VBS 2025: THIS TIME, IT WAS PERSONAL

The 2025 Vacation Bible School season is over for most churches but this year’s VBS will remain in my memories because it is the year I returned to my roots.

For the first time in six decades, I volunteered to work in VBS, serving at Enoree Baptist Church in Travelers Rest, S.C., where my wife and I joined after our retirement.

It’s not that I have been away from VBS completely. As a journalist and retired editor of the Baptist and Reflector I have written numerous VBS articles over the years. The stories were not “have to” write articles. I chose the VBS “beat” because of what those three letters represent — sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with boys and girls.

Statistics prove that VBS is one of the best and most effective evangelism tools that a church can have. It reaches boys and girls at an early age and plants gospel seeds. Sometimes children accept Christ at VBS and that’s great. But only eternity will reveal the number of people who accepted Christ later in life years after hearing about Jesus for the first time in VBS.

My responsibilities with the paper limited by involvement because in the primary church I attended during those years, VBS normally occurred during the week of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting or the week either before or after the event.

Since I retired from the B&R at the end of last year, I have more control of my time. I can pick or choose what I do for the most part (with a lot of suggestions from my wife and grandchildren). This year I chose to serve in VBS.

Some may ask, why would a 67-year-old man want to subject himself to the “organized chaos” of an event geared toward dozens of hyperactive children? It’s a fair question.

It helped that two of those participants were my grandchildren, but that’s not the real reason.

The primary factor was the opportunity to return to my spiritual roots. Vacation Bible School was a huge part of my childhood. Keep in mind that I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. We did not have all of the activities that are available to children today. In those years, VBS was “the only game in town,” at least for the kids who lived in rural areas.

I still remember many of the men and women who volunteered their time to make sure we heard Bible stories and that we learned about Jesus and His love for us. I remember the fun we had and, of course, the end of the week cookout. Hamburgers were a treat in those days.

Vacation Bible School helped shape my life then and that is why I want to be involved today. Though we may retire from our jobs, we never “retire” from serving God.

Senior adults have a unique opportunity to make a difference in our local churches, whether it be serving as Sunday School teachers, working in VBS, rocking babies in the church nursery so their parents can hear the gospel, or going on mission trips or serving as a disaster relief volunteer.

At this year’s VBS, I assisted the children with crafts. I came home each night tired and with paint on my hands from helping 4-and-5-year-olds paint bird feeders, but it was worth it because those children heard about Jesus, even during craft time.

We should never stop sharing the love of Jesus, especially with our children and youth. They need to see Jesus in us. Find a need at your church and volunteer to help. You will receive a blessing greater than the one you give. B&R — Wilkey served as editor of the Baptist and Reflector for 26 years prior to retiring at the end of 2024. He is continuing to contribute to the B&R as a freelance writer and is also writing for the B&R’s partner newspaper The Baptist Paper, among other publications.