FBCO VBS sees record attendance

The First Baptist Church of Olney welcomed a gaggle of kids to its beach party-themed Vacation Bible Camp last week, breaking an attendance record that has stood for at least a decade, organizers said.

Of the 175 children ages kindergarten to sixth grade, who registered for the camp, 149 showed up on the highest-attendance day – two more than the previous record, First Baptist Pastor Dr. Chad Edgington said.

“What’s special this year is there’s a little excitement that happens when someone starts something new,” Dr. Edgington said.

Anna Rogers took charge of the five-day camp this year, and put to work 94 adult volunteers to transform the Fellowship Hall, sanctuary and classrooms into beachside scenes of oceans, piers, and palm trees. The kids did crafts, listened to stories, played games, and studied the Bible and missions during the evening camp.

On Thursday night, the children gathered in the sanctuary with their parents and put on a show.

Mrs. Rogers put down the bumper attendance to planning and God’s hand.

“We prayed and we planned and the Lord provided,” Mrs. Rogers said.

In another special connection, Melissa Edgington helped create the curriculum for third- and fourth-graders used at FBCO’s VBS camp and 25,000 churches and 2.5 million kids, Pastor Edgington said.