I was hoping that since some of the VBS weeks are over some of you may have tried something that is working well and would like to share! Our VBS is not until July 18-22 but I want to get stuff ready!
Thanks!

One regret that I have is that we did not sing "Obey Highway" in our Worship Rally. It was bad judgement on my behalf because I felt it was too wordy for our mostly-younger-children-VBS. I would definitely do that song if I had it to do all over again.
Really focus on Destination Salvation and Destination Belief. On Day 3, our teachers shared the ABC's of becoming a Christian in the classrooms, and on Day 4, our Pastor had the opportunity to share with them as a large group. So take full advantage of having a two-day salvation emphasis! (I hope LifeWay did that again for Arctic Edge!)
One final thing, before you buy or make tons of decorations, call the closest Baptist Associational Office and see if they can link you with another church to share decorations! We were the third church in line for a set of WONDERFUL decorations, and now the fourth church is having their Family Night tonight with a FIFTH church coming to adopt four-churches worth of decorations after the Family Night ends. Share, share, share!
Have a very blessed VBS! You're gonna love this Ramblin' Road Trip!

I noticed there has not been a post on the Follow Up section since 2005. This is where we struggle the most in our church. I think we put so much energy in to preparing for the week that we fail to do our best in follow up. What are some way that your church has been successful in the follow up process. Our church usually has a Back to School event only a few weeks after VBS, but never seem to get much response. Any suggestions on other things we can do?

Good question! I feel your pain.........
I just heard a couple of ideas from another local church that I will pass on to you. One idea is to create a great "photo-op" space and have someone on hand to take pictures of each family on family night. Have the people who pose fill out a card and let them know you will deliver the pictures to them during the following week. Take time the next week to deliver the pictures personally to each family with information about your church and upcoming activities. (It would be really cool to have the Sunday School teachers make these visits to the children in their age group and personally invite them to come on Sunday morning.)
Another thing this other church does is called "Mugging" their visitors. Whenever someone has a recorded visit to their church, members go by and "mug" the visitor by bringing a coffee mug filled with goodies and church info. VBS visitors could be mugged as well! Personally, I was totally wiped out last year and really dropped the follow-up ball. I'm anxious to hear other suggestions!

Great idea...keep them coming! An idea to go along with the photo-op would be to use the VBS Stand-up for photos - kids love posing behind it. Or you could have a scene set up and let kids put on some sports equipment and pose.

A couple followup ideas for Game Day Central- have a students vs leaders softball game(or field day). You would have to tweak this depending on the number of people in your VBS. You could do a sports camp- a one day thing where high school or college students teach fundamentals of a couple sports, have someone do a devotion, have a snack, give out some info about Sunday School. At some point during VBS, have the students meet the person who would be their SS teacher and show them the classroom if it's diff't from the VBS room. We will have a New Christians Sunday School Class begin the second Sunday after VBS. I plan to do an appreciation dinner for my leaders/workers about a week and a half after VBS to have them discuss other followup ideas. I'll have some of the ladies of the church who can't help in VBS, but would like to, to fix the dinner. Hope that helps!

We are new to Lifeway and we had a very successful VBS. WE used the baseball diamond cards for K-6th grades. The athletes that marked third were assigned a mentor to pray with them about taking the final base to hit a home run(becoming a Christian). Data was taken: who became a Christian at VBS, who is still on third base or second base, and who doesn't attend Sunday school.

We are holding our first VBS Reunion in August. A swim party and sign up for Pioneer Club(our weekly Bible club) and Sunday school. We are focusing on the new Christians and those still left on base, but will be inviting all 125 VBS athletes.

We have always lacked the follow-up, but this year the material makes it easy to want to followup. We are considering a baseball game and cookout.

We are planning to send out the Follow-up post cards from Lifeway to invite all the athletes and their families to our "End of Summer" Fellowship and let them know about our upcoming Bible Drill Classes on Sunday Nights. I am hoping to have a VBS "reunion" later in the fall - maybe a "Parents Night Out" event.

i went to a couple of classes at the vbs preview on follow up strategies

one big thing - assign a follow up coordinator differnt from your VBS coordinator

train follow up teams and follow up with every child/family who does not attend your church (use registration forms)

send a "door opener" gift - picture of child from VBS, VBS music CD (ask older SS class to donate these - good way to get them involved in VBS!), VBS parent brochure, bag with church ministries information (ours has a different sheet for each ministry with dates, descriptions, etc. also our church pen)

invite them to Sunday School

have a VBS open house the sunday following VBS - leave all decorations and things made throughout the week in the classrooms. first 20-25 minutes of Sunday SChool is open house - complete with snacks just like VBS then kids go to their VBS room for a short lesson and adults have SS together. The regular service begins just like the worship ralley and has an evangelical message.

Have a family night follow up - even later in the summer or 6 months later - just get them back

Also, one thing that i thought was neat even though it is not necessarily foll!ow up is to have a VBS sunday - January is the perfect time - wear last year's shirts, sing last year's music, etc then have other people come out in next year's shirts, play new music, and introduce the theme. start recruiting volunteers and generally build excitement

Begin preparing for followup by identifying prospects through the registration process, by placing a colored dot on the form. create a follow-up form (date contacts made, type of contact, who made them, cards sent, responses, etc.) Make a copy of the registration form, and copy the followup form on the back side before giving the form to your followup team.