Dots and Dashes Ministry

Ain’t no tired like VBS tired. And if you’ve ever led a VBS week you already know exactly what I mean. 😴

But here’s what I also know - you know who shows up when you’re out there teaching the gospel to children? The enemy does. And this week we reminded him: Not this week. Not today. Not ever. 😤

Tonight is our Family Night Finale for Illumination Station VBS and I have been looking forward to this night for over a month. Not just because it means the finish line is close - honestly I’m going to miss these kids terribly when it’s over. When the decorations come down and the church goes back to quiet I will feel every bit of it.

But that’s the thing about VBS. You pour everything you have into a week and then you trust God with what happens next. In the hearts of those kids. In the families who walked through the doors. In the seeds that were planted.

I can’t wait to see what He does with tonight. And with all of it after tonight. That part is just getting started. 🌟

If you’re a children’s ministry leader in the middle of your own VBS season right now - you’ve got this. Keep going. It is worth every single tired. 💡

Pray for the child who almost didn't come back today. But did. 🌷

Y’all. Software issues. Two Walmart trips. A delivery order for the thing I forgot. A decoration project. A peaceful moment on the porch waiting for that delivery where I just stood there and felt the breeze and honestly - felt God.

And then while I was working on that decoration project, Forrest Frank’s “Okay” came on and y’all - I needed that song in that moment. Like it was put there on purpose.

And then right before bed when I thought I’d knock out one quick thing before I called it a night?

The printer threw an error. 😂

And here’s what I noticed. I wasn’t stressed. I was just… OKAY. Already thinking about the workaround. Already telling myself tomorrow is another day.

That’s not me. That’s what peace that passes understanding actually feels like when it shows up in real life. Not in the big dramatic moments. In the Friday night printer error moments.

VBS prep is rarely glamorous. It’s Walmart runs and software glitches and pivoting and piddling and figuring it out as you go.

But God’s peace doesn’t wait for everything to go right before it shows up.

It meets you on the porch in a June breeze. And in a song that hits at exactly the right moment.

And somehow that’s enough to face whatever the printer has going on in the morning. 💜

OKAY! - Forrest Frank || AMV || Sonic The Hedgehog 🎬 Sonic Fan Music Video.This fan-made music video features clips from the Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), KNUCKLES (2024), and the S...

Y’all. NEXT year’s VBS theme just dropped.

And I found out about it standing in the Walmart aisle, picking up more stuff for THIS year’s VBS to-do list. 😂

Lifeway just announced their 2027 theme - Take Flight - and the second I saw it, my brain did that thing where it just… took off. Hot air balloon. Biplane. Parachute. Station names. Volunteer titles. Centerpiece ideas.

And then I had to laugh at myself. Because honey, I haven’t even gotten through Sunday yet. The cart wasn’t even unloaded.

But here’s what I couldn’t shake after I put my phone down and kept shopping:

That theme. Trusting God’s Faithfulness Above All. Psalm 100:5.

It wasn’t just a cute VBS tagline on my screen. It felt like a word for RIGHT NOW. For every children’s minister, every VBS director, every volunteer who is tired and excited and overwhelmed and grateful all at the same time this week.

His faithfulness isn’t just for the big moments. It’s for the Tuesday night when the craft supply order is wrong. It’s for the Sunday morning when half your volunteers text in sick. It’s for the in-between, the behind-the-scenes, the nobody-saw-that moments that make up most of this work.

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to trust the One who does.

So yeah - I’ll be dreaming about 2027 eventually. But right now? I’m showing up for 2026. And I’m trusting that the same God who is faithful through ALL generations is faithful through this one crazy, beautiful, exhausting, holy week too.

See you on the other side of Illumination Station. 🌟

💡✨ Welcome to Dots and Dashes Ministry ✨💡

This page is for YOU.

The one who sets up and tears down.
The one who plans the lesson AND buys the snacks AND makes the copies AND fixes the craft that didn’t quite work AND cleans up the glitter that somehow ended up EVERYWHERE.

The one who loves kids that aren’t always easy to love.
The one who shows up even when nobody notices.
The one who prays over little chairs before little people sit in them.

You do everything.
And we see you.

This is not just a page.
This is a ministry FOR the ministers.
A community FOR the volunteers.
A soft place to land for the ones who hold everybody else up.

Here you will find encouragement.
Real talk.
Practical wisdom.
And people who GET IT – because they are living it too.

You are not alone.
God sees every single thing you do for His kids.
And so do we. 💛

Pull up a tiny plastic chair.
Stay a while.
You belong here.