my mind. Surely no situation could be as desperate as that had been. It was my very first year as director of a D.V.B.S. I had depended upon my pastor for counsel and direction, but a Bible Conference previously scheduled took him away at that very time, and I was left strictly on my own! That was bad enough, but when the church secretary got married and the janitor quit the day D.V.B.S. started, I was ready to beat a hasty retreat. But I prayed, and God was gracious. We had one of the largest schools in the history of the church. Could it be done again? We were serving the same God. Asham ed of my unbelief I committed the prob lem to Him and began to tackle the job in real earnest. The task would not be easy; we could not coast along on the achievements of last year. The first step was to sell D.V.B.S. to our people, so that they would see its value and not only be willing to help, but eager to have a part in it. To do this I made some research on the subject, and these conclusions are the result. To be interested in anything one has to understand what it is. The name, Daily Vacation Bible School, suggests but does not tell the whole story. It is a school which takes advantage of the children’s vacation time to advance the cause of Jesus Christ. Its lessons are Christ-centered, thus giving the boys and girls of any community an oppor tunity to accept Christ as Saviour and Lord and to learn to love Him and His Word. This is a big order but it can and has been done. Young people are recep tive to the gospel message if it is pre sented in an appealing and attractive way. In many respects, Daily Vacation Bible School is a missionary project. In a period of two weeks, the school reaches children of many lands. In a metropoli tan area, it is not uncommon to see young people from Japan, China, Africa, India, even Holland and Germany, in attendance. When this missionary po tential is witnessed, its effect is mag netic. Why? Because true believers are interested in missions, but many of them will never be able to go to the foreign field, and this opportunity of working with other races presents a real mission ary appeal. The urgency of the hour makes D.V. B.S. worth-while. The red flag of danger has been waving furiously for some time now, and if there is any truth in the pre dictions made by Christian and non- Christian leaders alike, the holocaust is about to break up our world. Since swift destruction is a possibility because of the technological developments and the total sinfulness of man, we must be pre pared for eternity, and our children with us. Our government has issued several (Continued on Page 19) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
What the Bible Means to the Young R ECENTLY the National Child Evan gelism Fellowship sponsored an es
say contest for the boys and girls of the Child Evangelism Fellowship Home Bible Clubs. Each child was to write an essay on the subject, “ What the Bible Means to Me,” in not less than fifty, and not more than one hundred words. Judging was based upon thought content, orig inality and age. Each locality chose a winner out of which each state selected first and second prize winners. The es says were then sent to the national of fice where the first and second prize winners of the entire nation will be chosen. The Southern California Child Evan gelism Fellowship winners were: first prize, Kathy McGuire, Whittier, Calif., age 9, fourth grade, Mrs. C. W. Johnson, teacher; and second prize, Patton Buers, Santa Ana, Calif., age 8, third grade, Mrs. Lois Buers, teacher.
to fight. The Bible helps me to appre ciate this beautiful world God has given us. This is Patton’s essay: WHAT THE BIBLE MEANS TO ME The Bible is God’s holy word. It tells me that the Lord Jesus is my personal Saviour because I believe that He died on Calvary’s cross to save me from my sins. The Bible is a lamp Unto my feet and a light unto my path and a guide unto me. It feeds me and it tells of all God’s promises to me. It tells me of my home far away and that some day the Lord Jesus is coming back to take me to my home far away where I will spend eternity with Him forever. These fine expressions are a good il lustration of the remarkable work the Child Evangelism Fellowship is accom plishing among boys and girls. Last year they conducted 1,250 Home Bible Clubs, enrolling 52,000 children, and out of these over 19,000 made decisions for Christ. Mr. Rieder M. Kalland, Director of' the Southern California Child Evan gelism Fellowship, 1726 Venice Boule vard, Los Angeles, graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1§42.
PATTON
Kathy wrote: WHAT THE BIBLE MEANS TO ME The Bible tells about God and about Jesus, and if I did not know Them, 1 would not be happy. I like the stories I read in the Bible. I particularly like the Christmas and the Easter stories and the story of Moses. The Bible also teaches me how to pray, and if I did not know how to pray, I could not speak to God. The Bible tells us how to live with each other, to be friends and not I HAD made two calls in the after noon to which I received a negative response. Surely this one would not fail, so, reaching for the phone, I called a faithful member asking if she would serve as superintendent of the Begin ners’ Department in Daily Vacation Bible School this year. There was a tense silence for a moment, then, “ I am sorry,” she said, “ but I will be gone all summer.” So three of our dependable Page Eighteen
Is the Daily Vacation School Worth-while ?
By Robert C. Duhs
leaders would be unable to help! This meant hard work in order to make other contacts. I began to reason that perhaps it would be just as well to drop D.V.B.S. this year. In fact, I thought, “Is it really worth-while? If we give it up this year, why not drop it from the church program altogether? We have enough activities that demand our attention.” Then the events of last year came to
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