"It’s spooky in here”...”It’s so dark!”... “What’s that gurgly noise?” These were just some of the comments as youngsters crawled into the belly of the "whale" (black plastic blown up by an electric fan) at the Columbia Gorge Church (Troutdale, Ore.) Vacation Bible School held in the Gresham (Ore.) Church gym July 28–Aug. 8. About 20 children attended each night.
Children learned the gospel through fun action-filled songs led by Dana and Rhonda Reedy, memory verses taught by Carol Graff, ocean-theme crafts, and Bible stories dramatized by Ronda Merklin. Nancy Willis put the SCUBA underwater theme to work in her creative snacks such as blue “ocean” jello and fish crackers, “sailboats” and “snail” rollups.
Graff and Lorraine Anderson planned the VBS while they were also heavily involved in directing this year’s Oregon Youth Challenge magabooks program.
Edible crafts were a popular part of VBS at Columbia Gorge/Gresham.
