VBS 2014 - Wilderness Escape by Group Publishing & Music CD Give-Away!

For quite a few years now, Group Publishing has released three VBS resources; today we are going to take a look at their Bible-times resource, Wilderness Escape! With this resource you get to take children and families from your church and community back to Bible times so they may "experience" life as part of the people who fled Egypt with Moses, on their way to the Promised Land!

Wilderness Escape

Group Publishing

http://www.group.com/vbs/wilderness-escape

1. God is with us, so . . . trust God! - The Israelites cross the Red Sea - Exodus 14:1-15:21
2. God gives us wht we need, so  . . . trust God! - God provides manna and quail - Exodus 16
3. God gives us strength, so . . . trust God! - Israel defeats the Amalekites - Exodus 17:8-16
4. God saves us, so . . . trust God! - Moses remembers Passover - Exodus 12:1-30
5. God guides us, so . . . trust God! - God gives us the Ten Commandments - Exodus 20

Setting – The Wilderness as the children of Israel escape Egypt and travel to the Promised Land

Message – "At Wilderness Escape, kids and adults get to meet Moses and learn about his faith-stretching adventures in the desert."

Focus – Evangelism, Application, Content

Strengths –

• My favorite part of this VBS is the “Tribe Time"– particularly at the close. I really love the activities which engage everyone to help them focus all they did on the point and God’s Word! Solid, memorable Bible learning!
• I love the focus on trusting God!
• I LOVE the "Bringing It Home Family Faith-Builders"! Definitely get one for each family
• I'm very happy to see the Bible lesson portion in "Moses' Tent" was significantly more engaging this year - great ideas children and parents will enjoy and remember! Excellent!
• I am really happy to see Group included "Huddle & Prayer" time again this year for the leaders before they begin the activities with their small groups. It is powerful for children and families to see their leaders pray for them before they begin!
• As I would expect, Wilderness Escape from Group has a strong emphasis on intentionally engaging the entire family in creative ways and focusing them on how they can trust God!
• I found the options for crafts to be unique, interesting and fun - I LOVE the bell craft!
• I especially like the "Read the Passage with This in Mind" info for volunteers each day - excellent!
• I found the "Historical Background" for the Shopkeepers to be informative and interesting
• I LOVE the mission project for Operation Kid-to-Kid which teams up with World Vision to provide clean water for school children in India
• NEW THIS YEAR - I'm happy to see the New Bible Memory Buddies on the "dog-tags" - kids will LOVE these and be able to be reminded of the Bible verse they learned and the daily point! Fun to put on their backpacks! I especially LOVE the way each buddy is personally handed out in Tribes by imparting a blessing - powerful!
• NEW THIS YEAR - Preschool-friendly Options throughout to help teachers better engage the little ones!
• I'm very happy to see Group including "God Sightings" in Wilderness Escape

Would like to see –

• Ideas to help kids serve in their own communities.
• I was hoping I'd see teachers and children reading from the Bible during the Bible lessons and would love to see this next year
• A more affordable “basic” kit option for churches on a very tight budget
• Previous years had more music videos with families singing; which, considering how this VBS resource is a family resource, it is appropriate. However; this year there was only one song with families. While on a whole there were more children singing in the DVD, there are still way too many teens and adults outside a "family look" on the DVD. These older singers tend to "over-exaggerate" their smiles and motions and end up looking out of place and "fake". I'd like to see Group just have children and/or families on the DVD and stop using older singers.

Group says, "With all the hardships he faced, Moses might have wanted to give up. But even though he was surrounded by naysayers, Moses trusted God. As your VBS participants hear Moses stand up for his faith in God, they'll discover how they can trust God in their everyday lives." Group did a great job with this VBS resource; it is definitely worth taking a good look at it to see how it might "fit" your children's ministry as it provides a unique learning opportunity for entire families – or for just children and will challenge them to trust God! Great for VBS, a summer family event, mid-week ministry or for a special event during the year, but if you plan to use it after the summer, be sure to order enough of the student/family items – especially for Tribe Time – so you have them when you need them.

I am happy to say, not only did Group Publishing send a kit for me to review, but they sent extra VBS music CDs for me to give away (USA only)! If you are over the age of 18 and would like to be included in the drawing for a Wilderness Escape music CD - which will be on January 21, 2014, please comment below to let me know your favorite song for children; my favorite song for children is an oldie . . . My God is so Big! I love this simple song because it is simple; easy for children to remember and it has a powerful message . . . "My God is so Big, so Strong and so Mighty, there's nothing my God can not do!" I'm so very glad for the truth of this song!

In addition if you have followed on Google Friend Connect, followed by liking on facebook with the tab in the "Find us on Facebook" box ON THE BLOG or at this link (not just liking the post) and/or have followed About the Children's Department by email you will receive one entry for each of these which you have done. Plus, if you "share" this post, you'll receive another entry (please let me know if you share). This will help me be able to draw names from among people who would like to win a Wilderness Escape music CD from Group Publishing and it gives you several ways to enter the give-away! Thank you for reading About the Children's Department and for sharing it with the people you know!