

😂

You got Little Debbie?!

Me too! Two years in a row somehow, lol.

Rookie mistake.

That's an old classic! 🥰

I was youth leader for a couple of years. I loved doing Lock-ins. One year we rented the YMCA overnight and it was so fun.

Lock-ins? I must live too far north to know what that is!

My church was rather large, so we usually rented out a Putt-Putt or Bogey’s or some kinda games/golf/laser tag combo place. Mostly what I remember is that by the time I was a Junior & Senior in high-school, I was over staying up all night and would end up feeling really sick by the time they were done. And I’m a night owl! 😂

@@bigscarysteve You get a bunch of kids or teens together and have an overnight sleepover, with plenty of activities and adult supervision. At my church, they were always in the gym (technically a "Family life center"). The name comes from the idea that you get dropped off a X time, and are "locked in" and can't leave until the official end time. And, traditionally you're supposed to try to stay up all night, but the kiddie ones I went to never did that. They would sneakily do things to get the kids tired out and fall asleep. If you want more information, try Googling for "lock-in party," which is what they are technically called.

Oh church lockins....went to some at a roller skating rink and some at our church. We had an older girl from a bigger metro area about an hour away show up. She dressed in only black with chains and goth flair. Next lockin she shows up with her BF, they would sneak off to the nursery. Rumor has it they got caught doing the dirty in there. Could have all been gossip.

I only ever went to one when I was growing up in Texas. That you stepped up to that at 14/15 years old is commendable. 👏👏

And I'll bet you will always have fond memories of it.

Thank you for keeping young tummies happy!

And don't forget the macaroni! 😅

DAWGS RULE!

I remember making something with a dish soap squeeze bottle. How long would they have to save soap bottles to give every kid one for a craft project?!?!

@@debra3520 And we sprayed the macaroni decorated paper plate gold! 😁🤣

I still have the pickle jar covered with colored twine...my Mom kept all of my VBS art treasures! 😊

A Cricut joke! 😂

That was our motto for the week! I just finished teaching VBS with this theme. I didn’t notice that was on the board! 😂

​@@AromaMomBibleStudysame😅

Ok, now you're just bragging!

1200?! That's the population of the high school in my county, give or take a few.

That is awesome, that is larger than the population of our town.

I must've gone to some evil church. After teaching VBS and Sunday School myself, I found the reality to be a lot darker. Lots of families in my church with serious problems they were whitewashing. Never would've suspected it--until I worked with their kids.

Bless your heart, thats alot of kids

AMEN

Try this one: Hip hip hip hippopotamus, hip hip hooray God made all of us! Hip hip hip hippopotamus, hip hip hooray God maaaade usss." Sang in a loop for hours on end. That's the VBS song forever ingrained in my brain. 😂

I have never heard this song before in my like but you still managed to get it stuck in my head.

@@Ohforgodssakethatsme Oh no! So sorry! LOL!

I started to be interested in Veggie Tales, but when I realized the songs were blasting on repeat in my ADD brain I had to abandon ship... which is a shame. They looked good.

I tend to lose the music that comes with curricula, both for VBS and rel ed during the school year. Hmm, music, nope.

I remember that one as well! One of the earliest ones that I can recall!

What kind of bugs was it

Gods creatures, great and small? Work with me here, cuz thats all I got.

Are you saying your church made the VBS teachers wear uniforms? I never heard of that before.

No not uniforms. There was always a logo that went along with the theme and we would all have to buy the same color shirt, usually white, and they would give us an iron on decal thing. So essentially we all made our own VBS shirts. It made it more exciting, all of us matching, and allowed for the kids to spot a teacher or volunteer easier. Our church was in a low income area, 99% of our VBS kids came from the neighborhood and didn't attend our church so it helped them know who they could go to. On a full Sunday our church had 40 people, adults and kids combined. During VBS week we would have nights were there was over 100 kids, it was amazing...and crazy.

Oh, law!

PLEASE do church camp!!!! I need to have my lake baptism experience validated by other adults who spent summers at church camp.

I do "sword drills" in my Catholic rel Ed classes after First Communion. I learned them from my Baptist cousins. Kids love 'em.

