photo by Ashley Stewart

Garrett Stadheim slides beads onto his bracelet with the help of his teeth Monday night during Cow Poke Crafts at Avalanche Ranch Vacation Bible School. On his left are Tyler Doran and Brandon Turrubiates.

Life on the ranch

Crossroads holds vacation Bible school

By Ashley Stewart | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Wednesday, July 1, 2009

On Monday evening the worship center of Crossroads Evangelical Free Church was crammed with all ages singing and dancing to a variation of Western praise songs in orange and yellow T-shirts.

Crossroads is the host of its first bilingual vacation Bible school this week, “Avalanche Ranch, A Wild Ride Through God’s Word,” from 6 to 8:30 p.m. June 28 to July 2. It is open to kids from age 3 to sixth grade.

The attendance number soared in the first two days. On Sunday night there were about 150 students registered. At the end of the night they were encouraged to bring a friend with them the next day and there were 43 new students registered on Monday night. With more than 100 volunteers, the church is filled with people of all ages.

“It’s fantastic to see so many young kids mixed with the youth of the church and their smiling faces,” said Bible school volunteer Lyn Sorenson. “People say all kids are bad, but I don’t see that here at all.”

With the amount of children and volunteers, organization is necessary. The children are split up by age and are placed within a color group for the week and follow a daily schedule. The night begins in the worship center with singing and dancing. The Bible point of the day is presented and everyone lets out a big “Wahoo!” which is heard all night. The Bible point of the day is the theme throughout the night and is incorporated in each of the activities.

Photo by Ashley Stewart

Students come to a quick stop Monday night while playing Red Light Green Light during Horseplay Games at Avalanche Ranch Vacation Bible School.

They are then placed with one or two leaders — ranch hands. The school theme is Western.

“I volunteered because I want to make an impact on kids’ lives,” said 13-year-old ranch hand Preston Smith. “I enjoy working with wonderful kids and teaching them about God.”

The ranch hands lead their groups to the activities at their scheduled times. One of the activities is Chadder’s Theatre, where the children watch a video clip in Spanish about puppet chipmunk Chadder and God.

There is Wild Bible Adventures, a story from the Bible in an interactive way; Chuck Wagon Chow, a snack; Cow Poke Crafts, creativity through art; Horseplay Games; a chance to burn off some energy by playing games such as Cat and Mouse, Red Light Green Light, and Duck, Duck, Gray Duck; and the final thing of the night is Showtime Round-Up; where the children praise and dance.

“It’s so amazing to stand in the worship center and watch 300 people raise their hands and praise God,” said Crossroads Children’s Ministry Director Susan Kliment. “I feel really blessed by God to be able to minister to students about God.”

According to Kliment, there have been a lot of hours put into this program by herself, assistant Children’s Ministry Director Lisa Schultz, Youth Pastor Dave Hickman and all the other volunteers. Also, most of the ranch hands are part of Crossroads Student Impact, the church’s youth program.

“The number of people that have given of themselves to make this event happen is remarkable, and it ranges from the youth all the way to the grandmas and grandpas of the church,” said Schultz.

The week will be filled with the Bible points “God is real,” “God is with us,” “God is strong,” “God is awesome,” and “God is in charge,” in hopes it’ll change the hearts of the children attending.

“Obviously, our goal is to teach kids about Jesus, but the reason for the bilingual program and bus pick-up is to reach out to a community within a community,” said Kliment. “We want to teach people outside of Crossroads about Jesus.”

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