| A Trip On The Boomerang Express | |||
| By Vernon Robison Moapa Valley Progress Published August 5, 2009 The Lake Mead Baptist Church in Overton held its Vacation Bible School last week for grade school aged children K-6. About 51 children were in attendance at this year’s bible school. Organizers were very happy with the high turnout. “This is the highest attendance we’ve had in a long time,” said Vacation Bible School Director, Lisa Hall. “It’s more than we’ve had since I’ve been here, anyway.” |
 Children paint little boomerangs in the arts and crafts section of the Lake Mead Baptist Church Vacation Bible School. |
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| The theme for this year’s Bible School was the Boomerang Express. Children took an exciting excursion by rail through the outback of Australia. The children were divided into four age groups and were conducted through a variety of activities each day.
The various rooms at the church were transformed by decorations depicting Australian themes. Kids learned Christian songs and played a number of games at the Music/Opera House train stop in reference to the iconic Sydney Opera House. They had a snacktime in a small room decorated like the interior of a ship. The ship then took them to a bible study class in a room decorated as the Great Barrier Reef. There were also various arts and crafts projects that the kids could complete during the week in an area decorated with drawings of kangaroos in the outback. A network of train tracks on the floor of the church guided the kids to their next activity. |
 Service missionaries Robert McMillan (from Monroeville, Alabama) and Erika Furce (from Atlanta, Georgia) teach children Christian songs at the Vacation Bible School held last week at Lake Mead Baptist Church in Overton. |
The school also had help from six service missionaries coming from various places in the United States. These missionaries were young adults, college age who have spent the summer volunteering in similar programs in the Southern Nevada region. They came from Missippi, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia and California.
To add to this missionary theme, Lake Mead Baptist pastor, Scott Adams, taught a class each day relating the interesting stories of several different missionaries who had travelled to serve in various remote parts of the world. Stories included the experiences of a couple serving in Australia among the aborigines, a cowboy serving out in the backcountries of Idaho, a woman who is serving in the country of Tanzania in Africa and many others. Each day a different missionary was highlighted. |
| A fundraising competition was also held throughout the week. The contest pitted the Sheilas (girls) against the Blokes (boys). The kids voted for their favorite missionary story as told in Pastor Adams class. The missionary with the most votes would receive all of the funds raised throughout the week.
The kids raised nearly $300 during the week. The contest was close but in the end the blokes won out over the sheilas only by about $5. The winning missionary story was of Jackie Smiley who is working with orphaned children in Tanzania. On Friday evening the children brought their parents and families to the church for a special dinner and a program to show off what they had learned. About 180 people were in attendance at the evening program. The kids performed the songs that they had worked on throughout the week. Drawings were held for various treats and prizes. |
