Summer Is Here and there is Lots to Look Forward To!!

Neil Harris
Technical Arts Pastor

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Every kid grows up looking forward to summer.  I certainly remember counting down those final days of school and looking forward to...um... the blazing heat of summer in the High Desert?  Actually, I don't really remember what I was looking forward to back then except that I wouldn't have to get up and go to school each morning.  So jump to the past couple weeks when as a parent I got to witness the build up of excitement as my kids approached the end of their school year and the start of their summer break.  It's been fun to witness this anticipation of summer at home, and just as much fun to witness it taking place in various ministries at Victor Valley.  Having the pleasure of being on staff means that these last few weeks I've been witness to an ever-increasing stream of preparations as we head into summer at the church.

Summer at VVCC really kicked off a couple of weeks ago with Promotion Sunday and watching as wide-eyed and newly-minted "First Graders" walk into BASECAMP for the first time.  Seeing these little one's approach the climbing wall for the first time is one of those experiences that makes being a part of the BASECAMP team extra awesome (or so I hear).  Equally awesome is the thrill experienced by former "sixth graders" who on that Sunday begin their Junior High journey and experience worship with a live band and hearing the occasionally odd-ball, often funny and always challenging weekly message from Bryan and the team over in Pathway.

From Promotion Sunday it's full steam ahead into Summer Jam, which as I write this blog post, we are smack dab in the midst of.  Formerly referred to as VBS, this is the week that Victor Valley plays host to over 175 preschool and elementary aged children.  These kids schedules are full as they will sing, play, snack, craft and actively participate in discovering valuable lessons from God's Word over the course of this week.  This year's theme sees kids heading to the Summer Jam CIRCUS where under the watchful eye of our ringmaster and 90 volunteer team members they will discover what the Bible has to teach them about strength, courage, peace, direction and finding a place with God.  The team has been hard at work creating an awesome environment for kids to have an awesome summer experience and I'm confident it is going to have a huge impact in the lives of our kids.

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Almost as soon as Summer Jam ends, we'll be right into the next major summer event as Bryan leads a team of youth and youth sponsors on a missions trip to Tucson, Arizona.  The team leaves at 8 AM this coming Sunday (June 15th) and will spend the week ministering to refugees from Nepal and presenting the gospel to local children in a one day Summer Jam like event they will be leading while there.  Stay tuned to this blog as beginning Tuesday and continuing through the week as we will be working with Bryan to post trip updates, sharing the experience the team is having and how you can be supporting the team in prayer.  


We haven't even begun to hit on the various Summer Camp for 4th-6th graders, the MIX conference for Junior Highers, and the Move conference for High Schoolers, all of which we'll be posting updates about here on the blog.  I'm particularly excited about the upcoming teaching series in which we'll be exploring what the book of Ephesians has to say about a person's identity in Christ, so we'll have a bit of a sneak preview of that as it gets closer.  We'll also have some exciting news on cool new online "stuff" coming for the VVCC community, and a few more things that I think I'll keep a surprise for the time being (because aren't surprises part of the fun of summer?)

We're looking forward to a great summer at Victor Valley and hope you are excited to be a part of it!