Surprised you didn't learn about food poisoning as well!

Wow, that's a different church culture from the church I grew up in. Nobody in my church would have been allowed to teach VBS or Sunday School or anything else unless they were married. Definitely no teenagers teaching VBS.

@@bigscarysteve Well, it must be a Cen Cal thing because the church I went to not only did VBS but the youth group had to volunteer for the workshops. 😁

@@1987Arby While I live in the East, my pastor (while I was growing up) was from So Cal. The timbre of his voice and his manner of speaking made him sound exactly like Chuck Smith--but he looked nothing like Chuck Smith, and his theology was definitely nothing like Chuck Smith's. If you're compelled to volunteer, is that really volunteering? Speaking of different church cultures, every other church I've ever been in, when they would ask for the young people to volunteer, every one of them would--but none of them would actually do what they'd volunteered for. In the church I grew up in, no young people would volunteer to do anything. It may have been disappointing to the adults, but at least the teenagers were honest about it. Reminds me of Matthew 21:28-31.

@@1987Arby I'm from Texas, and our VBS (particularly the after-program care bit) relied heavily on the youth group volunteering. I don't think any teenagers were in charge of stations, but we were doing so. much. child herding

"Girls LOVE keeping the nursery!" Why couldn't I just fill the little cups up with Kool aid and call it a day?

You're right about teaching VBS requiring special skills. Having taught VBS and Sunday School myself, I discovered that there are a lot of troubled families out there--trouble you never would've suspected existing until you deal with their kids.

Boomerang Express too

Can y'all tell the rest of us who went to VBS but still have no idea what you're talking about, what you're talkin about?

@@tejaswoman every year VBS had a theme

If the church ordered the Oriental Trading Company, it got paid for. If we ordered it ourselves, we got back a maximum of $25.

But isn't hydrox the original?

@@thejohnbeck and better!

More than a little sad!

Hydrox...more upscale than the VBS cookies we got.

Yep. Some parents have figured out it's a way to get free babysitting, and they send their kids to VBS at every church in town.

Our VBS were always in the evening.

@@rebeccaharkins2058 If that was available to us, I expect we kids would have been at VBS all day.

@@rebeccaharkins2058ours too

One of my co-workers mom had all the vacation bible school marked on the calendar so she could take her to a different one every week for the totality of summer vacation

My husband does this. He’s always in charge of outdoor activities. I use to love teaching at VBS. We had a lot of fun.

Ooo, I love the bunny

@@Cheese2026. I don't want no pickles I don't want no honey I just want a plate and a fork and a bunny

It's so true though!

YESSSSS I was 5 going on 6 when I attended Journey Off The Map. Since 2021, my church has officially stopped using Life way for VBS, and started using Answers in Genesis. This company is by far better than Life way... Better decor, better materials, better songs. And its all shaped around Genesis to allow children to understand Why God does what he does.

Journey off the map is ICONIC. We're on a journey oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh we're on a journey off the map!

It doesn't seem that journey off the map was too long ago

Okay 2015 that's not long ago I was 35 my nieces went they were 3 and 6

@@MilesDahnsoh life way is the best answers in Genesis sounds educational but boring for a vbs the one we are going too uses lifeway

I'm autistic and can remember songs from many years ago too! I don't know if your church did Group Publishing VBS but I remember the ""we will stand strong" one and the song that went "all around the world, something's going on about Jesus's love-it's amazing!"

@@Caroline-jt6ez I will have to ask Sis if she remembers that one!! 💗

I love helping at vbs

I got sent to VBS for the first time in 1967. My last involvement with it--as a teacher--was in 1991. After that, I moved on to churches that don't do VBS.

@@bigscarysteveoh well I help out in a church near us that my grandparents went to every year for vbs and I went to vbs there as a kid and it was always so fun

@@MelB868 I always had fun at VBS--when I was _a kid._ Teaching shows you a whole different side of things you don't see when you're a student. After teaching VBS, I was dumb enough to agree to teach what I call "Sunday school on Wednesday night." That experience led me to forswear ever being a teacher again. The parents got mad at me for actually trying to teach their kids something. They just wanted me to be a free babysitter.

In Bible school one year as a kid we made and painted bird houses