VBS/Kids Camp on steroids

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by Kenny in Events, Inspiration

A co-worker recently sent me information about a little event that happens at a church in St. Louis every year. When I came across JUMP, I had two simultaneous reactions.

I was in absolute wonder and awe of the sheer size of this event.
I threw up in my mouth just a little bit thinking about putting on and event of this size

JUMP is a week-long VBS/Day Camp hybrid held at St. Louis Family Church. Over the years it has grown from a small outreach to an event of epic proportions. This year 3,243 participated. Here’s some of what it took to pull JUMP off:

987 volunteers (Thank you all!)
158 watermelons
485 gallons of Gatorade
5,700 bags of cotton candy
260 pounds and 8,350 bags of popcorn
6,928 pounds of ice
167 gallons of syrup
18,200 sno-cones

Amazing, huh? What spoke to me the most about this is that at Children’s Pastors, we have to constantly be creative and just because we don’t have a resource or staff or facility doesn’t mean God can’t do something utterly amazing through your ministry and church. JUMP is pretty impressive, but it’s a day camp held in the church parking lot. Chances are you have one of those, so what’s stopping you from thinking outside of the box and doing something amazing?

Meet Kenny

Kenny Conley has written 1607 posts on CMO.

Kenny Conley is the primary author of Childrens Ministry Online and the NextGen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. In addition to creating the Illuminate Conference, a high quality kidmin conference designed specifically for volunteers, Kenny is a published author and speaker. For more biographical info, click here.