Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS is most likely one of the most popular VBS curriculums available for the summer of 2016. 
In addition to Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS, Group’s VBS options are also viewed as the a standard VBS curriculum that churches across the theological spectrum use.
I’ve worked at churches that have used these types of VBS curriculums before, and I am aware of what the appeal can be about programs like Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS. You get everything you need to run the program for the week. They often come with videos, shirts, all the appropriate marketing materials you’ll need, original music (often including videos of kids dancing and teaching the music)…they can be quite appealing.
Depending on the size of your church and the number of children you’re used to having come to your summer VBS program, Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS might be more than you need. But if you are planning on using Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS, we have made a very interesting discovery here at Illustrated Ministry. Actually, someone told us about it at a conference we were at last week, and I’m excited to share that with you.
As you know, An Illustrated Earth: Celebrating God’s Creation, is our summer product that we created primarily for summer Sunday School classes, but as I’ve said before, I think An Illustrated Earth could also be adapted to fit into a VBS program your church may be trying to develop. You won’t get a box with everything you need to run a VBS program, like you might with a Group VBS or Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS. But it will provide you with some themes, stories, a lesson and a giant coloring poster.
An Illustrated Earth is broken up into three modules, and Module 1 is Water Stories. Last week someone told us that Cokesbury’s theme for this summer was Surf Shack: Catch the Wave of God’s Amazing Love. I thought it sounded like a fun theme – and then I looked at the five Bible stories they’ll be using that week for Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS.
Bible Stories from Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS
These are the stories they are covering during the week:
- Session 1: Genesis 1: Creation Story
- Session 2: Exodus 2: Miriam Cares for Moses
- Session 3: Matthew 3: Baptism of Jesus
- Session 4: Luke 8: Jesus Calms the Storm
- Session 5: John 21: Breakfast on the Beach
Now, take a look at the stories that we had chosen for Module 1: Water Stories, before we had heard anything at all about Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS:
- Week 1: Genesis 1: Creation Story
- Week 2: Exodus 14: Parting of the Red Sea (not the same story, but still a Moses story)
- Week 3: Matthew 3: Baptism of Jesus
- Week 4: Mark 4: Jesus Calms the Storm
As you can see, 3 out of the 5 stories from Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS are the same stories we are covering in our water module. So if you are doing Surf Shack this summer, and are looking for an additional activity to have as part of your program for the week, our large coloring posters would be a great option.
Below you can see the poster designs for the three stories that Surf Shack is also covering in their curriculum:
Order Your Posters Today
If you think these posters would work with how you’re using Cokesbury’s Surf Shack VBS, you can get the posters for Module 1: Water Stories in two different formats here.