Amazing Desert Journey
Concordia Publishing House
- Promises for the Journey - God promises to save us from sin - Genesis 2:8-17/3:1-15,22-24 - Adam and Eve leave the garden
- Provisions for the journey - God provides all we need - Exodus 16:1-17:7 - God provides manna and water
- Strength for the journey - God gives us strength to resist temptation - Matthew 4:1-11 - Jesus is tempted
- Hope for the journey - God's son rescues us - Matthew 27:27-54, 28:1-10 - Jesus dies and rises
- Joy for the journey - God's Son leads us home to heaven - Revelation 2:10; 7:9-17 - a Heavenly multitude
Setting – a journey through the desert
Message – Kids will learn about God’s plan to rescue them from sin and death through His Son, Jesus, Who is even now preparing a Heavenly home for them and for all who believe!
Focus – Evangelism and Bible Content
Strengths –
- Amazing Desert Journey has a strong evangelistic emphasis
- The director’s book includes great information on how to reach VBS families after VBS is over!
- I especially love the Bible Challenge station – since Concordia is Lutheran, they do teach baptism as part of salvation. Churches which do not teach this would need to know it – you could leave this out if everything else about this VBS is a great “fit” for your ministry
- I found the options for crafts to be creative, varied, affordable and fun!
- Strong focus on the Bible and getting the kids into it!
- Director’s book is easy to understand and covers almost everything you need to know as you plan, prepare and present your VBS
- More enthusiasm in the open/closing – object lessons, science projects, stunts – something to capture the kid’s attention and get them thinking!
- Daily “live – it” activities to help kids take what they learned out of the church and live it in their everyday lives, every day.
- While most of the lessons provide ideas to engage the children in the teaching of the Bible lesson, I’d really like to see this more developed with more involvement of the kids and less “lecture” by the teachers.
- Information on how to involve special needs kids in your VBS
- Activities to involve the children in serving their communities
Concordia says, “We’ve designed Amazing Desert Journey to create a thirst for Jesus so children and their families will come back for worship and Sunday School, where they will be given a rich and recurring feast of God’s Word. Every VBS lesson clearly distinguishes between God’s Law and His Gospel. And, at the center of all teachings is God’s gracious gift of the Savior, Jesus Christ.” If you are looking for a VBS with a strong evangelistic focus and a theme which is thoroughly woven through each part of the day, take a good look at Amazing Desert Journey!
Please be sure to check back tomorrow for the next VBS review in my Top Ten Countdown for 2012!
I love reading reviews from a dedicated children's instructor, and would like to see included a sentence or two from a child about what they think of the logo. Are they interested in going? Does it look fun? Does a kid swinging on a rope imply that they will get to swing on a rope? (Not being sarcastic--some will be very disappointed to find out there's no rope to swing on.)
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