Consider this an invitation to a planning meeting and a prayer initiative. The SUMC VBS team is holding its next planning meeting in the Simpson Room on April 21, shortly after the 11:00 am worship service ends. If you have committed to the project, or are wondering if there is a place for you, please join us.

Our “Seekers in Sneakers” VBS will take place August 5 through August 8 on the SUMC campus. This is a collaborative effort with St. Matthew’s AME Zion and St. Paul’s Lutheran churches and is free and open to children from pre-school through middle school. Registration details will be shared soon. To register as a volunteer, please click here.

The April 21 planning meeting is where we begin building teams and sharing ideas. It is the forum to connect and explore and discover where you fit. Every idea tossed onto the table needs nourishment, and every voice at the table enhances the project. Topics on the table will include decorating, marketing, mission, storytelling, music, games, science, crafts, and games/recreation, as well as pre-school and middle school possibilities.

The VBS team, recognizing our church family’s extraordinary capacity for prayer, is also launching a new prayer initiative this year. Everyone’s invited! We will provide a prayer focus each month from April through August, and we’re asking you to consider fitting a VBS prayer into your daily or weekly prayer plans, or just wrap us in a single prayer anytime during the month. Our prayer focus for April will involve our volunteers, those who have come forward, and those who are wondering if there might be a place where they could help. Future prayer prompts will involve our parents, children, VBS church partners, mission, and communities. As we lift our volunteers and those considering joining the team, let’s ask God to share His imagination and energy and love with them. Ask Him to provide the Light that will let them see how they might contribute in the weeks and months leading to VBS and/or during VBS week. Ask Him to let them know that their skills and talents, experience and creativity, are valued. Always, we will include prayers of thanksgiving for this opportunity and for all those who make it possible.

In June, we’re hoping to assemble a prayer team that will lift specific prayer requests as we move closer to Seekers in Sneakers. If you are interested in being part of this prayer team, please contact Bill Utterback.