Need some help getting excited about this ride

[winnipeg]

Hi all,
Just recieved the Super Start Kit - I got on line and read all the comments about missing stuff. I am glad that is being taken care of.
I am dissappointed - it just seems that GL's focus got split too many ways.
It don't see anything better out there, maybe Power Lab - but I really appreciate GL's focus on Jesus and the message of salvation as we all requested.
It doesn't seem to match the expectation. I hope they offer more goodies and ideas as we go. I'll be praying about this over the holidays. Maybe with a little help from all of you I can feel great about this theme again!

[ana]

Winnipeg-- I'm glad to see that it is not just me that has no real excitement this year. I to have looked at other programs and still find Gl to be the best. Honestly the theme truly did not interest me from the get go. I have tried listening to the music hoping to get inspired but nothing yet. Usually I have so many ideas by now but nothing has come my way--perhaps after the holidays. I have also noticed that the boards have not been as active as they were this time last year....is that the theme or are we all very busy
Ana

[houseparent]

After the Grand Slam GL hit last year with Sonforce Kids, I don't think we would be as excited about any theme they came up with this year.

At first I was Having trouble trying to relate to the Adventure Park theme and relating crafts, decorations, and props to it, but the more I thought about it, the more liberating it became. Because they use a pirate, western, fairytale and space theme in their skit and decorating, Crafts can be pretty much anything. Snacks are going to be real easy also, because if you think about amusement park foods, you get popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, etc.

I have ideas for several three dimensional/moving props, we can still use lots of lights and stuff, and the music is as good or better than last year.

The theme doesn't have near as many ideas built into the theme, but I think once we all get through the stress of the Holidays, we will be able to direct our thoughts to other things and come up with some great ideas for VBS.

[Josh1]

I think that SonWorld Adventure Park will be more popular than SonForce Kids because of the spy and '007 theme last year. Either the church wholeheartly excepted it as a way to reach kids with the Gospel or took affence to it because of the "promotion" of violence, killing, and other things associated with James Bond. For me SonWorld Adventure Park has nothing that grabs my attention and is different from any other publisher doing an Amusement Park/Carnival theme. I do think that the churches that use it will have an awesome time like they have in the past but this VBS isn't for me. I think I'll be doing Gospel Light's PowerZone or something like it. I'm really fired up about this! I hope you all have fun planning and preparing your SonWorld Adventure Park VBS. I'm sure ideas will come for this theme. It's one of the easier ones to do. I'll be praying too that God would give you some inspiration. I'm here if you need any ideas.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[houseparent]

I think that SonWorld Adventure Park will be more popular than SonForce Kids because of the spy and '007 theme last year. Either the church wholeheartly excepted it as a way to reach kids with the Gospel or took affence to it because of the "promotion" of violence, killing, and other things associated with James Bond. For me SonWorld Adventure Park has nothing that grabs my attention and is different from any other publisher doing an Amusement Park/Carnival theme. I do think that the churches that use it will have an awesome time like they have in the past but this VBS isn't for me. I think I'll be doing Gospel Light's PowerZone or something like it. I'm really fired up about this! I hope you all have fun planning and preparing your SonWorld Adventure Park VBS. I'm sure ideas will come for this theme. It's one of the easier ones to do. I'll be praying too that God would give you some inspiration. I'm here if you need any ideas.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

I am afraid I disagree with you. The vast majority of us related SonForce Kids to the "Spykids" movies and not James Bond. The Spykids movies had Zero Killing that I can remember, very little violence, and a lot of fun and cool gadgets.

I am looking forward to SonWorld Adventure but there just doesn't seem to be the excitement by others that there was with Sonforce Kids.

[Josh1]

There was that one post about why a church thought that SonForce Kids was promoting violence and killing. They had used Gospel Light's VBS curriculum for many years and loved the nature themes but they didn't agree with how Gospel Light was advertising/promoting SonForce Kids. Also, most of the churches in my town usually use Gospel Light's VBS curriculum but there was only one who did SonForce Kids out of three churches that use Gospel Light year after year. That tells you something. SonForce Kids was creative but you can take it the wrong way. Gospel Light writes their VBS curriculum so that churches can customize what they want to highlight in that theme. Like in SonTreasure Island, you could highlight the beach/treasure/underwater theme or go for more of the pirates/treasure/sailing theme. As a teen myself, I related SonForce Kids more with James Bond than Spy Kids. God's Kids was adapted from the James Bond theme song.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[Christy]

I just want to clarify that though there were some people who disliked the connection they drew between the theme of SonForce Kids and James Bond/spying/violence etc..., to my knowledge no one has claimed that Gospel Light was "promoting violence and killing." That's quite an extreme statement! :eek:
SonForce Kids was developed to help kids become courageous disciples for Christ and was never intended to have any relation to James Bond at all. The theme song was inspired by The Incredibles and Spy Kids, not James Bond. We designed this course to teach kids to Trust, Unite, Train, Follow, and Lead. Our research shows over a million children across this country attended a SonForce Kids VBS program with approximately 260,000 making decisions for Christ. This was a powerful program that taught children to be courageous disciples and God worked miracles through this course.
I'm glad so many of you liked SonForce Kids (http://www.gospellightvbs.com/sonforce/index.html) and saw a positive reaction to it from your kids. I hope you will feel the same way about VBS this year, whether you choose SonWorld Adventure Park (http://www.gospellightvbs.com/sonworld/) or SonHarvest County Fair (http://www.gospellightvbs.com/sonharvest/index.html). :)
And for anyone who didn't have a chance to use Sonforce Kids last year it is still available at a great value (http://www.gospellight.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10052&categoryId=10178&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10176&top_category=10176&pageView=) in a kit you can use anytime with your kids.

