Tour of Vacation Bible Schools in Houston 2013

I remember going to a Vacation Bible School once or twice during the summer and really enjoying it. It was mostly just like a Sunday School class that lasts for about 4 hours. There were puppet shows and singing and craft sessions, and always a little church service geared toward kids.

So school was out for Ivy and I was making a list of things for her to do. So I thought I’d check out the VBSchools in Houston and see what they had to offer. Wow!!! There were bunches of Vacation Bible Schools and many were quite elaborate. VBS has improved a lot since I was a kid! Some even come with musicians and a stage show! It turned out there was a VBS almost every week in the summertime, so we started our ‘tour’ of Vacation Bible Schools right away in June.

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The first one we tried was at First Methodist Church in downtown Houston. They have a cool indoor children’s area that is designed to look like a city street, with each room being a different shop. These guys really had their act together and even provided curb-side drop off and pick up service. Ivy completely loved it and didn’t want it to end.

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It was such a success that I went looking for another VBS and found a big one at Houston mega First Baptist Church. It was a VBS with a theme – Colossal Coaster World. Thousands of kids were at this VBS. It wasn’t quite as personal and was definitely louder, but they had a stage show and plenty of action and hands-on activities. Ivy loved this one too. In fact, we immediately signed up for VBS at SECOND Baptist Church and continued with yet another VBS for another week.

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After that was over, I snooped around for some more VBS action and found a small one at a Southwest Presbyterian Church. We gave it a try and it turned out to yet another VBS that Ivy loved. The theme of this VBS was Sonrise National Park. It was small and nothing elaborate, but the personal attention was excellent. I would pick up Ivy and she’d immediately ask for me to play the Jesus music which was given to her on a CD. We played that CD everyday for a month!

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The best VBS – much to my surprise – was at an Episcopalian Church. I usually associate calm and boring with Episcopalian, but the VBS at St. John’s Episcopal Church was loaded with action, a choreographed stage show each day, and even a singing host by the name of Jenna Kukendall. Jenna has several albums recorded full of praise and worship and children’s music. She travels to various places doing Vacation Bible Schools and other events for kids.

We have Jenna’s album “How Sweet It Is” in our car and Ivy asks for it be played over and over and over. Especially the ‘candy song’ as she calls it – it’s a remix of the classic “Lollipop”

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So that was our Tour of Vacation Bible Schools in Houston in 2013. Success!! Ivy learned a lot and had a good time. I got a break each day for about 4 hours of watching the kid. Everybody wins! We’ll do it again next summer. 🙂