VBS project teaches ‘God has a plan’; children recreate Holly Hill

“Mrs. Geanne told us we could build the town, so we built the church and we made the train depot and the post office, Ace Hardware, Piggly Wiggly and even have some houses that we made for the people in town,” Carter Welch “C.W.” Daley said.

First Baptist Church Holly Hill held Vacation Bible School for kindergarten through fifth-grade students in late July.

The theme of VBS was “Concrete and Cranes.”

In keeping with the theme, the students’ main arts and crafts project was to recreate some of the town’s businesses along the main street of Old State Road.

Church member and VBS volunteer Geanne Behr headed up the project.

“The kids really got to know their town,” she said.

She also incorporated the Christian teaching that God has a plan for everyone.

“This made them think about what they’re doing. There’s a plan. God has a plan. He didn’t just throw you together either,” she said.

“They had a blast doing this,” she said.

Behr gathered cardboard boxes and spray-painted them with basic colors, leaving the rest of the work to the children.

“We made houses and stuff and we learned about Paul and Matthew and we got told the stories about what they did,” said 9-year-old Connley Belle Courtney.

“For crafts, we made these houses and we used partners. We had a lot of fun,” she said.

“I made the little red house down there and I helped make that house,” she said, pointing to a house with a tiny dog in a window made of paper.

Church member Lauren Bolen said, “I taught Bible every single night to every single student that came through.”

On the night before the last VBS session, Bolen asked the students in each class to name their favorite part.

“Every single class consistently said that making the town of Holly Hill was their most favorite,” she said.

First Baptist Church Holly Hill pastor the Rev. Shaun Daley said, “We have been blessed and privileged enough to be able to have VBS. So many churches that have come out of the pandemic haven’t been able to do it, but we have been able to be blessed to able to do it.”

“We’ve got just a plethora of kids and volunteers that we have been loving on and encouraging and just learning about who Jesus is,” he said.

Holly Hill Mayor William Johnson toured the “town,” which stood proudly on folding tables in the church’s fellowship hall.

“It’s amazing to know the kids had an opportunity to learn about the town. I think it’s real good,” he said.

“It think it’s beautiful. I think this was an experience they’ll never forget,” he said.