[winnipeg]

Wow!
This is not going where I thought it would at all. Josh sorry it brought up some negative feelings for you and possibly others. We had an amazing time at SonForce, all the students for such and even the teachers thought the theme was great. The biggest improvement from SonWorld to SonForce is putting the Gospel Message front and center. If you use VBS as an outreach tool as we do, then it is a single chance in a single day to plant seeds for Him. Thoses seeds may germinate immediate or much later in life. WE are merely God's tool in that regard. When I say that GL is the best that is what I am looking for as the primary importance - secondly comes theme what will get them interested to come in and here what we are saying about Jesus. Then all the other stuff - music, props, crafts, games, etc. My children's ministry team has written lessons for years and we can fill in any blanks, it is just great to get a positive outlook from other areas to build excitement so thanks Houseparent for your great response! It will be great working with you all again this year!

[Josh1]

I'm just talking about a thread from the SonForce Kids Message Board that was later deleted. That's what their opinion was. SonForce Kids was a blast for me and the kids that participated!:cool: Thanks Gospel Light for SonForce Kids! I'm sorry if I was unclear about anything or if I was too straight forward.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[Anne]

I too had to let it absorb a little, but I can tell you that my team and I ARE VERY EXCITED about SonWorld. Also remember who this is for...all the kids that have heard what the theme is for this summer are also very excited. What child doesn't love the theme parks. Maybe it helps to live not far away from Disney, but my 2 girls and many others can't wait for VBS.

I am meeting with my co-director this week to start our overall plan. A few ideas we have are to have the registration forms look like tickets, play Celebration (yes, Kool & the Gang) at Celebration Square opening, balloons and huge archways everywhere.

Another idea is to turn the lenticular tickets into trading pins that will go on the nametag lanyards like at Disney World. The kids will "trade" good behavior, memorizing Bible verses, singing the loudest, etc. to get the trading pins from the leaders.

We are naming all the groups rides that you would find at an amusement park.

We are going to do the skits live for the first time this year. I am hoping that we can have the skit members be at "photo spots" during the morning for the kids to get their pictures taken with. Then have one of the crafts be making a photo frame and we can insert picture to take home.

Another idea I have, but I don't know yet if it will pan out, is to have some of the youth that are in High School band to lead our finale "parade entrance" playing "Choose Jesus."

Hope this helps you to start getting excited!

Anne

[TrinityJen]

Another idea is to turn the lenticular tickets into trading pins that will go on the nametag lanyards like at Disney World. The kids will "trade" good behavior, memorizing Bible verses, singing the loudest, etc. to get the trading pins from the leaders.

We are naming all the groups rides that you would find at an amusement park.



Anne - I love the idea of making pins with the tickets to 'trade'. Naming the groups after rides is a great idea too! Both ideas really get my wheels turning! :rolleyes:

I have a hole punch that makes 'ticket corners'. I am sure I will find allot of uses for it, making 'ticket' bookmarks, etc. It isn't quite the same as the clip-art with the half circle out of the side...oh-well.

[iloveVBS]

Great ideas Anne! Thanks for sharing them!

I would be interested in hearing what group names you have come up with!

[Anne]

Here are my group names: Raging Rapids, Fearless Ferris Wheels, Super Sky Buckets, Magnificent Magic Carpets, Twirling Teacups, Lively Logrides, Sensational Swings, Tireless Trains, Cool Cars, Remarkable Rockets, Boundless Boats, Charming Carousels, Courageous Coasters, Swift Submarines, Powerful Parachutes, Thrilling Tower Drop

I basically went through the list of rides at Disney and Six Flags to come up with the list.

I do have a hole puncher that will make the holes like on the sides of the tickets. I got it from Creative Memories, they have 4 different sizes (2 per punch).

Anne

[TrinityJen]

More great ideas from Anne! Thanks for the group names, I am writing them down!

MY corner punch is from Stamp It Up. I haven't seen anything like ticket from Creative Memories, I will have to check it out.

[kimbak]

I haven't decided what theme we're going with just yet, but I too am having a difficult time getting excited about any of the themes this year. We have been looking at SonHarvest County Fair, we have never done it, we will probably end up with that one or SonWorld. I just can't envision anything really exciting to do with SonWorld though. We'll see, I hope to make a decision in the next week or so.

[angie]

I remember having a difficult time getting used to te SonForce theme. After much prayer and research and great ideas from this forum, SFK turned out to be one of our best! I know that the same will happen for SWAP. It does help my favorite place is Disneyland! I am ready to get ready for the ride!
Angie in CA