CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — When a church steps out of the ordinary and decides to do something unconventional or unusual, if bathed in prayer, effectively planned, and carefully implemented, it can lead to a grand and glorious success.
Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville decided to do something different than the traditional Vacation Bible School. Amy Burney, preschool ministry director, explained, “We found that we were not reaching unchurched kids on our campus. Unchurched people are not familiar with ‘VBS’ terminology. For those reasons we decided to change the name from Vacation Bible School to KidVenture.”
This year, Tabernacle decided to adapt LifeWay’s “Magnified” material for their KidVenture summer emphasis. This resource was designed to deepen the children’s understanding of God’s greatness and to explore the wonders of creation. The LifeWay website stated, “Through these lessons kids will learn important biblical lessons, participate in fun activities, and develop a stronger connection to their faith.”
To benefit from this vital material the church leadership decided that they could reach a maximum number of children by taking the church to the community rather than bringing the community’s children to the church. Consequently, they had their KidVenture in four locations all in the same week.
Two of the four events were in local parks: Hamilton Crossing in the morning and Dellinger Park in the evening. A third KidVenture was held in the clubhouse of the Four Seasons neighborhood in the evening.
Euharlee Baptist Church has not hosted VBS for several years, and the Lord paved the way for Tabernacle to help solve that problem. Rebecca Willoughby, the kid's ministry director at Tabernacle, reported, “Euharlee’s pastor, Billy Jones, is a former member of Tabernacle, and we asked Billy and his wife, Misty, about partnering with us to reach the children in that area that we were not serving with our other locations.”
“Misty was the site director for their location, and we had their KidVenture outside on their church grounds. EBC volunteers staffed the location with the help of some students from the church we partner with in Utah. There were 89 kids and youth that attended the Euharlee event and 45 volunteers who made it possible.”
Willoughby added, “We also partnered with Woffords Crossroads Baptist Church. They attended some planning meetings and although they did not host their own site this year, they participated at some of our KidVenture sites this year so they could learn by seeing it in action.”
This outreach model employed by Tabernacle resulted in 112 unchurched children, combined, coming to the four Kidventure sites. Rebecca stated, “We really do love this model and feel like it is a great way to connect with the community.” The church built a website (https://tabernaclebaptist.org/kidventure) to promote the summertime children’s event. The website highlighted every facet of the experience and answered every question anyone could have about the value KidVenture would offer Bartow County children.
When the information from all four sites was compiled, the report indicated that there were 516 children in attendance served by 258 volunteers (including adults and students). There were also seven children that committed their lives to Jesus.
The church is intentional by following up with every unchurched child that attended each of the KidVenture sites. They were provided with a gift bag that included a Bible and a toy appropriate to their age.
In August, Tabernacle is hosting “FamBlitz” with Donnie Slade of Blitz Ministries as their Fall Kick-off event and have invited the children that attended each of the KidVenture experiences. This event is described as a high-energy, family-focused, event packed with games, laughter, and a message of faith – perfect for kids ages 3 through 5th grade.
Tabernacle’s pastor, Dr. Patrick Latham, and the church staff were heavily invested in this monumental effort. Dr. Latham and other staff members were involved in many different capacities throughout the week at all four KidVenture locations.
Under Dr. Latham’s leadership the church is doing a great work as they intentionally connect with the community through other seasonal community events.
God has called us to connect with families in our communities and to share the Gospel. Some churches go around the world to have backyard Bible studies and meaningful events for children and youth. Tabernacle is reaching the world and sharing the Gospel in its own backyard. It could be worthwhile to try the same thing at home, for the world has come to most of our communities.
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