VBS--Yes! VFC--No!

School is about to be out, and vacations are about to begin. In Baptist life summertime is connected with VBS time! I love Vacation Bible School! What an opportunity to invest a few hours that wil pay eternal dividends.

But, far too many Baptists will enroll in VFC instead. I don't like it a bit! Those initials mean Vacation From Church. You cannot afford to be absent from the fellowship of your church family all summer--and they cannot afford you being absent from them.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb. 10:23-25 NKJV)

Now, you are going to miss occasionally--we all do. There is nothing wrong with taking a vacation. I plan to do so. But, it is possible to still meet with the people of God for worship. My plan is for my wife and myself to attend worship with some friends of ours at their church when we visit them at the beach.

Maybe you don't need that encouraging time in the assemby of the saints. I know I do. Maybe you are stronger than me and do not need that regular support--but I believe you do need it.

Absenteeism can eat away at your spiritual life like erosion--until there is a sudden collapse. So, take a vacation. By all means help with Vacation Bible School. VFC? We better not.

Yours in Exhorting One Another,

Dennis Thurman, Mission Strategist