Parkas and snow boots in June? Tomatoes and cucumbers directing traffic? It's not a heat-induced hallucination; it's Vacation Bible School time around Fayette County.

Hundreds of youngsters are learning about the Bible and Christian values through carefully orchestrated programs like the “Ultimate Adventure” and “VeggieTown,” two of the predominant programs this year.

It's been snowing for the past two weeks in Peachtree City as children venture into the frigid north at Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church and Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church. Snowshoes and sleds are parked against the walls as participants toss handfuls of mock snowflakes into the air.

In another room, a beach complete with sand and sun umbrellas provides volunteers with a different background for crafts and creative play.

The whitewater rafting room and mountain climbing site provide extra locations for simulated adventures. But the ultimate adventure is Jesus, according to Doreen Gwin, director of this year's VBS at Carriage Lane Presbyterian.

“By opening our hearts to physical adventures, mental adventures, school and relationships, we reach the ultimate adventure... Jesus Christ,” Gwin said.

Bonnie Kent, religious education director at Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran, has another take on the theme. “We need to have confidence in God and believe that he will be with us in all situations.”

The various “adventure” sites serve as spring boards to related Bible verses, and simple explanations of God's love. Songs, stories and themed craft projects are all part of the VBS experience. Psalm 139 provides the foundation for much of Carriage Lane Presbyterian's VBS musical program. The Psalm reminds us that God is inescapable. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.”

Carriage Lane Presbyterian Bible school organizers packed up their program Friday in preparation for taking it “on the road.” A mission trip to Cherokee, N.C. will provide their junior high school church members with a chance to share the “ultimate adventure” with another group of children on a native reservation.

Across the street from the Presbyterian Church's mountains and raging rivers is the VeggieTown neighborhood of Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Approximately 250 children participated in VBS working with the theme “Building Citizens for God's Community.”

Teen volunteers sporting smiling broccoli and ripe red tomato placards direct cars into the church parking lot in the morning as excited children locate their streets in the VeggieTown neighborhood. Visits to the grocer, park and construction site provide attendees with opportunities to mingle with their neighbors and practice Christian values.

VBS director Pixie Smith has included a special project to extend this year's theme by connecting with the Mustard Seed Community in Kingston, Jamaica. Children are bringing in an assortment of toiletry and grooming items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste for parishioner Kent Kelsey to take abroad to the orphans cared for by the Mustard Seed Community.

A group of 29 young adults from the Archdiocese of Atlanta, which represents 15 parishes, is traveling to Kingston to build an addition to the existing orphanage. “In addition to giving needed items, we will be sending one of our craft projects to the children at the mission, and include them in our prayers each morning,” Smith said.

The Biblical basis for VeggieTown values is found in Ephesians 2:19-22 which encourages everyone to be fellow citizens with God's people. The Ephesians passage emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith experience and values. “Together in VeggieTown, everyone will work toward developing a dwelling place in which God is ever present, so we can all learn to become better citizens in God's community,” Smith said.

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