The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1967

ave by Rev. Wilbur W. Parrish ow! Five Teepees in All Big Chief Instructs Brave s T/1is past SL11nrt1er, the Tet11ple Baptist C /111 rel, of Ports111oi1 th , i11icler t l1e clirectio,i of Rev. Wilb11r W. Parris/1, its Minister of Y oi1tl1 ancl Visitation, helcl a 111ost si1ccessfi1l Vacation Bihie School. U 1 e askeel BrotJ1 er Paris/1 /or 1!1is report concerning their /Jrogra,11, feeling that it coulcl also he 11sed h)' others ir1 our O.A .R.B.C. f ellowship. Our "Let's Have a Pow-Wow' ' pro– ram caused our Vacation Bible chool att·endance to increase from 86 in 1966 to 608 in 1967. It all ame about after evaluating the re– ponse we had been having with our ·aditional V.B.S. programs . We be– eved it was time for a change! We >oked for a NEW arp1proach in seek- 1g to reach the children of our com- 1unity . Having developed a succes~fu] \LL-OUTDOOR V.B.S. program in previous church, we felt thi sa,me Ian might work in Po rtsmouth. It id ! Our teachers and workers were 1ost enthusiastic over the idea. The ntire progr,am centered around an NDIAN THEME! For such a program a fairly good– zed lawn area is needed. Our church ·, a down-town church and has no 1wn. We turned to our ci ty officials and gained from them the u se of a two acre section in on·e o.f our city parks. Some attractions w,ere FIVE TEE– PEES, al l teachers dressed in Indian co tumes, archery, air-rifles, Indjan ign language, Indian trails, Indian handcraft, To~em Poles, an eat-um hut, a big chief stor y teller, and horse-back riding on the last day! Teepees w·ere made out of w,ater– proof burlap (obtained from furn– iture comp,anies free of charge.) The young people of the church went out into the woods and cut poles for nhe teepees. Men were needed . . . and they stepped in and helped! H aving men take active par.t made the pro– gr am appeal to Junior High-ers. Upon arr,ival each child wa given a head band and feat her, and told which tribe to jo in, each d epartmen t being a d if f e ren t tr ibe. Bach itribe had it own teepee. After general a embly the children went to their re pective tribes for a 45-minute Bible Study. Thi s was called the In– dian Go pel Pow-Wow ession. There were 57 con.fe ions of faith in J e u Chri t. The local radio sta– tion gave good coverage and helped with the adverti ing. The community knew what wa going on. Tlie pro– gra,11 produced twice tl1e res11lts, reached tivice the c/1ildren for half the cost of previoi,s ) 1 ears. The child– ren were n1ore in,tere ted in thi type progran1 , therefore, they were more wi lling to cooperate which re ulted in having le di oipline problem than ,ever before. We recon1mend this program to your cht1rch. How about having a "P w-Wow' ' for yot1r children? Even Squaws Learn to Shoot! Best Attended V.B.S. Ever! HE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST DECEMBER, 1967 PAGE 11