Sep 25, 2019
The West Palm Beach Seventh Day Baptist Church, FL, would like to thank the Seventh Day Baptist Women’s Society for sponsoring the SCSC Program. We were truly blessed to have two SCSC servant leaders from June 20-July 25 this year. We could not have had a summer program without their service.
The two young people, Denovia McKenzie and Jevaughnie Martin, hit the ground running the day after they came. They came on a Thursday and became familiar with the songs the praise team was singing on Sabbath and joined with them to bring a spirited praise time. By Sunday, they were gone for one week with six of our young people to DeFuniak Springs, FL, ten hours away from West Palm Beach. There they served as counselors to SDB campers ages 8-16 from Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
On returning to West Palm Beach a week later, they joined with some of our members to go into the community to advertise and register students 6-18 for our Community Kids Club (CKC/VBS) and they prepared to teach the students. Our goal was to have 30 students. We registered 32 students and 30 showed up with enthusiasm to explore our theme: “Roar: Life is Wild—God is Good.”
Our Project Director, Pastor Jasmine Lynch, with Denovia and Jevaughnie, and Sisters Laura Robinson and Yvonne Shaw-Davis, took those youngsters every day through the theme showing “When Life is Unfair—God is Good! When Life is Scary—God is Good! When Life Changes—God is Good! When Life is Sad—God is Good! And When Life is Good—God is Good!”
Some of the children had never read the Bible before but they were fascinated with studying the life of David and Moses, and seeing the movie aligning with the Word of God. The high schoolers studied David, middle and elementary studied Moses, and the preschoolers watched Odyssey Adventure series. All the children, even the preschoolers learned the memory verses associated with the theme daily and the songs that went along with the theme. Our SCSC servant leaders led the recreational activities every day. The kids enjoyed the activities and expressed their love for Denovia and Jevaughnie. We did not want to send them back home.
Our program began each day with the theme song, theme verse, and introduction to a child’s life in Zambia. We also became acquainted with the animals in Africa. The staff and some of the children’s parents (46 individuals) went on a field trip to Lion Country Safari to see the animals and enjoy the water slides and splash.
The program climax was the graduation on Sabbath, July 20, during the regular worship service. Several parents attended and the kids received back-to-school supplies in the backpack they had colored in their art class. It was an expensive program and a lot of work for our cooks, SCSC servant leaders, teachers, and church members—but we made an impact in the community, and introduced the children to Jesus and God’s wonderful work. We hope as we do follow-up that the seed planted will grow. Again, thanks to SDB Women’s Society for the excellent training given to the Project Director and the SCSC Servant Leaders. Keep up the good work.
