VBS 2009 was a wonderful success!

I cannot thank you all enough for all of the work you did to make this year’s Vacation Bible School a success. Registration went smoothly which is a key for everything the first evening!  The stories were wonderful.  I didn’t know that Jesus had a comedy routine…it was great!  Our costumes and props helped set the stories for the kids each evening.  Special thanks to Jerry Gray and Mike Shannon and all the Shannon women for designing and building the Sea of Galilee.  It was wonderful and very wet (I speak from experience!) Music Crew (Barb Hill, Julie Shannon, Mary Boris, Doug Hooper, and H2O, the Band) the music was so JUST PERFECT!  All the kids know all the songs and we will always be able to sing Ha-Le-La-Le-La-Le-Lu-uia and dance wherever we are!  The crafts were memorable and I still have dye for that last minute tie-dye project until tomorrow (Thursday) if you need it.  The butterflies were awesome in the Parade and the kids loved the boats.  The Parade was again the favorite thing for the unscientific poll I took in Children’s Church on Sunday.  Thanks to the Schmahl family for loaning their speaker system and Casey Call for doing the set-up and take down. Crew Leaders, you seemed to enjoy yourselves even upstairs on Tuesday evening in the terrible heat and the Preschool Crew Leaders—I think we have about the correct ratio of Adults to Kids now.  Special thanks to Jacob Mann, Michael Schmahl, Andy Brooks and all you how helped out in the parking lot with the Parade and games.  Jennifer’s big sailboat was wonderful.  I saved the sail for next year!  The Galilee Gazette was more awesome every night and I loved the extra page of pictures on Wednesday evening!  Thanks to Cheryl and John Plunkett and Katy Mann for writing, photography, editing and production.  Our nightly newspaper is one of the highlights of VBS for families!  Dinner was a life saver for all of us, the snacks were very fun and tasty and we will do “Wheel of Fortune” for VBS every night in the future!

I also thank all the staff!  You all had a hand in this one and I am very grateful for the support.

My grateful thanks and praise and you can tell me what we need to do better next year now.  We had more volunteers this year than registered children and it was just the right size!

Bless you all - Debbie Bulloff, Education Director

(Click here to view photos of VBS 2009.)

What was VBS 2009 all about?  Read below to see what you missed!

Vacation Bible School - June 14 - 17, 2009, from 5:45 to 8 pm each evening.

Welcome to our VBS page!  The theme this year is “H20, My Lord: Water Stories with Jesus.”  From June 14-17, 2009, Northminster Presbyterian Church will transform into the land around the Sea of Galilee as we immerse ourselves in water stories from the New Testament.  During this week, children will have the opportunity to enjoy a vibrant youth ministry for kids of all ages.  H20, My Lord is designed to provide kids with a Vacation Bible School experience in a fun and healthy environment.  Life changing lessons are reinforced in each and every “faith-sharing” activity.  We will learn stories about Jesus, John the Baptist and the disciples and make our very own fourth annual HOMEMADE PARADE on Wednesday, June 17!

The cost of this opportunity is FREE!  We desire that all children from the community have the chance to participate. Donations are always welcome.

Please arrive between 5:45-6:00p.m. every evening, so we can begin promptly at 6:00 p.m.  We have so many activities to fit into each evening!  Children participating should be between the ages of 4 (by April, 2009) and Middle School.

Please register each child who will be participating (see link below). 

Parents, do not forget that you might enjoy participating just as much!  If you would like to volunteer, fill out a registration form for yourself. 

Please let us know your email address.  If you have any questions please feel free to call Debbie Bulloff at 251-9489 ext. 16 or email .

Don’t forget to bring a friend!  Click here to register online. 

(Photo at right: 2008 Vacation Bible School.)

VBS Stories/Themes June 14-17, 2009
"H2O, My Lord: water stories with Jesus"

John the Baptizer and Jesus
Luke 3:15-17 and 18-22; John 1:29-34; Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11
Jesus is baptized by John. Theme: God names us.

Walking on Water
Matthew 14:22-33. After feeding the 5000, the disciples go out into the sea and Jesus comes to them, walking across the water. Peter comes out to meet Him. “You are God’s son for sure.” Theme: Trust God.

Calming the Storm
Matthew 8:23-27; Matthew 13:34-35; Mark 4:35-40; Luke 8:22-25. Jesus calms the severe storm. What’s happening? The woman at the Well. John 4:4-42 “I will give you living water.” Theme: God is with us.

Healing at the Pool (Wade in the Water)
John 5:1-18. Jesus heals the lame man. Stirs the water. Washing the Disciples Feet. John 13:4-17. Theme: God heals us.

Bible Verses for H2O, My Lord: Water Stories with Jesus (All text is New Revised Standard Edition and can be found at www.oremus.org.)

Jesus is baptized - Mark 1: 9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, John 1:29-34, Luke 3:15-22
Then at that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented and [Jesus] was baptized by John in the Jordan. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. As soon as Jesus was baptized and as he was praying, heaven was opened. As Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being torn open and he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice came from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased."

Walking on Water - Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land,* for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I;do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind,* he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’

Calming the Storm - Matthew 8:23-27
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

Woman at the Well - John 4: 4-42
But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Healing at the Pool - John 5:1-18
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew* Beth-zatha,* which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed.* One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in* the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Jesus washes the disciples feet - John 13: 4-17
Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.