Friday evening was Family Night for our 2008 "Outrigger Island" Vacation Bible School at Westmoreland Baptist Church. More than 200 were in attendance to hear the children perform their songs, recite the motto, quote scripture, and recount the five lesson themes. Parents and kids were also treated to meet and learn from two native Hawaiian ladies who not only shared a treasure of information about their island culture, but also shared the Gospel in their wonderful testimonies. After the program, the kids and parents moved over to our gym for refreshments, to meet the teachers, and to pick up the crafts created throughout the week. 
48 Adults and youth helped Co-Directors Tara Lockhart and Jeana Blatt minister to nearly 70 children over the past six days. We cannot begin to name all the teachers and helpers who worked in the class rooms, craft area, refreshments, sound/media, block party, publicity, recreation, decoration, transportation, and clean up. However, God knows each one of them, and the effort and sacrifices made this week. The rewards are many. First there is the joy of being around and working with little children. Besides the fun they had, the kids were exposed to a loving presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from adults and youth who modeled those qualities that they taught the children. There is also the blessing of fellowship and the bond that comes when we work together as a team in ministry.
Next week, the Directors will complete the annual VBS report that will be sent to our local Greater Huntington Baptist Association office, the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptist state office, and LifeWay Christian Resources. That report will be full of statistics that will help the Convention, and LifeWay, do research and compile VBS statistics from all around the country. Our report will help them do that.
Our SBC Executive Committee has a number of video spots that run throughout each session of the SBC Annual Meeting. The theme of those spots is "Every Number Has A Story". Statistics are just that - statistics! So many numbers. But there is one figure that is the most important number of them all when we sum up the results of Outrigger Island Vacation Bible School - the number "8". That number has an important story. It is the number of children whose eternal destiny was changed this week. It is the number of precious children who responded to the Gospel message this week and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. That's 8 new Christians this week, but who knows how many more may come to Christ as a result of the seeds sown this week. There is an old saying that goes like this - "Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God knows the number of apples in one seed".
Joseph Spurgeon has created a wonderful slide show of the Block Party and Vacation Bible School. I invite you to click on this link to view the show, and join me in thanking God for what He has used the people of Westmoreland Baptist Church to do for His Kingdom this past week.
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