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Blog: Stolen Church VBS Signs

This little light o’ mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

It was a childish act Friday night as someone stole signs around Molino that advertised Vacation Bible School at Highland Baptist Church.(Read more here.)

Stealing is always wrong; we are all taught that when we are what — about three? Perhaps it was someone with something against the church, someone taking part in a prank or someone with serious spiritual issues. Maybe “the devil made them do it” would be their excuse.

But sometimes things backfire and good prevails. The church had set an aggressive goal of 200 in VBS, about the equivalent of their sanctuary full. One of the ways they decided to advertise their VBS was with the signs around the community in an effort to reach every child possible. VBS is, according to the Southern Baptist Convention, the single largest evangelist effort of the Baptist church each year. The same holds true for other denominations and other churches.

The signs would have reached a few. But the missing signs served to reach thousands.

We at NorthEscambia.com will always promote what Bible-believing churches in our area are doing. Because of the sheer number of Vacation Bible Schools in North Escambia, we could not give display advertising to each one on our front page. A few weeks ago, there were about 25 VBS listings on our events page.

But when we heard about the signs being stolen, we decided to make sure there was no victory for evil there. We are providing the church with thousands of display ads on our front page this week at no charge. And, since it was a newsworthy event, we ran a story on our front page as well. Rather than a few people noticing signs on the highway, tens of thousands would have seen the ads and the story Sunday and Monday.

When Marty and Linda at WXBM radio read the NorthEscambia.com article, they took to the airwaves talking about the incident. We understand that they are regular readers. (Appreciate that guys!) Tens of thousands more people learned about VBS at Highland.

It became the story of ten little signs reaching tens of thousands. Sort of makes you think about a little boy’s two fish and five loaves of bread feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children, in the Gospel of John. In that Biblical event, there was even baskets of leftover food.

In our little sign story, we even have leftovers.  The signs were reprinted Monday thanks to an individual in the community and Performance Graphics of Robertsdale, Ala.

But the children are more important than our little story of the stolen signs. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14.

Monday night, the first night of VBS at Highland, they surpassed their goal of 200 in VBS, with 225 signed up to hear the Gospel.

Incidentally, the theme for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention, which wrapped up last week, was “LoveLoud:  Actions Speak Louder than Words”, based upon Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heaven.”

The childish act of stealing the signs served a purpose — for good. Romans 8:28,  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna let it shine,
Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine