At the peak of Mount Everest is a lot of snow and ice. The same goes for the peak of vacation Bible school, at least it does for the VBS organized by the Fort Sill chapel communities. The weeklong event, themed "Everest: Conquering Challenges with God's Mighty Power," ended June 19 with "snow" on the ground and ice cream treats.
"I teased that there might be snow in the days leading up to it," said Cindy Cline, director of religious education. "(VBS) had a winter theme since we were talking about Everest so it made sense to have snow and ice."
On the final day, the fire department provided a soap-foam that looked like snow to cover the entrance to the chapel. Then, before the children left they were treated to free ice cream.
Cline said 153 children preregistered for VBS. Those children were then divided into teams of 10 and given a team named based on a hiking theme such as rock, gloves and backpacks. While oftentimes children are divided based on age or grade, Cline chose to mix the ages which she said improves the team dynamic.
"We used to do by age, but we found that when you mix the ages, the older kids help the younger and they evangelize to each other and serve each other," Cline said. "It also cut down on behavioral problems."
Each day the children would meet together in the Frontier Chapel sanctuary to learn the theme of the day. The daily subtheme would focus on one of God's attributes: providing, healing, comforting, forgiveness and keeping promises.
The children would then break up into their teams and rotate around the chapel visiting various stations such as the KidVid, Bible expedition and imagination station. At each station the activity there would further reinforce the subtheme of the day.
"My hope is that for children who are in church, VBS reinforces what they are already learning at home and with their parents," Cline said. "For children who are not in church, my hope is that seeds are planted. That they maybe will start developing a kind of faith."
Landon Smith, 7, came last year to the chapel's VBS program and said he enjoys coming because he gets to sing about God. Landon's mother, Kim, said while Landon enjoys singing, she likes how he gets to learn more about his faith while having fun.
"It's really good preparation for kids to get involved in their faith and encourages them to understand their faith," she said, "and Landon loves it. It's his favorite thing he's done all summer."
The summer event used 54 adults and took three months to put together. In the end Cline said this year's VBS ran very smoothly and she already has next summer's VBS curriculum: cave exploration.
"The military lifestyle can be overwhelming and can be a constant flow of deployments and moving," Cline said. "This is just good spiritual resiliency for the kids. That's the goal. Spiritual resiliency for the children and their parents."
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