Kids spend most of their year in a classroom, sitting, listening, and learning. Then when summer comes, they are in constant motion every day. They look forward to swimming, camping, and going on vacation, but they may not have shared in the excitement for vacation Bible school (VBS). Not only do children want to be doing something fun the entire summer; they have earned it! I believe this is something that can and should come from our local churches.

Are you wanting to do something different with your church this summer to reach your community? Vacation Bible school may be your immediate thought, but with that you may be wanting to try something your church has never done and the community has never seen. That something can be MEGA Sports Camp!

VBS Alternative: MEGA Sports Camp is a VBS alternative ministry tool for churches to reach kids in the community who may otherwise not attend a traditional VBS. MEGA Sports camp provides all the tools you need to make a week of camp fun and effective—with far less work than a traditional VBS might entail.

Indoors or Outdoors: MEGA Sports Camp does not require much indoor space. In fact, the entire camp can be done inside or outside! MEGA Sports Camp gives you a theme, scripts, devotions, and sports manuals to help you succeed in your week at church.

Little Decoration: Because kids will be outside playing sports most of the time, you don’t have to spend time decorating multiple rooms, preparing an endless supply of crafts, and spending weeks coming up with decorations. Coaches for each sport can have access to their coach manual in advance to help them prepare for what activities they will be doing with their camp group.

Real Stories: In between sport sessions, kids get to hear a real-life athlete story dealing with each day’s theme, as well as a Bible story. Coaches can also do devotional time with their camps. Kids not only will be hearing about Christ; they will have opportunities to experience Christ on the field and in your church.

By letting children join a camp of their choice, they are already becoming excited and ready to learn. When children come ready for a good time, they are far more likely to be open to hearing about God.

Easy to Modify: The curriculum is easy to modify to your church’s needs and to camp opportunities. Is there a sport or activity you’d like to offer that isn’t part of the curriculum? I have used MEGA Sports Camp baseball, basketball, cheerleading, football, and soccer in my summer camps. We’ve also done musical theater and cooking camps—with plans to add additional fine arts camp options for those kids who are not into sports. This can be done, because the curriculum provides you with their Coach Huddle Guide (devotional), so no matter what sports and camps you offer—children will always hear about God.

Easy to Promote: MEGA Sports Camp has been an easier experience for me compared to VBS. We have been able to promote our camp within several of our local school districts by sending home flyers to every kid in the respective schools surrounding our church. As our community experienced MEGA Sports Camp at our church, we began to receive calls from parents as early as January to see if they could register their children for the upcoming summer MEGA Sports Camp.

Are you still trying to figure out what you are doing this summer? I challenge you to try MEGA Sports Camp. You will experience an easy to use and fun program for children. You’ll be excited to see it grow each year!

View MEGA Sports Camp resources here