NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Statistics for the 2001 “Truth Trackers”-themed Vacation Bible School are in and the news is good.
Based on figures taken from the Annual Church Profile, total VBS enrollment was 3,230,493, up by more than 400,000 from the previous year, reported Becky Martin, VBS ministry specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“We were thrilled to learn that 109,045 people made decisions to accept Christ as Savior because of Vacation Bible School,” Martin said of the total, up nearly 18,000.
VBS has traditionally added thousands to the Sunday School prospect lists of churches. In 2001, this was once again the case. There were 289,679 people added to the prospect lists who can be visited by people in the churches. Of these prospects, almost 50,000 were added to the Sunday School rolls in churches.
Another statistic Martin said she found interesting was that in 2001, 63 percent of churches having VBS did their program during the evening. An evening VBS, she said, made it easier to reach entire families.
Martin added now that so many local churches, associations and state conventions are working together to make their reports in the Southern Baptist Directory Services, VBS numbers are more available than ever.
“When a church inputs their numbers in the Directory Service, the association and the state, as well as the churches, can all see the numbers. It’s a wonderful system,” Martin said. About 25 percent of churches are now using the system.
Statistics for the 2002 Vacation Bible School — “Amazon Outfitters, On Expedition with the One True God” — will be available in July 2003.
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(BP) file photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: TRACKING ITS IMPACT.
