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Lancaster Vacation Bible School 2008 Teacher Application Form
Dear Bible School Applicant,
Welcome to Lancaster
Bible School 2008. We are looking forward to another year of seeing God
at work in our lives and in the lives of the children. Thank you to each
one who has contributed to this work in the past years and look forward
to seeing many of you return in the summer of 2008.
One of our goals
for this application is to become a bit more acquainted with you before
Bible School begins. We are continuously looking for ways to more
effectively plant the seed of the gospel into the hearts of these
children. You, the teacher, play a huge part in this effort. The better
equipped you are, the more effective you will be.
The primary
issue we have had problems with in past years is the level of late night
activity. This not only causes physical and emotional fatigue in the
staff, it also takes away from the purpose of this week together—to grow
in our walk with God. These activities also tend to divide the group of
staff into small groups and create an atmosphere of separation which we
want to avoid. Those who support this ministry are also very concerned
with the night time activities. Furthermore, we are concerned with the
quality of staff this tends to attract. If people know that LBS is a
place where we “party” and play into the early morning hours, then it is
likely that we will attract staff with that kind of focus. We hope you
understand that we do not host LBS to provide an atmosphere where people
can come to party and “hang out.” We kindly ask that no activities be
planned after the evening supper on Monday through Thursday evenings.
As a part of the
application process, we are again asking for two references who we can
contact to find out if they could recommend you as a potential staff
member for Lancaster Bible School. However, we do want you to understand
that a bad reference would not necessarily disqualify your
participation. We will certainly try to work with each applicant and
those in your realm of authority to ensure that you will have the
opportunity to come to LBS. Other details on the application will allow
us to get to know you better before you arrive for orientation and will
make it easier to assign leaders and teaching partners. Please be
extremely honest and understand that this is not an interrogation
procedure! We are not trying to find fault with what you write for a
reason to exclude you. Rather our aim is to create an atmosphere where
together we can do our jobs in the best possible manner. We really want
this experience to be a positive and spiritually up-building experience
for each one involved.
The application
fee is one way we hope to involve you more in work of the Kingdom. With
a small financial contribution to this work, we hope it will produce a
deeper level of commitment to the work God is calling us into during the
week of LBS. This $50 fee covers only a portion of the cost of Bible
School and if you want to contribute more you are most certainly welcome
to do so. Please send the application fee along with the application. If
you cannot make the payment online, send it by mail at the same time you
send the application. If, for some reason you are unable to come, we
will gladly give you a full refund at your request. We do not want this
fee to keep you from coming for the week. Please let us know if this is
a problem for you. Once you have submitted your application, you should
be getting a response from our staff within a few weeks. Obviously, last
minute applications will need to be processed much quicker, so we
encourage you to apply as early as possible.
Another change
for us this year is a new location for LBS! We are planning to use
County Park, which is just on the outskirts of Lancaster City. County
Park is a beautiful park with lots of wide open space for our daytime
activities, the evening recreation and the staff supper as well. This
should cut back considerably our time on the road and, hopefully, allow
us to operate more efficiently. We will need to out of the park by 10:45
PM.
Finally, Jesus
said that our first and foremost responsibility is to love God with all
our heart, soul, mind and strength. Secondly, we should love our
neighbor. If we consider Bible School in light of Jesus’ teaching, then
our primary goal for the week at LBS should be to “love God.” Then we
need to love the broken, torn and bleeding young souls that God brings
to Bible School— our neighbors. Friendships are also an important part
of our week together, but should not hinder our walk with God (prayer
etc.) and our ministry to the children. Our goal is that LBS can be a
place where we can grow in our love for God, love the children, and
thoroughly enjoy good relationships with friends.
We look forward to
working with you at LBS 2008! From the Board and the LBS Committee
Fields Marked with an asterisk (*)
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