It stands as an example of what can happen when a group of dedicated volunteers come together with determination and commitment. It stands as an example of how a group of youth can be inspired to reach beyond themselves in acts of unselfish service. It stands as an example of how walls can come down when a little love is shown.
Our Youth Director at St. Luke’s UMC had resigned and moved on to another assignment. What she left in her wake was a promise of a summer mission trip, but that is all there was … a promise. Not one penny had been raised. There was no designation secured. Nothing had been done except for the promise … and summer was only a few months away.
Our new Youth Director, Bruce, and a small group of adults made a commitment. We were going to keep the promise, but how, where, when and, the big question, how much hung heavy over our heads.
Betty’s in-laws were on the church staff as shut-in visitors. They made a phone call back to their hometown of Knoxville to their son’s church. That church was having a Youth Week and would be happy to kind of “host” our group during that event. But this was to be a mission trip. Traveling to Knoxville and joining up with another youth group would be great, but there wasn’t anything missional in that. Another phone call was made, this time to the old Methodist intercity Bethlehem center in Knoxville. They would love for us to come and share an experience with their children and the week of the church’s youth week would be great.
Fantastic – we now had a date, a place and a purpose … but still no money and not enough time to hold events to raise any money. Someone came up with “Buy-a-Kid” program. Essentially, any individual could accept the financial responsibility to pay for the trip of one of the youth. You can “buy” a half a kid, or a quarter of a kid, or even just a tenth of a kid. The selling job was on. We kept pushing, talking, praising and in no time the good folk at St. Luke’s had pulled out their wallets and donated enough money to send all of the youth and a sizable number of adults to Knoxville for a week.
BUT … what were we going to do with the children at the Bethlehem center. Here Jackie, one of the parents, and the good folk at Brethren House stepped in. With a tremendous amount of creativity, learning centers were developed for each weekday of the event. Our youth stepped forth to learn how to build and teach using learning centers. But we needed a theme.
Well, God gave us a new youth director to fill the gap when Flo left. Bruce was just getting interested in Clown Ministry. Two and two came together and bingo – VACATION KINGDOM – a VBS of sorts, with a recreation room filled with “tent” like structures indicating individual learning centers, and a group of teenagers who were learning how to Clown with a Christ-centered purpose. Vacation Kingdom was going to be a circus.
In a matter of just a couple of months it all came together. The day arrived for us to pile into the big yellow bus and head north. Bruce and I would drive that thing. We would travel all night allowing the kiddos to sleep – wise decision, less trouble to get into and less need to monitor the various activities … we did have a few loose cannons in the group. As we were loading up the material and luggage, a couple of the ladies said, “Let’s make some cookies for the trip!” What? We were almost ready to leave and they were heading to the kitchen to make cookies? That is insane, but in less than 30 minutes they were back with hundreds of cookies. I never heard of convection ovens, microwaves yes, but convection no. It is truly amazing what those large ovens can do in just a matter of moments.
VACATION KINGDOM was possible because of Bruce, Joyce, Betty, Jackie, Jon, Martha Ann, Harriet, Sunny and the good folk at St. Luke’s. It is another VBS that I won’t forget.
When we arrived the African-American children of the Bethlehem center were hesitant about this lily-white group of teenagers in clown make-up. Our teenagers were hesitant about what to say, how to say and what to do with these children. Slowly the interaction began. By the end of the week, when it was time to pack everything back on Big Yellow and head home, the tears were streaming. The Bethlehem center children didn’t want us to leave. Some wanted to get on the bus and go home with us. Hugs, hugs and more hugs were passed around. I don’t know who had the most impact on whom. Even our more “macho” guys had difficulty-saying good-bye to their “playmates” of the week.
It was just one week in the life of the Bethlehem children. Just one week. It was just a couple of weeks in the life of the youth from St. Luke’s. What lasting effect this had on either group will not necessarily be known. Hopefully a life was touched, a different direction taken, a decision made that would not have been made prior to our arrival. You just never know, but hey, all we have to do is plant … God brings the harvest. So in Knoxville one summer in the lives of some teenagers and in the lives of some children a seed was planted. The harvest has only been known to God … as it should be!
Oh, one last note. We took an afternoon to drive Big Yellow and gang up into the Smokey Mountains. We got to Clingman’s Dome. Ever been there? Very steep climb to the highest point in the Smokey’s. A couple of our more “macho” types decided that they were going to run up while the rest of us “wimps” would just have to walk. Well, it wasn’t too long before us “wimps” caught them as they were laid out on the side of the trail trying to catch their breath. The “machos” did make it to the top before the rest of us, but with a little more respect for those who took it a little easier.
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