Joel Baxley, the Family Involvement Minister for the Signal Mtn church in Signal Mountain, Tennessee and selected young people of this church showered blessings upon blessings around Cedar Key during our Vacation Bible School.
This year's VBS ran from Sunday night through Wednesday night.
The Sunday morning when they first arrived, Signal Mtn. people conducted our worship services. The Cedar Key congregation was very pleased to witness exemplary young people who unashamedly talked about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When these workers were not preparing their lessons or teaching in the Bible school, they found good deeds to do in the community that brought glory to Christ. One group worked on restoring the metal roof for one local widow who is needy. This was very difficult work on a hot tin roof in a July Florida sun. The widow and the community are very thankful and pleased to discover that not all young people are just living for their own pleasure.
A group of middle schoolers and adults also worked hard in the hot sun mowing grasss and cleaning up the property around the preacher's house. They also helped pressure clean the house and driveway.
The Bible lessons and singing were presented in a most exciting manner and helped our Cedar Key children retain much of the material that was presented. We are confident that these children will have lingering memories of the good lessons and kind treatment that they received in this year's VBS.
Cedar Key Church of Christ and people of our island town are very thankful to the elders and members of Signal Mountain Church of Christ for making such a large contribution toward our spiritual growth and development. This is the third year that we have been blessed to share Christ together in Cedar Key. Praise God from whom all blessings flow as we work together to bring the Good News about our hope of eternal life in Jesus our Savior.
2005 VBS Signal Mountain Partners
Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
(Matthew 19:14 NIV)
Our children in Cedar Key will long cherish the memories of the very productive 2005 VBS. It was a great success because of the preparation work that many of you had done prior to the Chattanooga group’s arrival.
Thank you Cedar Key members, for doing many things while we were on our mission trip to Ukraine. You deserve a "well done" for getting the word out in the community, arranging your schedules so that you would be in town, and inviting other people to come to our Bible school. Also, you worked so very hard during the Bible school to purchase food, prepare food, serve the children and watch after the kids while they were outside.
We are very thankful to Joel Baxley and the youth of the Signal Mtn. Church of Christ. Joel prepared the lessons with his recognizable illustrations in the artwork. The group of young people made a big impression upon us because they had prepared themselves well prior to this trip. Immediately upon their arrival we could sense that they were focused upon their spiritual mission.
We are very thankful to the young men for the way they led our worship services that Sunday. Some of these young men have been leading singing and delivering messages from the Bible since they were four years old through the Lads to Leaders Program.
All these young people left a good impression on the community by the way they conducted themselves at all times. They worked hard out in the community doing some door knocking to invite kids to the VBS. Of course they could not have done this without the valuable contribution of Jessie and Lindsay!
Our children were treated to good teaching from all these young people from the Signal Mountain Church of Christ. Each night they learned a different parable by hearing the story and then they repeated it back. They also had reinforcement to their learning by doing a craft each night that was related to the story.
Several in the Signal Mountain group left with sad hearts because of the bonds they had formed with our kids. We heard from Joel that they arrived safely back in Chattanooga. They already have a desire to return to Cedar Key and do another work for Jesus Christ. Our congregation continues to be more and more effective in our community outreach. The annual Vacation Bible School is just one more way in which we let the citizens of Cedar Key know that we love them and want them to be saved. DB
VBS 2004 Northside Church of Christ, Nashville, TN
Jesus' helpers from the Northside Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee brought the love of Jesus to Cedar Key. Jon Micah Richardson, the Youth Minister for Northside led this group on their mission to Cedar Key. They arrived very excited about this opportunity to teach children in Cedar Key more about Jesus Christ.
The theme for our 2004 VBS was Jesus Helps You: POWER UP! Day One the lesson was about Love (Good Samaritan); Day Two - Accept (Woman at the Well); Day Three - Serve (Washing Feet); Day Four - Forgive (Unforgiving servant)
Children came from Cedar Key, Rosewood and Sumner areas. Our friends from Nashville worked hard inviting people to each day's sessions. The children of Cedar Key were well taken care of, learned Bible stories, learned new songs, were fed each day by ladies in the church, as well as food being donated by people in the community.
Cedar Key noticed the activities of the Church of Christ, and God only knows the good that will result from all the hard work.
2003 Signal Mountain Church of Christ
Joel Baxley, Family and Involvement Minister for the Red Mountain Church of Christ in Chattanooga, Tennessee and his wife Nancy brought a mission team of four adults and seven young people. This team knocked doors and passed out invitations on the island, and also out in the Sumner and Rosewood communities. Everywhere they went they behaved with courtesy and dignity and showed people of Cedar Key the true spirit of Christ. We needed an event that would help impact our area for Christ, and this group accomplished their mission.
Their presence in Cedar Key helped to draw our congregation together in loving service and good deeds for the Gospel of Christ or Lord.
Each day they rehearsed and presented lessons from the life of Moses. The theme OUT OF EGYPT , helped our children learn more about God's grace toward His people in ancient times and today.
Thank you Joel and Nancy, Vicky and Kerri, Chris, Jonathon, Madeleine, Nathaniel, Reid, Sarah, and Stephen for leaving your footprints in the sands of the Cedar Keys.
Click on any of the pictures below for a larger view.
