Two dozen children walked out of vacation bible school at Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Wednesday, citing what a spokesman called "poo-poo-head lessons."
The children had first expressed their displeasure after Monday night's puppet show, which featured the socked hands of Youth Pastor Jim Rodman talking to one another about God's love for kittens and puppies. Six-year-old Hailey Minton complained that Rodman's presentation fundamentally failed to convey the distinction between Law and Gospel.
"Mr. R. is neat," she said. "But he said puppies should love themselves a whole big bunch, so God would love them back. Don't he know puppies are sinners, too?"
Tuesday night's session turned sour, as well, when Rodman chose to have the children sing G-Double-O-D, Good!. Five-year-old Jimmy Perry said the song's blatant reliance on works righteousness has no place in a Christian curriculum.
"That song said if we do what's right, we'll go to heaven," he said. "Even Baby Sissy knows that's wrong!"
The children finally walked out on Wednesday night's session, when they were each given cucumbers, a bottle of glue, and some wiggly eyes, and told to build a replica of Larry from Veggie Tales.
"I thought we were going to learn about Jesus," said Perry. "This is stupid."
*** David at Horn+swoggled out did himself with this report ... visit the site for more irreverence and laughs. I like this one because it rings so true with what we often do with children and youth programming. My experience is that this approach is not needed.
On the flip side, "dumbing down" the Bible seems to be required for most adults. However we are wrong because we forget the power of the Holy Spirit to teach us and in our compromise, we lose truth.
"Coincidently", there are two great articles at Together for the Gospel on the topic of Biblical excellence in preaching. In Cross-Centered Relevance, C.J. Mahaney writes, "by following the example of Paul, let 'theology reign supreme' with the message of 'Jesus Christ and him crucified.'" And in Sabbatical Reading & Reflections, Mark Dever lists 15 warnings from John MacArthur against superficial preaching.
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