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.

  1. I was in absolute wonder and awe of the sheer size of this event.
  2. 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?