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| Strengthening the foundation of young Christians |
Renee Farquharson
Guardian Lifestyles Intern
Published: Jul 12, 2012
They are God’s creations and are special, was the one message the visiting members of Team Impact hoped children took away from their unique Vacation Bible School (VBS) held at Bahamas Harvest Church (BHC).
The unique summer event showcased elite athletes of Team Impact — Pastor Shonn Keels and Chip Minton, running through solid ice blocks, tearing whole telephone books and breaking rows of concrete bricks while teaching children their value as children of God.
It was four days of Bible fun and knowledge to strengthen the foundation of the young Christians under the theme “I Will Praise You For You, For I Am Fearfully And Wonderfully Made," through a partnership with BHC and four churches from South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida who sent trained volunteers to The Bahamas to teach the children as part of their international outreach ministry.
"We saw a need in a lot of our local churches to help them lead beyond themselves, and Team Impact trained them to go international and conduct VBS. We saw a great need to train and mobilize than to just evangelize ourselves," said Keels.
The churches, all of different denominations and ideologies participate in the VBS because they are united by one vision — bringing kids to Christ.
"God smiles when we erase lines of denomination and church lines to become one church,” he said. “The people want to respond to a need to evangelize and have responded to a common goal of communicating God’s love to these children."
Over the four days of the camp, the children started off each day with a morning assembly where they got to dance and sing and learn the theme of the day. The theme that jump-started the camp was “God's Love” and the children heard about the creation story through engaging creative and dramatic storytelling. They heard that out of all of God’s creations, He loves His people the most.
"We want them to constantly remember God made me, God loves me and Jesus wants to be my friend," said the visiting pastor. The volunteers ensured that spirituality was at the forefront of the children’s minds even though they may have been participating in an arts and craft activity or old-fashioned play time with games like the frog race or snake race which saw them jumping to the finish line, or slithering in the grass. They wanted the children to realize that God can be fun. The campers were also engaged in conversation with the volunteers to reinforce the spiritual lessons they learned.
Team Impact’s purpose is to partner with local churches to reach individual communities with the good news of Jesus Christ, to serve the local pastor and build the local church. Knowing that if you can get people’s attention that they will listen to what you have to say, Team Impact certainly grabs it with their unique style of ministry that uses the talents of elite athletes performing a mesmerizing production that demands the attention of the old and young alike. While their method may be different, their message remains the same — salvation through grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
And Keels and Minton certainly grabbed the campers’ attention with their amazing feats — tearing telephone books in half or rolling up a frying pan or lifting a child over their head. They certainly got to see the unexpected that people usually see on television.
"Typically people will only get to see Team Impact's stunts on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) but at VBS we try to send the kids home with something fun,” said Keels. According to Jacob Kemp, 9, his time at VBS was a lot of fun. "My favorite activity is arts and craft. I got to be creative and learn about the creation story.”
They are God’s creation and are special, was the one message the visiting members of Team Impact hoped children took away from their unique Vacation Bible School (VBS) held at Bahamas Harvest Church (BHC).
The unique summer event showcased elite athletes of Team Impact — Pastor Shonn Keels and Chip Minton, running through solid ice blocks, tearing whole telephone books and breaking rows of concrete bricks while teaching children their value as children of God.
It was four days of Bible fun and knowledge to strengthen the foundation of the young Christians under the theme “I Will Praise You For You, For I Am Fearfully And Wonderfully Made," through a partnership with BHC and four churches from South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida who sent trained volunteers to The Bahamas to teach the children as part of their international outreach ministry.
"We saw a need in a lot of our local churches to help them lead beyond themselves, and Team Impact trained them to go international and conduct VBS. We saw a great need to train and mobilize than to just evangelize ourselves," said Keels.
The churches, all of different denominations and ideologies participate in the VBS because they are united by one vision — bringing kids to Christ.
"God smiles when we erase lines of denomination and church lines to become one church,” he said. “The people want to respond to a need to evangelize and have responded to a common goal of communicating God’s love to these children."
Over the four days of the camp, the children started off each day with a morning assembly where they got to dance and sing and learn the theme of the day. The theme that jump-started the camp was “God's Love” and the children heard about the creation story through engaging creative and dramatic storytelling. They heard that out of all of God’s creations, He loves His people the most.
"We want them to constantly remember God made me; God loves me; and Jesus wants to be my friend," said the visiting pastor. The volunteers ensured that spirituality was at the forefront of the children’s minds even though they may have been participating in an arts and craft activity or old-fashioned play time with games like the frog race or snake race which saw them jumping to the finish line, or slithering in the grass. They wanted the children to realize that God can be fun. The campers were also engaged in conversation with the volunteers to reinforce the spiritual lessons they learned.
Team Impact’s purpose is to partner with local churches to reach individual communities with the good news of Jesus Christ, to serve the local pastor and build the local church. Knowing that if you can get people’s attention that they will listen to what you have to say, Team Impact certainly grabs it with their unique style of ministry that uses the talents of elite athletes performing a mesmerizing production that demands the attention of the old and young alike. While their method may be different, their message remains the same — salvation through grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
And Keels and Minton certainly grabbed the campers’ attention with their amazing feats — tearing telephone books in half or rolling up a frying pan or lifting a child over their head. They certainly got to see the unexpected that people usually see on television.
"Typically people will only get to see Team Impact's stunts on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) but at VBS we try to send the kids home with something fun,” said Keels.
According to Jacob Kemp, 9, his time at VBS was a lot of fun. "My favorite activity is arts and craft. I got to be creative and learn about the creation story, said Kemp. |
