Why I teach Vacation Bible School

This story can be found in my book, The Majorettes are Back in Town and Other Things to Love About the South

The word, “Vacation” in Vacation Bible School is a trick that makes sweet church ladies volunteer for the king-daddy of all summer spectacles. No longer a quiet week of coloring pictures of Moses while nibbling crunchy and creamy Oreo cookies, Vacation Bible School, or VBS, is now a production that makes Star Wars seem like a backyard puppet show. Just under 500 children and volunteers showed up at our church this year for a razzle-dazzle good time.

Costumes and decorations, sound tracks and special lighting add to the experience of being in the desert for forty days and nights, and when the fog machine is added the next day, we’re transported to a rocking boat on the Sea of Galilee.

More coordinated than the US Army, the VBS Mom Squad mans their stations for skits, songs, science experiments and even themed snacks. Yogurt with a message? Yep. The snack lady told us, “The granola on top is rocky and hard like our lives can sometimes get. But the yogurt underneath is sweet and smooth which is how our lives can be with Jesus.”

Would it kill them to find a good lesson inside an Oreo?

Yes, this really happened at VBS. 

After I was too old to attend VBS, I followed the natural progression of church ladies nd became a volunteer. At first, I was only a teenage helper but the achieved the much anticipated and honorable position of a group leader. Since then, I’ve also led the music, recreation and games, dressed as Bible characters and told stories, led field trips and served snacks.

Even though I’m a veteran when it comes to Bible School, I’m still completely surprised each year at how worn out I am at the end of each day. The children are adorable, but they will suck every ounce of energy from your saved soul. When I taught in public schools, I could immediately get the undivided attention of the wildest of classrooms by slamming a book on the desk and giving them the evil eye, but at VBS, I’m forced to use my church manners and be peaceful, kind, gentle, good, patient and all that other stuff which is expected in God’s house. It’s utterly exhausting for me to be so sweet around that many children.

Every summer, God shows me his sense of humor when he sends little boys into my group who would make the preacher cuss. You know the ones. They’ll find a paper clip on the floor and bend it to form a weapon for little girl’s legs. They make naughty things out of the popsicle sticks and spin around on the floor during the prayer. Bathroom sinks get backed up with paper towels, and no lie – one year, I had a little boy who wrote his name on the bathroom wall – and it wasn’t with a crayon. Obviously, my righteousness wasn’t the only thing that sprung a leak that day.

By the end of the week, the children have finally learned the daily routine, the volunteers have reconciled themselves to feeding their own children drive-through hamburgers five days in a row, and the closing assembly is minutes away. We’re all sitting crossed-legged on the hard floor beneath a tent in faux Jerusalem when the roughest of the boys comes and sits next to me and quietly says, “I’m kind of like Jonah.”

“You mean you’re stuck inside a big fish?”

“No, I mean that sometimes I don’t do what God tells me to do. But when I finally listen, everything turns out to be really good.”

I take a deep breath, dab the corners of my eyes, and haul my weary self up off the floor and go sign up to teach Vacation Bible School again the next year.

With or without the Oreo cookies.

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18 Comments

  1. Lori on June 29, 2015 at 11:19 am

    Love vacation bible school. And tell them next year, that Oreo’s are hard on the outside, just like life, but life can be made softer, like the creamy middle, with Jesus in our souls along for the ride. Sweet, now go buy yourself a bag of cookies and eat them all by yourself! You deserve it. A milk mustache will look cute on your too.

    • Leslie Anne on June 29, 2015 at 12:26 pm

      Hahahaha! You are hilarious! I’m definitely going to use your Oreo analogy next year!

  2. Emily on June 29, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Leslie Anne, LOL, VBS has changed a lot since I was a volunteer. I like to think if I were out there now I would be just like you and keep smiling. Bless your heart, you are a really good girl…………

    • Leslie Anne on June 29, 2015 at 12:26 pm

      Keep smiling, keep smiling . . . that’s what we whisper under our breath!

  3. Barbara Ann on June 29, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    I grew up going to VBS, eating Salerno butter cookies & Hawaiian Punch (things my mom NEVER bought) and playing Red Rover.

    I soooo miss doing VBS. Our church has “moved on” from VBS, but I think it’s a sad move. Nothing is better than seeing all the classrooms decorated by inspired moms, and having the kids bouncing around singing the songs and listening to the Bible stories. We used to have great inspired snacks too.

    • Leslie Anne on June 29, 2015 at 4:47 pm

      It’s funny what we remember! Salerno cookies? A new one on me!

  4. Patsy on June 29, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    Good for you. Impacting a child in a positive way is one of the most important things you can do.

  5. Ellen on June 29, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    I laughed all the way through this. You are a better woman than I. I grew up in the C of C, and their VBS couldn’t hold a candle to VBS at Parker Memorial Baptist where I also went every summer with my cousins. I think my mother was just looking for an excuse to get us out of the house for another two weeks — yes TWO weeks.

    It sounds like things have evolved lightyears since then. I never had time to be a volunteer or teacher when Brendan was growing up because I was too busy trying to keep a roof over our heads while chasing his deadbeat dad for child-support. Clearly I have missed something.

    • Leslie Anne on June 30, 2015 at 10:37 am

      It’s never too late to go back and volunteer now! (Now THAT, I’d like to see!) My Mom also said her VBS in Hartselle used to last for two weeks.

  6. Beemie on June 29, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    MY boys loved Vacation Bible School…so many good memories.

  7. Rachel on June 29, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    You’re so funny! I know you’re the most popular VBS teacher in Fairhope!

    • Leslie Anne on June 30, 2015 at 1:13 pm

      Thanks, but snack ladies are always the most popular!

  8. Margaret Neely on June 30, 2015 at 10:01 am

    Bless you!

  9. Sherry on June 30, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    What a sweet story!! Kids are that and everything more.

    • Leslie Anne on June 30, 2015 at 11:05 pm

      It’s the “more” that catches us off guard every time!
      Thanks, Sherry.

  10. Sylvia on June 30, 2015 at 11:13 pm

    Another great trip down memory lane. I just love your writing. What a great sense of humor. I completely understand the class room management style that doesn’t work for God’s house. Been there myself a time or two.

    • Sylvia on June 30, 2015 at 11:21 pm

      Another great trip down memory lane. I just love your writing. What a great sense of humor. I completely understand the class room management style that doesn’t work for God’s house. Been there myself a time or two.
      Oh, aren’t we all a lot like Jonah?

  11. VBS again and again – Leslie Anne Tarabella on June 16, 2021 at 4:41 pm

    […] Why I teach VBS […]

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