Fortunately for Ann Clark, children’s minister at Cook Baptist Church, the girls in vacation Bible school won.
RUSTON – Fortunately for Ann Clark, children’s minister at Cook Baptist Church, the girls in vacation Bible school won.
If the boys won, Clark says she would have lived up to her promise to kiss a goat, but since the girls won, it was Pastor Mike Holloway who had the dubious honor of getting closer than nose-to-nose with a Nubian goat.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Holloway said, grinning at the same time he was involuntarily wiping his mouth at the memory. “It helped that 200 kids and more than 100 adults were shouting, “Kiss The Goat!”
In a contest to see whether boys or girls could bring in more money toward the goal of $1,500 for a mission project on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico, $1,756 was raised – over half by girls.
“The other good news is that the church saw 45 children pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during VBS,” Holloway said. “If it takes kissing a goat to excite the kids about raising money for missions and for 45 children to get saved, then bring another goat next year!”
In all, 225 youngsters from age 4 to grade 6 enrolled in Cook’s VBS. “One thing that helped our attendance was we went to the local daycares in Ruston this year, and invited them to bring their children to the VBS,” the pastor said. “Three of them together brought about 65 kids, so I think we had a large number of children that were from unchurched families. One of the kids asked, ‘What’s a Bible?’”
Many others said they did not have a Bible at home, and were given Bibles, Holloway said.
The children were required to get permission from their parents before they were admitted to the VBS, the pastor added.
A well-rounded program and “Take The Plunge” as a theme helped prepare the 45 youngsters for the profession of faith each made. On Thursday of VBS week, each of the children came through a room where the pastor and his wife Dawn shared a visual illustration of Jesus’ sacrifice “for us,” Holloway said.
“We did not pressure the kids to pray to receive Christ, but gave them the opportunity,” the pastor continued. “With heads bowed and eyes closed, I prayed aloud, and they could pray silently with us, and afterward they would raise their hand if they prayed.
“We are currently following up with all the kids in their homes and making sure they understood their decision, and making sure we get a chance to tell the parents what we told the kids,” Holloway said. “We hope to see some of the parents saved also.”