A Monumental VBS

VBS week was all about Jesus. 

Kids saw the story of Jesus come alive thanks to our volunteer actors, and they were present and attentive in the moment when the stone was rolled away, and the question was posed: “where is Jesus?” The answer brought palpable excitement to the room: “He’s alive!”

Kids also got to play games and make friends. Whether from public or private school, church, or unchurched, all kids interacted and connected under the foam cannon, in the gym, and out on the plaza.

Kids did crafts, watched videos, and ate snacks, all the while internalizing the stories and words they heard.

Kids learned new songs and sang them in the hallways. They learned about God’s character in songs and canyon closings alike.

Kids also had the opportunity to see Jesus’s love through the avenue of glow sticks. They learned that Christ was broken so that our light can shine, and while the glowy stuff fades, God’s love for us will never fade.

It was a full, lively, joyful week that may have eternal significance in the lives of the individuals that attended. See the following comments from those involved, and see a recap video here:

“Thank you so much for VBS this week!! I had a 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter attend and they both loved it.  Knowing they were not only safe and happy but also learning God’s truth was wonderful! We have a church home we love, but we will absolutely be back next summer for VBS!!   Thanks again for your hard work! May the seeds you’ve sown this week grow into greater things than you or I can imagine!” 

“ Thanks so much for all of the work you and your team put into this, Michelle!  Our kids had a blast, are singing the songs after each day and built new relationships as they learned more about the Lord!” 

“From a parent's perspective, VBS was a huge success. My kids had a blast, and this year we invited three unchurched friends/family.  Thank you for impacting them for Jesus! It was a great experience for them. I appreciate all of the hard work that you & your team put in to make it organized, safe, smooth, meaningful, and fun.”

Thank you to everyone who invested in this week whether you were a parent, grandparent, friend of a child, volunteer, or staff. While it’s sad to wrap up this year’s VBS, we are already excited for next year where kids will go on a cosmic quest in a space Stellar theme. We’ll see you next year!

Worrying about Ministry: Hannah's Story

My name is Hannah Varberg, and I’m the communications coordinator at North Heights.

I’ve been a self-proclaimed Christian my entire life, but my faith didn’t truly become alive until I attended University of Northwestern – St. Paul. There, God lit a fire in my heart for Him, and my life goals, purposes, and mindset were completely altered. I wanted to serve Him, tell others about Him, and be active in my faith. At first, I pursued these goals with the motivator of love. I loved God completely, and this fired my ministry and service to Him.

However, as I’m someone who has struggled with anxiety almost my whole life, it wasn’t long until the devil saw this pure motive of love and tried to tarnish it with anxiety. My mind would convince me I wasn’t doing enough to serve God, and this would result in guilt, anxiety, and restlessness. 

Soon, without me even comprehending it, anxiety was the motive behind me doing ministry. I would participate in ministry opportunities because if I didn’t, I would be overwhelmed in guilt and negative self-talk. In this season in my life with anxiety as a motivator, I did a lot of cool things for God. I gave a witch a Bible. I invited non-believing friends to church. I led a small group of international students. What I was doing was exciting and great, but why I was doing it was missing the mark.

Anxiety continued to rule my ministry when my husband and I moved to Granada, Spain to volunteer with a church and cultural center. We were in a foreign country in the middle of a pandemic, and it was difficult for all the reasons that I didn’t expect. The language barrier wasn’t as much of a problem as being anxious about every grammatical mistake was. The pandemic wasn’t the main problem; being inundated with guilt about sitting on my couch during the pandemic was the greater dilemma. 

I found that it was incredibly difficult to relax when we were living in Spain. We had moved across the world following God’s call to make a difference, so whenever we had down time to rest, I just couldn’t do it. My guilt nagged at me to do something. My anxiety constantly questioned “am I making enough Spanish friends here? Am I saying enough? Am I doing enough?”

We spent 9 months in Spain, and of course, they were a beautiful, impactful 9 months. We made many Spanish friends and learned so much, and it was truly a wonderful experience that I would trade for nothing. But unfortunately, anxiety was present behind my church involvement, spiritual conversations, and volunteering the entire time.

We returned home in July of 2021. After a long day of traveling, Micah and I were finally in the car with his parents, and they were taking us to temporarily stay with them. On that ride home, I looked around at my home of Minnesota for the first time in 9 months. I took in the familiar streets, stores, and restaurants, and instead of feeling peaceful about finally being home, anxiety gripped me in a new way. My first thoughts in America were that of worry; we had no jobs, no cars, no place to live. What we were going to do? What was next?

Those thoughts plagued me for the first few weeks back in America. One day I was taking a walk in the warm summer green and worrying about ministry. I was chatting to God in my head and saying, “okay, now what, Lord? Now what? What ministry can I do? Should I jump back into international ministry? Should I start another small group? What’s next?” 

The response stilled my soul. I felt God say, “your ministry right now is to trust me.”

This response blew my mind. I felt like God was asking me to do nothing but spend time with Him and trust Him. All I could do in this moment was say, “All right, God. I’m in.” After this moment with God on the sidewalk of Como Avenue, my guilt and anxiety about doing ceased while I meditated on trusting.

Trusting Him threw me down an unconventional, confusing path at first, but I remained confident in my trustworthy Savior. Although human nature betrayed me a few times and pushed me into worry, I quickly corrected my mindset and returned to trust. I had never been so relaxed with instability than I was in this past season. Without a job, without a car, without a home, and without ministry, I was content. Then 4 months after returning from Spain, fully trusting God led me to North Heights.

Now I’m getting settled into a season of ministry again, working at a church, volunteering with international students, and leading a small group. However, my heart still has not forgotten the lesson He taught me during one sunny walk last summer. Sometimes, God does want us intimately involved in the doing. Other times, the next step of faith could be sitting with the presence of Jesus, without guilt and anxiety, and simply trusting.