Frequently Asked Questions About Lifeway's VBS
Lifeway’s VBS team receives thousands of questions each year through phone calls, letters, e-mail, this blog, and the “contact us section” of lifeway.com/vbs. Here are a few of the most popular.
- Where can I get VBS training? ANS: There is a wealth of training opportunities – both live and online – for Lifeway’s VBS. Preview events are held in North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee each January. Learn more by going to lifeway.com/vbs and click on the “Events” tab at the top. There are also hundreds of live – and free – training events sponsored by state and local Southern Baptist associational training teams. You can learn more by contacting the Baptist Convention in your state or the office of a Southern Baptist association in your area. While sponsored by Southern Baptists, most of these regional events are open to anyone who wishes to attend. For online training check out ministrygrid.com/web/vbs. Training plans for use by individual churches are included in the annual Administrative Guide for Directors.
- When will next year’s VBS theme be announced? ANS: Themes are announced right here the first Monday of June.
- What decorations that we have this year for VBS should I save for next year? ANS: One of the reasons we announce the theme in early June is to give churches an opportunity to learn what decorations should be saved. The early theme announcement also gives VBS leaders an opportunity to shop end-of-season sales. For example, in the past few days I have found some great decorations (sea creatures) that will be perfect for Submerged.
- Is it OK to duplicate the Preschool or Children’s Music CD? ANS: No. CD’s are copyrighted. Duplicating CD’s deprives the song writers and musicians who perform the songs of their income.
- How can I get resources from previous year’s VBS? ANS: Resources are in print from December to August only, or until supplies are depleted. After August the best way to get resources from a previous year is to ask VBS leaders from other churches. Many VBS leaders tend to save resources and decorations and are usually happy to share.
- What happens to VBS resources left in the warehouse after August? ANS: We have a wonderful relationship with Samaritan’s Purse who picks up the resources and uses them in conjunction with their Operation Christmas Child ministry.
Hi, you guys are doing a wonderful job. May God keep given you guys wonderful ideas.
My question are:
1. Why is it that bible stories from the old testament books of the bible are hardly used as bible lessons, except for journey off the map, other vbs of lifeway had been mostly from the new testament books. Even the next year’s vbs (submerged) got bible lessons from the new testament books only.
2. Is it not possible to have videos for preschool songs? Lifeway only do videos for graders but not preschoolers, why?
3. I observed that daily skit for the worship rally are not seen any more in the worship rally dvd, why? We get the daily videos but no daily skit anymore.
The Submerged logo is available as a free download (4 Mb or 2 Mb) at https://vbs.lifeway.com/downloads/. Our church is using this on email advertisements, etc.—but are we also allowed to use the graphics on this site to print t-shirts for all the children who are attending VBS? The Lifeway graphic will definitely look much “cooler” than anything we could design ourselves. Thank you for clear guidance on this issue… we are concerned about copyright restrictions.
You have permission to use LifeWay’s VBS graphics for t-shirts and other promotional resources as long as you do not alter the design or use it for any purpose other than VBS.
It’d be great to use one of the VBS songs from this year on a “memorial video” of pictures from VBS. Does LifeWay make this easy to do?
Is the GameOn logo copyright protected?
Yes, it is. We do however allow churches to use it in conjunction with their VBS. Do you have a particular use in mind?
In terms of copyrights, what can we use the logo for and what can we not use it for?
The purchasing church may use the logo in promotion and execution of its VBS, including social media/web promotion, signage, and printed ads. You can even use it on custom t-shirts … however you cannot sell those shirts for a profit. That’s a good rule of thumb for using the logo in general … you can put it on anything as long as you’re giving that thing away and not making a profit on it.
Are we allowed to use VBS music in a post VBS video we are making to post on Facebook and possibly YouTube?
Yes, you may. If you run into any trouble, email Craig Adams at [email protected].
Since we have purchased the VBS materials are we allowed to use any of the VBS imagines on our website to help promote it? Or does that require filling out additional forms?
You may use any images from the Decorating Made Easy DVD-ROM, Administrative Guide CD-ROM, or VBS website in your VBS promotion.
Can we use our lifeway vbs material to do a video vbs?
You may, but there are a few things you’ll need to do in order to conduct an online VBS. Please visit lifeway.com/4ways and download the free eBook there for guidance. Then, follow the instructions here in order to legally stream the copyrighted videos and music: https://vbs.lifeway.com/2020/04/13/how-to-include-music-in-your-virtual-vbs/
where do you find the movements to go with music for preschoolers
for spark studios?
They are written out (with illustrations) in the Preschool Music Rotation Guide and the instructional (and performance) videos are on the DVD included inside that guide. You can find the guide inside the 3s–Kindergarten Rotation Pack.