{"id":920,"date":"2009-08-24T19:37:12","date_gmt":"2009-08-24T19:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=920"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:50:26","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:50:26","slug":"7255","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/08\/24\/7255\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism Service Plus Vacant Storefront Equals VBS Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE, WA (August 24, 2009) \u2013 First Covenant Church\u2019s<\/a> senior pastor, Mark Nilson, had no idea that giving worshipers an opportunity to renew their baptism would lead to a new ministry at a transition shelter and the church\u2019s first vacation Bible school (VBS) in years, which also happened to be held in a former motorcycle store.<\/p>\n

\"\"Following a sermon on a Sunday morning earlier this year, Nilson invited attendees to renew their baptism by coming forward and dipping their hands into a basin of water. He recalls that a Sudanese woman he had not seen before came forward, spoke out loud in her own language and then returned to her seat.<\/p>\n

The church began to develop a relationship with the woman, who lives with four of her five children at the YWCA transitional shelter for homeless families, and soon members were taking turns driving the kids to the congregation\u2019s Wednesday night programs.<\/p>\n

One evening, Nilson and new Associate Pastor Carolyn Potorek were met by more than just the four children. \u201cAll of a sudden, we were surrounded by these kids saying, \u2018I want to go! I want to go!\u2019 \u201d Nilson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe left there saying we have to do a vacation Bible school,\u201d Nilson says. \u201cIf we had eight months to talk about doing a VBS, we probably would have talked ourselves out of it. But because we only had two months to prepare, we said let\u2019s go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church had not held a VBS for at least eight years because the congregation had few families with children, Nilson says. Fifty children \u2013 most of whom did not attend the church \u2013 participated in the VBS earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these kids had no idea who Moses was,\u201d Nilson says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Nilson notes that the VBS was very urban with its multiethnic mix of participants and the lack of an outside area that many suburban churches have to set up games and other activities. Again, an unexpected event at the beginning of the year made the summer VBS possible.<\/p>\n

First Covenant owns a parking garage next door that includes 12,000 square feet of storefront space that had been rented by a motorcycle dealership. The space, which had been leased to the company for 15 years, became available unexpectedly at the beginning of 2009, when the business suddenly closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like the rapture happened,\u201d Nilson says. \u201cPaperwork was on peoples\u2019 desks, computers were on, files were open.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day the motorcycle company picked up their merchandise, and the capital company that owned the other assets auctioned them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey left it just a wreck, though,\u201d Nilson adds. The congregation had spent a lot of time cleaning and remodeling the space. \u201cIt was just kind of a blank canvas, and we\u2019ve been praying about what we should do with it,\u201d Nilson says.<\/p>\n

The space proved to be perfect for the VBS. As a result, the kids were able to play just about any game that would have been possible outside, Nilson says. \u201cIt was an incredible thing to send our kids over there so that the kids could play kickball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The VBS also gave the church greater visibility to the community. Because the storefront has large windows, people walking along the busy Pike Street, where the church is located, saw the activities and stopped to ask what was happening.<\/p>\n

What had been the repair shop area for the motorcycle store was transformed into an ideal space for arts and crafts, Nilson adds.<\/p>\n

Nilson doesn\u2019t think the church would talk itself out of doing another VBS. \u201cIt was chaotic, and crazy and out of control, but absolutely wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE, WA (August 24, 2009) \u2013 First Covenant Church\u2019s senior pastor, Mark Nilson, had no idea that giving worshipers an opportunity to renew their baptism would lead to a new ministry at a transition shelter and the church\u2019s first vacation Bible school (VBS) in years, which also happened to be held in a former motorcycle store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBaptism Service Plus Vacant Storefront Equals VBS Program - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/08\/24\/7255\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baptism Service Plus Vacant Storefront Equals VBS Program - 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