VBS 2020 required far more meetings, usually via Zoom, than ever in the past.
Our church loves presenting VBS. We know the kids enjoy it and certainly, this year, everyone needed an outlet.
But who wanted another online meeting, no matter how clever, for VBS 2020?
We wanted the kids outside in the fresh air. How to do it? How to keep them safe?
Where I live, the official advice ranged all over the place. But our COVID advisor figured out how to make it work.
Family groups worked best in this time of COVID. One teacher taught her children and nieces; her co-teacher brought her grandchildren; six children total.
They met outside with strict protocols.
But, we also came up with an Adventures in Odyssey-type skit retelling on audio for home.
“Escape from Egypt” for VBS 2020
Our St. Mark Lutheran Church did a fun VBS program in 2002 called “Escape from Egypt.”
Written by our church’s pastor at the time, Rev. Dennis Durham, one of our chief musicians, Gregg Campbell, and our VBS director Ardys Jones, the program covered the Exodus story from Moses in the bullrushes to building the tabernacle.
All in five days.
We decided to use it again this unusual summer.
Durham, Campbell, and Jones all headed to their files.
Jones, also in charge of BSF area personnel, went to work updating her curriculum, the games, and the directions.
Since our church created the program, it was ours to adapt, alter, and update as much as we wanted. The copyright is ours.
Jones sent the curriculum to the ‘arts and crafts” ladies. They were in charge of inventing ideas to match the story for VBS 2020.
Kids need arts and crafts to help them process crises and challenging times.
(Our community, which has gone through four years of fire, blackouts, and now COVID, did this well at school.)
Each VBS 2020 student received an individual bag with their own arts and crafts supplies–no sharing.
Snacks were individually wrapped. The games were designed to keep them apart.
VBS 2020 audio skits
Campbell updated the music and recorded it with new voices, more complex harmonies, and a fuller sound.
(He’s my friend, yes, but he’s a terrific musician and extremely skilled).
Our church’s board of education had decided that in addition to offering small backyard programs, we would provide the usual skits in an audio version.
Sina Williams, our minister of youth, recruited the teenage actors and coordinated a number of activities.
Pastor Durham is at a different church now, so he sent me what he had.
Eighteen years ago, the skits were not as elaborate as they’ve been the last several years.
To record the material as originally written wouldn’t result in kids and families having a greater understanding of the Bible passages.
The Board of Education wanted an audio-version of the usual daily skits to do the following:
- Review that day’s Scriptures for the kids
- Introduce parents to what their child had learned
- Entertain
- Provide simple questions to invite family discussion
What worked in the past wouldn’t work for VBS 2020.
So, I rewrote the skits.
Moses, Exodus, and Me
I’d never written a “radio” type drama before.
Fresh off writing a biography, something creative appealed to me.
Since I’ve taught Bible study since I graduated from college and I just happened to be reading the book of Exodus at the time, I plunged in.
These were the stories converted into skits:
Using the Bible stories, Jones’ curriculum, and everything I’ve learned over the years, I rewrote the skits.
They take about 10 minutes to listen to and, again because of COVID restrictions, have a small cast.
(Campbell recorded them; we had to meet in small groups for our parts.)
Our “Escape from Egypt,” VBS 2020 skits are told from Miriam‘s point of view.
In the first episode, she’s a child. She’s an adult and grandmother in the last four.
Three of my family members acted in the recorded skits.
Campbell mixed it. Williams added questions, our church administrator Leah Warren edited and wrote transitions.
It went online in time for the first classes.
A free gift
“Escape from Egypt’s” skit and music are free. (But please link to our site if you share; it’s copyrighted)
You can listen, download, enjoy, St. Mark Lutheran Church’s “Escape from Egypt” audio skits here.
The website includes VBS 2020 songs and music, too, written by Dennis Durham and Gregg Campbell:
A gift to all, from St. Mark Lutheran Church.
Tweetables
How one church presented VBS 2020. Click to Tweet
How to “Escape from Egypt,” in five free audio skits. Click to Tweet
I was in a puppet ministry in the 70s. We prerecorded our presentations so we could concentrate on the action, rather than having to speak while moving the puppets. The recording sessions were a blast as we laughed a lot at our errors.