Hope Tree Church’s mission to reach families in the Ceres area prompted about 45 adults to volunteer time last week to shepherd about 100 kids daily during a sports-themed Vacation Bible School (VBS).
The VBS had the theme of “Finding a Purpose in Your Element” and was designed to instill Christian faith principles to the children as well as offer lots of play time in flag football, volleyball and baseball in nearby Whitmore Park and street hockey and basketball on the church parking lot.
Approximately 40 to 45 adults – some of them Ceres school coaches who are on summer vacation – oversaw the weeklong event. Teens from the local high schools also helped out the annual VBS, which is part of Pastor Chris Henry’s vision to undergird the spiritual health and wellbeing of children and their families. It was the fifth VBS event at the church, which was renamed from Valley Christian Center in late 2023. It was the 15th such event for Beverly Henry, the pastor’s wife, who previously conducted 10 VBSs while at Richland Faith Assembly of God Church.
Most of the kids who attended are familiar to church settings, some coming from other Ceres churches which don’t offer their own VBS programs.
“They’ll send them here just because we’ve got a pretty good reputation,” said Pastor Henry. “Everybody knows you go to Hope Tree Church for VBS because we do it the best. So it’s kind of cool because I’ve got friends from all over that bring their kids here.”
The VBS has been a big hit each summer because many parents want their kids involved in sports. It helps, he said, that the church membership has some “pretty sharp coaches who can teach some cool things for football, soccer, volleyball and basketball.”
Ceres High PE teacher Brandon Moring was tapped to coach basketball.
”It’s fun,” said Moring. “Great message. It’s good for them. It’s the sports concept that draws them in.”
Children participated in a high-energy, high noise level “half time” rally held each day inside the church sanctuary where adults like Amanda Henry and Angela Cowell taught biblical values in a theme of sports amid fun contests. On Thursday Amanda donned a zany Albert Einstein type costume and wig and armed herself with a bubble machine to energizing the enthusiasm in the room while sister Angela schooled the children in the successes found by Mallory Swanson, the youngest American woman to score a goal in Olympic soccer competition. Following a string of injuries, Swanson nearly gave up the sport.
“But Mallory made a choice that’s an important lesson we can all learn from. She didn’t give up even though she thought about it,” Cowell told the kids. “Instead, she started spending more time reading her Bible and praying.” After asking God to deal with the pressure, Swanson went on to be a part of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team winning the gold.
“She credits her success to the change in her priorities. She didn’t put soccer first; she put God first. And she always loved God but he wasn’t her number one focus. Now he is.”
After the inspirational talk the kids broke into small groups to talk about life’s struggles.
“It’s been amazing,” Amanda Henry said of the experience. “We got a great crew here at our church working. Everybody’s loving it – the kids are, the parents, they’re inviting their friends, and they’re just kind of wanting to be more involved. And so far, even from the kids, from what they’ve told me, this is the best one we’ve had which is pretty cool. It’s pretty exciting.”
Making the experience pleasant this year was cooler than normal morning temperatures before the event ended at noon.
Because they are labor intensive, not many churches offer Vacation Bible Schools. Pastor Henry said the only other “mega sports camp” is at the Neighborhood Church in Salida.
Most appealing to parents, said Pastor Henry, is that the weeklong event was free when most sports camps cost money.
The church spent between $5,000 and $7,000 to put on the event. To secure the park picnic area, the church paid $60 every day.
“For us it’s worth it. It’s worth it for these kids.”
