Re: Alternative to VBS

Here is my attempt at answering all of the questions in the comment about Alternative to VBS. Enjoy.

1. How did you go about lining up the help from the outside companies? I met OnGoal, the soccer professionals that are doing Smash camp for me, through one of our staff members. She worked for them in the off season when she was playing professional soccer. She is now our High School and Middle School Girl's Director for our church. I met Mad Science by picking up the telephone and asking if they would be willing to partner with me on a camp. I had done a lot of research on them before calling and knew that they had worked with Christian Home School networks in the area. I also asked them for references before agreeing to the partnership. We of course made guidelines in which we both have to follow but the big one for us is that they not teach evolution. I don't know where your church stands on this issue.

2. Are there any sort of "minimum attendance" type requirements that a smaller church would have to consider? Companies like OnGoal and Mad Science are more prepared to work with small numbers then they are large ones. I worked at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX where we would have 4,000 for our Adventure Week or VBS on steroids. Very few companies are not ready to take on larger numbers such as that, but are willing to work with churches that have smaller numbers. The reason is they can send fewer staff and don't have to shut down their whole operation to accommodate one church.

3. This sounds really cool, but I'm concerned we wouldn't be able to pull this off very well with our staff and volunteer assistance. (Can I do this?) Know that the church I am at now runs about 600 TWA. When you make this a priority as a church and give the right vision to your volunteers then it is surprisingly easy to do this event. You do have to have support from the leadership of your church or it will be difficult not matter what size church you are.

4. Did you run any sort of pilot program or did you just jump in? Pilot programs are not necessary if you have chosen the right need for your community. There is something your community wants their kids to enjoy that is not being offered in an excellent way. If you do the research then success will follow.

5.What did church members think about the need to pay for a week of camp? Was there a lot of opposition or was everyone really excited? People will pay for excellence. If I said that I was going out and teaching science to their kids then they would want to know why they needed to pay. When you partner with an outside company that parents want their kids to be in anyway their will not be opposition. Not everything at church should be free. It sends the message that what we do is not worth paying for and that is the wrong message.

6. How did you handle day care for church volunteers? Was that factored in to the cost? Was it even applicable? For people who volunteer we let their kids go to camp for 1/2 the price. If they have kids who are younger than three then we have a child care team that is paid to keep those kids. The child care team is taken out of the overall camp budget.

7. How much of the camp was run by the companies and how much help was needed from volunteers during the camp? (Trying to get an estimate for the ration of children to volunteers here.) The companies biggest responsibility is the teaching and our volunteers biggest responsibility is to build relationships with the kids an families. So OnGoal provides one soccer coach for every 15-18 kids. We provide 2 adult volunteers for 15-18 kids when it comes to soccer. Mad Science provides one teacher for every 25-30 kids. We provide 3 volunteers per science class. I also have a team of volunteers that help do everything from registration to lunch to volunteer appreciation.

8.Lastly, do you have recommendations for getting the word out to the surrounding community so that this doesn't sound like a churchy event but something that the kids would like to take part in? Did your partner companies help with that at all? Last Saturday I went to a camp fair at a local school. There were 60 camps from around the nation with booths set up promoting their camp. It ranged from Christian camps to yachting camps that you could send your kids away for 8 weeks on a boat. I wanted to go on the yachting camp. I made sure I had one of the nicest looking booths in the room. I gave out color changing pencils with Smash Camp and our website on them. I promote the camp as a soccer camp and a science camp. I get literature from the companies and hand it out with our registration form. Our registration form does say that all kids will go through a large group Bible Time. We don't hide that we are a church. The goal is for us to put on the best soccer and science camp in Cincinnati, OH and if we do that then kids will bring their parents back to the place where they had the best camp. The best camp just happen to be at a church where lives are changed for eternity.

I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. I love sharing my passion for kids bring their parents to church.