1 John 5:11 – And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 – He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
I guess it comes as no surprise when I tell you that I LOVE mission trips—and the reason I love them is because they put me in a position where I have to trust God. For example, whenever I serve as part of one of these mission trip teams, I’m constantly asking God what to say in some situation how to word a sermon I’m preparing to deliver to people of another culture or what to say to someone who asks questions about my faith. I’m also asking God for the strength to get through a long day of ministry. I’m asking Him to keep our team safe as they travel along 3rd world country roads. And…by going on these trips I’ve learned that God loves to answer those kinds of prayers. Let me put it this way: experience has taught me that mission trips are a great tool of spiritual growth.
Another benefit of mission trips is found in the fact that when you get a whole team of people praying for each other you develop a very special one-ness with those people—a precious unity. So—suffice it to say—I DO love mission trips!
Redland is a good church for me in this sense because over the years we have sent mission trip teams all over the world. Let’s see if I can do an accurate recap. As I do, notice the green push-pins I’ve put in various places on this world map.
- In the early nineties we sent youth mission teams to Massachusetts to help with two new church starts.
- In the mid-nineties we sent a group of older youth to Nicaragua to help build a school.
- A couple years later we sent another youth team to help a new church that had just begun in Minot, North Dakota.
- Not too long after that the adults of Redland hopped on the “mission trip bandwagon” by sending their first team to Nairobi. Since then we’ve sent two other teams to that African nation.
- We’ve also been to Mexico six times.
- We sent three teams to the gulf coast following Katrina.
- We’ve done four medical mission trips to Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic.
- We sent a team to work in the back hills of West Virginia one summer….a place in the good ole U.S. of A. that seemed more like a third world country.
- For six summers we sent teams to Conway, New Hampshire to help with a new church start there.
- Twice we’ve sent teams to Romania to work in an orphanage.
- In July we’ll send our third team on a mission trip to Ocean City, Maryland.
I probably left some out but by looking at all these push-pins you can still see that we’ve done a lot of mission trips literally all over the world—giving me and lots of other Redlanders wonderful opportunities to grow in Christlikeness.
I bring this up because this afternoon, we’ll begin a mission trip that is our biggest—and we do it every year…and we’ve BEEN doing this annual mission trip for more than four decades. I’m referring to Vacation Bible School—or as we are referring to it this year: RBC CAMP—and the location of this “mission trip” is right HERE in Derwood, Maryland…or to be more specific…right HERE at Redland Baptist Church!
To give you an idea of the size of this “trip:” We have 191 children enrolled this year representing 142 different families. 42 of those children do not have a church home and 16 more say they worship somewhere but are not members of any church. We could have lots more children—if we only had more workers. Every year we have to close registration and start a waiting list…because the demand is greater than our capacity to meet.
But speaking of workers…our VBS staff—our RBC CAMP MISSION TRIP TEAM—is the largest mission trip team we put together. It is made up of 88+ Redlanders. Bob, can you imagine taking that many people to Hato Mayor? These 88+ teachers and other volunteers have been working to prepare for this “mission trip” for many months now—in fact, the leadership team started working on this year’s VBS immediately after last year’s VBS ended. As you saw when you came in the building this morning when you “swam” through the great barrier reef and walked by that volcano in Mexico they’ve been decorating all week. Plus—they have been praying about this annual mission trip almost non-stop for a year now…asking God for guidance and insight—not to mention the strength that is required to get through the week’s often grueling schedule.
Speaking of the schedule…this particular Redland mission “trip” is six days long. It begins with this afternoon’s kick off at 5PM. Then Monday through Friday of this week we’ll gather here for prayer before the day starts at 9:15 with the worship rally. After that those 191 kids will enjoy a Bible story, crafts, recreation, a snack, a mission story, and a music class before their parents pick them up at 12:15. Then tired but excited RBC camp workers will go home to prepare for the next day. Each year we have a different THEME for VBS. This year’s is AVIATION and we’re using that theme to emphasize a foundational fact: God is POWERFUL—OMNIPOTENT.
Now think about that! Think of the potential impact of 191 children and 88 workers embracing the truth that God is more powerful than any challenge they face in life! Can you imagine how much bolder they will be as they face life’s challenges…as they learn to enjoy the peace that passes understanding amidst the turmoil that comes from living in a fallen world? Our theme VERSE this year is Psalm 147:5 where it says, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.” Each day in this year’s school we’ll help our kids discover another aspect of God’s power as they “fly” all over the world…to places like the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. The daily Bible studies will compliment these journeys by helping the kids to better understand how God’s power affects their day-to-day life. Here’s a quick run-down.
- Monday they’ll study Joshua 3-4 where our all-powerful God caused the Jordan river to stop running so the Hebrew people could cross into the Promised Land. This will show our students that God has power over NATURE.
