LOCAL CHURCH EMBRACES LITERACY FOR SUMMER EVENT
It all started when Claudia Howe learned she would be in charge of her church ’ s Vacation Bible School ( VBS ) event . The nine-year member of Mesquite ’ s First United Methodist Church knew that she wanted this year to be different , with a fresh sense of energy .
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The theme for VBS would be ReadPlayTalk : Read Your Bible , Play Your Part , Talk About Your Faith . Sound familiar ? That ’ s because for the first-grade McWhorter Elementary teacher and eightyear MISD employee , RPT is second-nature .
St . Marks United Methodist Church members Millie Arnold and Shirley Waddle attended a community meeting in
March with MISD Superintendent Dr . David Vroonland , during which he encouraged local churches to use creativity in promoting RPT . Through some brainstorming and strategizing how she could make it work for a four-night summer event for kindergartners through fifth-graders , Howe and her fellow VBS committee members developed a plan .
“[ The idea ] just kind of got thrown out in a planning meeting at the end