Your VBS will be a special week. Lives will be changed. Families will be reached with the Gospel. Make your VBS Closing Program is one that welcomes families and visitors to your church. Plan now to ensure a smooth, impactful program; use this checklist to help.

Get more time for real ministry with VBSMate.

A smooth-running VBS starts with registration. It’s a tough job without the right tools, so that’s why there's  VBSMate, your free online VBS registration tool! With VBSMate, you capture consistent and complete student and volunteer enrollment with less time spent on data entry—leaving more time available for building relationships with VBS kids and families. Generate additional events to support your VBS such as volunteer training, a closing VBS celebration, and follow up meetings after VBS. Or create a new church outreach event (like a fall festival) for those new families who visited your VBS.

There are many different tasks and types of workers needed to pull off a successful VBS. That’s why we’ve listed a variety of ways for you to recruit, train, and appreciate volunteers. Be sure to consult these “Seven Steps to Recruiting Success” often!

There are certain Bible stories pretty much everybody loves teaching: the days of creation, the fiery furnace, Jesus calming the stormy sea, the Christmas story. Sunday School 101.

Stickers. Pencils. Trinkets. Been there, done that. How can a baptismal birthday celebration reflect the significance of the event? Consider ten ideas that could be used monthly in your Sunday School or elementary school classroom. Have a party and invite your community of believers!

Over the past month or two, I’ve slipped on a teacher shoe from time to time in order to imagine the teens who may be reading The Messengers: Discovered. What a thrill it has been to create potential lesson plans! 

Teachers have been tweeting, texting, messaging, and emailing me about ways to teach Discovered in their classrooms. For a teacher who suffers from occasional classroom withdrawal, this engagement with fellow educators is downright thrilling! I love knowing that some of your students across the nation will be using my new novel to learn about their world and their God, who created it.

The #SelfiesWithSimon. The #SimonSightings. The book reviews and random Facebook tags. I am so very thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ for sharing how Simon has impacted their lives this summer. Teens and adults alike are sharing The Messengers with others, and the youth group is one setting in which this is taking place.

Sunday School teachers are very important. They help us bring our children up in Christ and put them on the right path to Jesus. Week after week, they choose to work with kids—boogers and all—so that they can share the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Many of us remember these amazing individuals in our own lives. We recall their bold faith and their unconditional love. (I even recall a few snacks as well!) Unfortunately, it can be hard to recruit and retain people for this vital position. We have come up with 3 tips for finding Sunday School teachers.

My novel Discovered, in The Messengers series, has been out for a few weeks now, and I have loved hearing feedback from people with all kinds of backgrounds. One theme that I often hear is this: “How do I share this book?” The context might be a book club, a youth group, a classroom, or social media. This question excites my former-teacher self, and I start thinking of ways for me to help you get the word out about The Messengers and the message it contains.