- Tuesday they’ll look at the account of Daniel and the lion’s den as a way of helping these 191 kids see that God has power over CIRCUMSTANCES.
- Wednesday they’ll focus their study on the coming of Jesus and in this way see that God has power to FORGIVE OUR SIN.
- Thursday as they study the resurrection they’ll learn that God even has power over DEATH itself.
- Friday our Bible study will be of Acts 5:12-42 where, in spite of the fact that Peter and the others were imprisoned, they boldly continued to share the Gospel message. Through this study our kids will see that God has power over the challenges we face in our DAILY LIVES.
That’s a quick “picture” of Vacation Bible School…and by “looking” at it I think you can see this is indeed the BIGGEST “mission trip” endeavor we do as a church.
The question that comes to my mind is WHY? Why do we do this particular “mission trip?” Or to borrow from a popular VBS song, “Why say ‘Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-YES’ to V…V…VBS?”
I think we begin to find the answer to this question by taking a quick look at the HISTORY of Vacation Bible School so let’s do that. A look back tells us that there were a couple things like VBS in the late 19th century but the idea of VBS as we know it began in 1898. It was started or founded by a compassionate doctor’s wife in New York City named Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes.
Mrs. Hawes noted that many of the kids who came to her husband’s clinic did so because of injuries they received while playing on the streets of the Big Apple…and she surmised that they needed something safe and beneficial to occupy their time. So, she rented a beer hall in the city’s East Side to conduct what she called her “Everyday Bible School.” She did ran her “Everyday Bible Schools” for two years until her pastor insisted that the school should be moved to the church, the Epiphany Baptist Church…which was located about a mile from the East Side beer hall. However after two weeks of meeting at the church it became clear to Mrs. Hawes that children from the East Side would not come to the church building. So she returned the school to a location near the beer hall for the rest of the summer. Mrs. Hawes learned that to lead people to Christ—we have to go where they are. We can’t always expect them to come to us. That’s something we should all remember. Each of us have a mission field…and it’s located where people are…in our workplace…neighborhood…among our friends…even family members.
By the way, Mrs. Hawes was the sister-in-law of John A. Broadus—who founded the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—where Bill Archer and I attended…and where Pastor Kevin is working on his own M.Div. Degree.
In 1901 after three years of Mrs. Hawes’ effort, the New York City Baptist Mission Society picked up the banner of VBS and established schools throughout the East Side. A man named Robert G. Boville of the Mission Society used college and seminary students to lead the work in five schools that summer. The next year Boville expanded to ten schools and 17 by 1903. By 1907 the society was running similar Vacation Bible School’s in Philadelphia and Chicago. By 1916 it had spread to Canada. In 1922 Boville founded the World Association of Daily Vacation Bible School and from then until his death in 1937 he promoted Vacation Bible School in numerous foreign nations. Meanwhile several denomination began to promote their own VBS programs—and still do ‘til this day. In fact, multiple millions of children attend Vacation Bible School every summer. Many churches hold Vacation Bible Schools for adults and teens as well. I remember on our mission trips to Conway, New Hampshire, nearly as many adults came to VBS as did children.
And to give you an idea of just how effective this local “mission trip” is—there were 89,000 professions of faith through VBS in 2007. And this is just in SBC churches. So, this is the answer to our question. Why do we keep hosting Vacation Bible School? Why do we say “YES!” to VBS? We do so because it gives us a unique opportunity to effectively share the gospel and let me just remind you—the Gospel message is something all people desperately need to hear because as I read a moment ago, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1st John 5:11-12) Without Jesus people have no hope in this life—or the next—and VBS or RBC CAMP—gives us a powerful opportunity to tell people about this sure and steadfast hope.
One mother of a VBS student shares that after she picked her daughter up from Vacation Bible School one day, her daughter Melissa asked if they could stop at the library. When her mom asked her why, she explained, “This morning in VBS my teacher told me that the only way we get to Heaven is if our name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. I just want to make sure my name is there.” The fact is the vast majority of people who decide to become Christ-followers are children when they do so. The older we get—the less likely we are to make this all important decision. Just curious—could we have a show of hands—how many of you decided to follow Jesus in Vacation Bible School? How many of you had children who made that decision in VBS? Thank you! The fact is, VBS gives us a chance to tell children about Jesus and why He came…because once school lets out parents are eager to find something for their kids to do.
But VBS does more than expose children to the Gospel. It also gives us an inroad to share God’s message of love with their moms and dads. Author Stephen Dunn reported the reaction of two agnostic parents struggling with whether to send their little girl to the local VBS. They said “Soon it became clear to us: you can’t teach disbelief to a child, only wonderful stories, and we didn’t have a story near as good as the Bible’s. Evolution is void of heroes. You can’t say to your child, ‘Evolution loves you.’ That ‘story’ stinks of extinction, and nothing exciting happening for centuries. The fact is we didn’t have a wonderful story or any heroes for our child. So we brought her to Vacation Bible School.” Thousands of moms and dads around the world—people who don’t know Jesus themselves do just that—and when they do they get to hear the wonderful—TRUE—story of Jesus. Their little ones tell them what they learned each day….or they hear it when they come to the closing celebration…but VBS has amazing potential for evangelism for the entire family.
