By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL/ Staff Writer

 

A family VBS at Clanton Seventh-Day Adventist Church is bonding parents and children through shared activities and games July 17-21, 5:30-8 p.m.

When non-profit Wellness is Now offered to run a VBS for the church, Clanton SDA handed them the reins to organize and direct the VBS.

“They provided the space, and they gave us a donation to help run it,” Wellness is Now co-director Anita McGhee said. “And our ministry took up the rest of it.”

Wellness is Now was started by McGhee and her husband in Calera.

“We teach total wellness,” McGhee said. “It’s not just your body. It’s being financially able to take care of yourself, it’s being mentally okay—it’s all around.”

McGhee said, “We teach you’ve got to be a total person.”

Double-teaming with Clanton SDA for VBS is helping to do just that, and the “Power Team” of about 20 volunteers is making it all the easier.

The Highest Power Family VBS offers a plethora of faith-based, family-shared activities and games.

“The purpose is to encourage families to start doing more things together,” McGhee said.

Activities have included indoor and outdoor games, crafts using recycled items such as cans, hula hooping, sack races and more.

Each night features a speaker with an intriguing profession or hobby.

“And each time they come they bring something to show the children,” McGhee said.

A forest ranger was a big hit Tuesday night when he brought snake skins and his forest ranger truck.

Other speakers are a mechanic, rock climber, mountain rappeler and Distinguished Young Woman of Chilton County 2017 Ada Ruth Huntley.

McGhee said the families also get to try new foods.

“Each night we have a health talk where we tell them something about being healthy,” she said, further explaining that the families can try healthy foods and dishes made in front of them.

“Hopefully they’ll remember this event and open their eyes to new things.”

McGhee, who was sporting a “got carrots?” T-shirt and her grandmother’s handmade eight-laws-of-health skirt, said she was leading Wednesday’s health talk on carrots.

“But they’re having a good time,” McGhee said of the families, “because I asked a lot of young people, ‘What’s your favorite part about vacation Bible school?’ Each one I asked, they said, ‘Everything! I can’t pick a one thing!’”

McGhee said the goal this week is to emphasize how power comes from God, who is the highest power. She said the VBS strives to teach its participants “how to hear his voice and how to know him”.

“That’s the whole purpose of this week,” McGhee said, “to let our young people, our parents, everybody know that God is real.”

McGhee described an exercise that involved walking blindfolded while holding on to another person’s hand.

“In essence, what we’re saying to them is there are going to be some struggles that you go through. You may get wet, somebody may mess with you—but so what? God’s got you.”