Mesquite Church Hosts Vacation Bible School

By BOBBIE GREEN

The Progress

River Valley Bible Church on Hafen Lane in Mesquite hosted a four day Vacation Bible School (VBS) last week for kids ages 4-11.

Husband and wife team Ben and Jo Keller brought the VBS program to Mesquite three years ago and they have been organizing this Christ-focused summer camps for children ever since.

The Kellers said that they grew up attending similar VBS programs. And they even met each other at a Bible college!

The theme for this year’s VBS was “Sanctity of Life: How Everything is Created in God’s Image.” This went hand-in-hand with an Australian Outback setting. The curriculum and fun-themes came from a program called “Answers and Genesis.”
“We would recommend this curriculum to anyone!” said Ben Keller.

The Kellers especially appreciated the theme this year as they enjoyed “returning to the value of life.” The couple and their program is non-denominational and carefully crafted to make sure that everyone feels welcome!

The kids certainly loved the theme! All the activities of the day were geared towards the outback and, of course, learning about Jesus Christ. The kids placed into different groups by age. These included the Joeys, ages 4-7; the Wombats, ages 8-9; and the Dingos, aged 10-11. Each group was led by a volunteer safari guide.

Each day began with group songs and dances: one that taught a bible verse and one that was an Australian theme.

Then each group would break out into rotations that included snack time, game time, crafts, and lesson time.

The star of the show was craft time. Each child had the opportunity to make binoculars, rain sticks, cameras, “hermit crabs,” and decorated their own safari hats.

For young Fiona Belnap, her favorite activity came from game time where a kangaroo puppet entertained the kids.

Another hit from game-time came from Terry, a volunteer, who showed all the kids his Aussie Didgeridoo. This is a long pipe-like musical instrument.
What really took the cake from game-time was the game-show called “Zoomerang.”

Zoomerang operated with three teams, the three age groups, who would send one volunteer to answer the question. The questions alternated from Bible-centered queries such as “How long was Jesus on the Earth after he rose from the dead?”(40 days) to Australian-themed questions like “How many hours a day do Koala’s sleep?” (answer: 20 hours).

After each session, the point value would increase for each question, ending with a triple-point, last round, winner-take-all showdown.

After an intense final round, the youngest age group the Joeys came out on top with a 600 point lead beating out both older groups!

The Camp came to a close on Thursday as the kids and volunteers sang and danced to one last song. “Zoomerang Zoomaroo, God made me and God made you!” were the closing lyrics.
“We just have a passion to teach kids about Jesus and that by believing in Him they can go to heaven,” said Ben Keller. “It’s such a great way to reach out to the community.”

The Kellers and the River Valley Bible Church plan on continuing this tradition and even announced the medieval theme for next year “Keepers of the Kingdom: Standing Strong in Today’s Battle for Truth.”
“We plan to keep doing this every summer,” Keller said. “We would love to see it grow!”

All kids aged 4-11 are welcome to attend the VBS program awt River Valley Bible Church. For more information visit rivervalleybiblechurch.org.