And speaking of evangelism—on Wednesday every year during our VBS here at Redland I meet with the older kids who come to our school or camp—and I share with them the plan of salvation. I also give them a chance right then to pray and tell Jesus they want to follow Him as Savior and Lord. I always use the “ABC method” — a summary of this all important decision that was developed in VBS several years ago. So first I tell the kids that to become a Christ follower you have to ADMIT they are a sinner. I explain what sin is and we talk about that a bit. I share Scriptures like Romans 3:23 where it says: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Then we move on to “B.” “B” stands for “believe.” Another part of becoming a Christian is to believe that Jesus is God’s Son…and that He died for our sin…that He paid the price for our forgiveness by dying on that Roman cross. At this point I share verses like Romans 5:8 where it says, “God commends His love for us in this. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” The “C” stands for “Confess.” to become a Christ-follower we must confess that we want Jesus to be our Savior and Lord.
With this year’s RBC camp and especially my time talking with the older kids in mind, let’s stop right now and pray…pray for VBS. If you are working in this year’s VBS—aka RBC CAMP—would you stand? Please remain standing as I pray for you as well.
Father God,
I thank You for the way You have used Vacation Bible School over the years—used it as a tool to share Your great love with literally millions of children and their families. Thank You for these Redlanders who have given up a week of their summer to work in this year’s school. Use them in powerful ways this week Father. Give them the insights to know how best to teach Your Word to the little ones in their classes. Give them opportunities to share the Gospel with their moms and dads as well. And be with me Father. Help me know how best to speak to the children this week. Prepare their hearts to understand. Use this RBC camp such that many will come to follow Jesus. I ask this in JESUS’ name. AMEN
Now—every year when I share the Gospel message—I look for a way to put the gospel message in terms that children can understand. As I said, I build my comments on the ABC’s of salvation…but I also look for some special way to get the kids attention….a “hook” that will help them see Jesus’ coming in terms they can understand. For example, one year I used the story of the bridge operator who brought his son to work one day…but later as he saw a train approaching and had to lower the tracks….he saw his son stuck in the gears. He had no time to free his son so he faced a choice—either save his son and doom an entire train full of people to death as the train plunged into the river…or throw the lever that would lower the span and save the people at the cost of crushing the life out of his little boy. In the story the bridge operator chose to save the people—and in a similar way God gave the life of his own Son to save us from our sins. Of course unlike the bridge operator, Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t some cosmic last minute accident. No…Jesus’ birth, life, and death was God’s plan all along…and when I’ve used that story I always tell the children that.
Another year at VBS camp I made a huge cross out of construction paper. I laid it out on the floor and asked the kids to try and jump across the distance spanned by the cross beam. Of course they couldn’t do that—it was too far—but I used this to illustrate the fact that on our own we can’t get to God. Since we are sinful sinners the distance between us and God is too great. We can’t get to Him through our own good works. So God sent His Son to do what we could not. I always try to find a story or an object lesson like this to help our kids understand the Gospel and I would appreciate your praying for me as I try to think of a way to do it this year!
Of course, Jesus knew that as His children we would always need some sort of object lesson to help us remember and understand His loving action on the cross…so He gave us the Passover Meal—something we Christ-followers call COMMUNION. We come now to partake in that object lesson and as we do, let me invite all Christians present to partake with us because even if you are not a member of this church……if you are a Christian…if you are His, this is Yours.
THE ORDINANCE OF COMMUNION
As I said earlier, after I share my gospel presentation…using whatever object lesson God leads me to use…I ask any child present who wishes to become a follower of Christ to pray with me. Then I guide them through a prayer…and this morning I’d like to do that with you. Let’s bow our heads together. If you don’t know Jesus—if you have never decided to follow Him….and if you’d like to do that…here’s how you should pray. Begin by admitting to God that You are a sinner…that you are not perfect in thought, word, or deed. Tell Him you believe Jesus is His Son and that He died on the cross for your sin. In Jesus’ name ask God to forgive you. Now…ask Jesus to be the LORD—the BOSS—of your life. Confess to Him that you want to spend the rest of your life following Him…living and acting as He would want. Now take a moment to close your prayer.
AMEN.
If you prayed that prayer I invite you to leave your seat and come forward and tell me or Bobby or Kevin. If you have other decisions to make…to join this church…or to ask to be baptized…or if you just would like us to pray with you come…come as we stand now and sing.