VBS Part 2: Storytelling

One of my favorite memories from VBS is the characters that came to talk to us in the larger, group worship time.  For example, during "Avalanche Ranch" at my old church, there were two characters, Wild Bill and Rowdy Ray, that came and talked to us every day.  These characters were played by our youth pastor and another lady.  They were fully committed and were absolutely hysterical.  All of us attending fell in love with them!  At my current church where I volunteer, they had two characters played by people in the youth last year, and this year with "Journey Off the Map" they used puppets to be "Chloe" and "Veronica" who were our tour guides.  I believe that the scenes for these characters may come with the curriculum for VBS, so utilize them to their full potential in whatever manner works best for your church.  As seen in the variation between the puppets and humans, there are many ways to go about using these.

These stories aren't necessarily Bible stories, but Bible stories are obviously the more crucial ones, and they too can be fun.  For example, when our pastor at my current church came in, they did a video intro and then he came in as Indiana Jones, some days with a giant rock rolling behind it and a villain (played by another pastor) behind him.  Having him come in as this crazy character got the attention of the kids, who went absolutely crazy with excitement but were then were drawn into the Gospel that was then shared.  Likewise, the lessons within the smaller classes can be made more engaging with interactive games and questions and props.  

I tried to find a video from my old church or my current church, but was not able to.  If I find one later, I will link it in a future post!  However, the overall important thing about storytelling with VBS is to make the stories age-appropriate and fun, connecting the fun and characters back to theme for the week!  This not only will make the week more entertaining for the young people, but it will also draw them into what's most important--the message of salvation being shared!