In the first week of August, the Gladstone Park Adventist Church was transformed into a tropical paradise as they hosted the North American Division’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) test event. For those who may not be aware, the Gladstone Park Church is currently the one and only testing location for the NAD’s VBS program before it is finalized and sent out all over the world!

Cassie Martsching, director of Communication and Resource Development for AdventSource, was on location for the very first time this year. “This was my first time ever coming out to the test event,” she shared, “and I just really appreciate the community at the Gladstone Park Church. I came in as a stranger not knowing anyone, but by the end of the week I knew everyone’s name. It was just so warm and welcoming. I like to imagine that that’s the experience that visitors find when they come to this church as well.”

Before VBS packages begin to arrive at local churches, teams of writers, editors, and organizers draft the material and imagine how it will work in person, but as with any event, the way things really work can be very different! This is where the Gladstone Park Church is able to help craft the VBS experience. For Cassie Martsching, this means translating between both worlds––that of writers and editors, and that of local leaders, children, and families. “I am basically the project manager for vacation bible school once it is past the writing phase,” she said. “I work with editors, translators, and designers to put all of the elements of the program together into something that we can print and sell as a part of a VBS kit.” The testing process comes next. “We go through all of the documents before we send them on to the Gladstone Park Church, but they are not getting the finalized, revised, polished version that everyone else sees yet. We really want to find out first––do these activities really work? Does this make sense? Are the kids getting the same message at each station that they visit? Is this a cohesive program?” The results discovered at the Gladstone Park Church are recorded, discussed, and implemented into the final VBS program that is then used everywhere else! “We’ve been collaborating with the Gladstone Park Church for about five years now, and the Gladstone volunteers seem to love helping us with it, which I so appreciate!” said Cassie. “They’re not getting a program with instructions for decorations and pictures of what everything should look like, they’re the people coming up with the decor that we use in the descriptions to show everyone else what theirs could look like. So really, they are interpreting what they get from the authors and from us when they put this test program together every year!”

Once tested, revised, and finalized these VBS programs are used in more than 1,000 NAD churches each summer, and even go out across the world! Churches as far away as South Africa, Kuwait, Kenya, and New Zealand have utilized the VBS programs that were first tested at the Gladstone Park Church. The program is also translated into Spanish and, for the first time this year thanks to the Quebec Conference, will be translated into French! “What the Gladstone Park Church does for us by helping us test these programs really ripple out and touch the world church for years to come,” said Cassie. “I appreciate them so much because putting on a VBS program is one thing but putting on a VBS program that no one else has done, with no template to follow, and knowing that it’s going to be filmed and photographed for other churches around the world to use––that’s a really big job that they take on for us every year. I just can’t say enough how much I appreciate the team at that church!”

As children grow and discover a faith of their own, vacation bible school can play a major part in connecting each child with Jesus. “VBS is a really big and important part of what we do at AdventSource,” said Cassie. “We hear pastors all the time say that VBS is really the most important evangelistic event that their church can host, because it’s the one event that can get the whole family to come in and see what their church is all about, it’s a chance to meet and interact with people.”