Geek of the Week
“I said it’s great . . . to be . . . a Tennessee Vol! I said it’s great . . . to be . . . a Tennessee Vol!” My friend Kathy Trundle knows how to chant those words along with me! We frequently are both in Neyland Stadium, screaming this cheer and many others, trying to help our beloved Tennessee Vols come up with a victory. (Unfortunately, it didn’t go so well this year.)
Kathy and I share three loves—UT football, the Great Smoky Mountains, and VBS. Those of you familiar with the Smoky Mountains know that Cades Cove is a beautiful, serene place; one of the first settlements in the Smokies. Kathy’s mom was the last child to be born inside Cades Cove before it was turned over to the National Park Service in the early 1930s. One of my favorite memories is the day Kathy took Sherry Spillman and me on a private tour of the cove. What a treat!
Kathy is a great supporter of Lifeway’s VBS, and does such a great job promoting VBS throughout Tennessee. I’m sure countless people across the state could share stories of gratitude about Kathy. THANK YOU, KATHY, for supporting Lifeway’s VBS and for supporting our team! I appreciate you!
1. What are your VBS roles (state, association, church, etc.)?
I am the VBS Specialist for Tennessee Baptist Convention. In that role, I work with Associations in training for VBS. I enjoy visiting and speaking at churches to encourage them in their outreach ministry through VBS.
2. What is your “geekiest” VBS moment?
My “geekiest” moment takes in an different element in VBS. I have this reputation for getting reports and information from churches anytime, anywhere. One year after Outrigger Island, I was in a store and noticed a person looking at the beach theme decorations. We got to talking and discovered that she was from a church who hadn’t reported their VBS, so in talking to her, I was able to get information to file a VBS report for their church and also found out the name of their VBS Director as well.
3. What makes you continue to do VBS year after year?
I love VBS. I love being able to train folks to lead VBS in their church. Often, I meet people who tell me they saw me at a training event and how much that event meant to them and in turn what an impact a training event had on their church VBS.
4. What is your favorite VBS theme to date?
Most definitely my favorite theme has been Big Apple Adventure because I was able to go to New York City to see the impact that the ministry of Metropolitan New York Baptist Association was having on the people of New York City. I got to meet the Director of Missions, George Russ. Through this trip, I had a greater appreciation for the work being done in NYC.
5. You might be a VBS Geek if . . .
You have all the shirts from VBS back to Windows on the World and constantly look for ways to encourage and help others to do VBS in their own church!
6. Will we see you at one of the VBS Previews in January or February? (Which one?)
I will be at the Preview at Ridgecrest and hope to be at the Preview at Lifeway at the end of January.
That’s my friend!!! Passionate….what a joy to work along side of her in VBS…..she definitely is the ‘
heart” of VBS in Tennessee!!!
I found myself the Monday after Halloween standing at customer service at Wal-Mart. I had spent Friday and Saturday talking to the assorted managers about optaining a donation of Spiderwebs for use in VBS 2012. I do the lobby of Skyline and help with registration and information. We had 360 last year. Anyway, the manager came by and told me he was giving me some spiderwebs and that I should just stand right there while he got some folks to scan them out for me. I stood there about 45 minutes. During that time I got to witness to every single person who was exchanging something. I had on my I <3 VBS shirt. One Daddy and two preschoolers came by and told me they attended Skyline's VBS last summer. I kept standing. The bathrooms were right next to customer service. The cleaning lady was waiting patiently to get into the men's restroom to clean. I got to talk to her about 10 minutes about getting into church and getting her life close to God. Then came the spiderwebs 21 cases of them with 780 packages of spiderwebs. The man who helped me get them out so my husband could load part of them in his truck and the rest in my van, told me how he longed for getting to go to church and hear the word preached. What a whale of a day. All, because God gave me the vision of using spiderwebs as Victoria Falls, The Arora Borealis, and the Great Barrier Reef. When I got the Spiderwebs unloaded at Church, I noticed that I had 5 cases of light green glow in the dark spiderwebs, and 7 cases of black ones. along with the rest. By the way I had bought a case of them on Saturday and a worker there told me to ask for them to donate the rest. At that point they were a quarter a pack. …so, I have 830 packages which I think will more than do our lobby and the other learning stations along the way. I am now looking for a couple of black lights and a revolving Christmastree light. I am excited to be able to serve as a helper to the VBS conference in January at Fort Worth. Just look at how God used spiderwebs for His glory. …and it was not even Bible School month.