2008 VBS Top Picks

VBS! Once again it is time to look at curriculum for what has long been a “tradition” of sorts for many, if not most, churches. While many churches do still plan and present vbs to the children in their church and community, others have had to cut back on what they do and some have cut out vbs due to budget issues. I once had a staff member of a particular publisher tell me if children were really important to churches, they would be willing to spend whatever it took to have a top-rate vbs every year. I don’t agree. I do believe children are important to all of us, but budget issues are very real and legitimate concerns for most churches – people have been laid off, fuel bills have risen as have nearly every other expense a church faces. Yes, we care about the children in our churches and communities, but the realities are, we have to work with the budget we have. However; it still is possible to have a vbs ministry in spite of tight budgets! While we may not buy every “bell and whistle”, we can still have an effective vbs! So, how do we select our vbs to get the most for our budgeted dollars? Check my article in the March/April issue of Your Church magazine, and their web site www.yourchurch.net - for three steps for finding your best vbs curriculum "fit"!
When it comes to vbs, many churches just automatically order the same publisher’s curriculum as they used in previous years. This may be a good idea for you as certainly there are benefits to using a resource your volunteers are familiar with, but now most publishers utilize the same learning center rotation model, so rather than automatically assume you will want a particular publisher, plan to attend your local Christian Store’s free VBS Open house/vbs workshop for the opportunity to talk with publisher reps to help you find the best curriculum “fit” for your vbs and summer ministry! I'd like to encourage you to order your vbs curriculum, as well as all your curriculum, from your local Christian Bookstore rather than order direct from the publisher. Bookstores are there to serve you and provide you an opportunity to support your local community. Always buy your curriculum from your local Christian Bookstore! If you do not have a local Christian Bookstore, check with Kregel Parable Christian Store's ministry resources department - mr@kregel.com where Hollie is very happy to help you with curriculum needs!
	This year - as it was last year - you will find both my vbs reviews and side-by-side comparison chart for 17 vbs resources at www.yourchurch.net - look under "special downloads"! As for my Top Picks for this year's vbs resources . . . Standard Publishing's, God's Big Backyard is my top pick! I love their focus on helping children choose to follow Jesus and then how it involves them in showing God's love to their family, friends, neighbors and world! While I definitely want to see lessons written to engage children more by providing opportunity for children to be more involved in teaching the lesson and really want to see science project in the curriculum - this is a tremendous way to capture the attention of older elementary age boys, as well as all children - Standard has everything else I look for in a curriculum! I absolutely love the "You Serve" daily projects as they provided opportunity for children to live the Bible theme and message taught, experienced and woven through every part of this curriculum - love God and others!
My second place pick this year is Cook's Cosmic City where children learn to follow God - it was a very close call as both Cosmic City and God's Big Backyard are tremendously well written! I love the science projects in this curriculum and the lessons do a pretty good job of involving and engaging the kids! Daily "live-it's" are excellent and I love the "Share the Wonder" local service projects, but would like to see more information in the director's book on safety issues and volunteer screening as well as more enthusiasm in the opening and closing. However; you absolutely can not go wrong if you select Cosmic City as your "pick" for your vbs this year! Absolutely take a closer look at this new resource from Cook!
	Concordia Publishing's Friendship Trek is my third pick for vbs '08 - I completely loved their focus on choosing to follow Jesus as your "Forever Friend" and being a friend like Jesus to others! Again, it was an extremely close call between Standard, Cook and Concordia for my top three picks this year! Like with Standard's vbs, aside from lessons designed to engage children more in teaching the lesson and science projects, Friendship Trek has almost everything I want to see in a vbs! The mountain setting is fun and the focus on helping children learn to follow Jesus and truly care for others is one I'd want to use in my own church! Absolutely take a serious look at Friendship Trek!
Rounding out my top five vbs picks for '08 are VeggieTales, the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything in fourth place and Group's Power Lab in fifth place. Both of these vbs kits include great science projects extremely well tied in to their lesson points and creative, engaging lessons for the kids to participate in! Veggies is reproducible and a great curriculum buy - if you don't select it for your vbs, consider buying it anyway to use during the year as since it is reproducible, you won't have to be concerned about being able to get enough student materials when the summer is over. I'd love to see Group dump Chadder - add more science projects - particularly affordable projects using everyday supplies, but of course, Power Lab is extremely well written, the lessons are amazing - expecially the "Walk on water" lesson! Absolutely unforgettable!
VBS 2008 Craft Ideas! Attend your local bookstore's vbs event, check out the vbs info at www.yourchurch.net or as always, feel free to contact me, Lynda Freeman - lynda@kidzconnection.us - with any questions you may have about vbs!