Start spreading the news!
That’s the call the combined children’s choirs of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Easley, have answered boldly and in full voice. The 44-voice choir made of up first-sixth graders premiered LifeWay’s VBS musical and drama, “Big Apple Adventure” for the 2011 VBS Institute for national and state leadership at Ridgecrest Conference Center in January.
Jeff Whiten, minister of music and senior adults at Mt. Pisgah, said it was a “tremendous opportunity” for the children and the church. “We were honored to have the opportunity to sing and to allow the boys and girls to share about the good news of Jesus Christ,” he said.
The journey to the Big Apple began last July with a call from the leadership and evangelism department of LifeWay. The music was still at the printers, but the Mt. Pisgah leadership team embraced the project, planning an overnight retreat for the children to learn the music.
Using the North American Mission Board’s 3-1-6 prayer cards, the children began and ended the retreat covenanting to pray for the children and adults who would be a part of VBS the next summer. They were “living out their faith,” as the words to the VBS musical reminded them, Whiten said.
The music for “Big Apple Adventure” was composed by Jeff Slaughter. Each song is child-friendly and relevant to the Bible teaching for each day of VBS. The songs embody each day’s memory verse. “The children are truly hiding God’s word in their hearts as they see it, hear it, and definitely move to it,” said Suzanne Whiten, children’s choir coordinator and director at Mt. Pisgah. “The music is fun, but even more importantly, the children are learning how to step out in faith and connect with Jesus.”
The children’s choir also premiered the musical in South Carolina on Feb. 19 at White Oak Conference Center, when they sang for the associational VBS leadership teams.
Sue Harmon, of the SCBC’s childhood ministry group, told the conferees that VBS continues to be one of the strongest outreach tools for churches. “Many families send children to VBS that never come to church any other time,” she said.
Harmon said VBS is consistently effective in evangelism also, with an average of four professions of faith for every Bible school that is held. “Last summer, that translated to approximately 5,600 people coming to know Christ as their Savior through our churches’ VBS ministries,” she said.