How well do you know your Christmas hymns? Do you think you could match a verse from a Christmas hymn with the appropriate title?

Download our Christmas quiz and find out! If you'd like to print and copy this quiz, permission has been granted by Facts & Trends Online.

Enjoy!

It’s fun seeing people get excited in December. There’s anticipation in the air. There’s an almost audible buzz about what’s coming. Folks start watching their mailboxes and looking out for the FedEx and UPS trucks, waiting for that special delivery.

But, surprise … I’m not talking about Christmas.

I’m talking Vacation Bible School 2010!

The VSB 2010 Saddle Ridge Ranch Samplers and Super Samplers have hit the roads and the skies and are being delivered to churches every day.

The LifeWay VBS Facebook page is filled with posts and comments about VBS. Amber Lynne Ferrell posted: “… got our super sampler today – YAY!” Sounds like she is a happy Saddle Ridge Rancher! There is also a growing excitement about the VBS Previews that are coming up in January. If you do VBS but have never attended one of these preview events, you are missing a great opportunity! You get to hear the new music, make the crafts, sample the snacks and find out how you can make your VBS the very best in your church’s history.

Carmen Nunez is one of the VBS leaders who is looking forward to the preview. She posted on Facebook: “ … will be having a great time at Ridgecrest. Surely can’t wait.”

The previews are happening at LifeWay in Nashville, Tenn.; LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, N.C.; Green Valley Baptist Church in Henderson, Nev., and Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Click here to find out more about those and how to register.

For the past eight years, I’ve been fortunate to get to visit churches around the country and do an article on their VBS experience. Each year we select one church – usually in a location that has a connection with the theme – go there and do an article, photos, video, the whole works. It is so much fun. As different as each church and each VBS experience can be, they all have a lot in common. Last year, for Boomerang Express, we went to Sidney – the one in Arkansas, not Australia – and had the best time with the leaders and the kids covering their event.

An article written from a LifeWay Research study said: “By far the most common outreach event conducted by Southern Baptist congregations is Vacation Bible School. Eighty-five percent of pastors say their churches held VBS in the past 12 months. The next most common event, registered by 58 percent of pastors, is a prayer emphasis focused specifically on outreach or unbelievers.

VBS works!

Entry by Polly House

As a choir member for LifeWay's Christmas chapel presentation, I'd like to offer a little behind the scenes commentary that I'll call "Backstage at 'The Ornament,' a musical drama."

Monday, December 14 ~ noon til a little after 2pm

We've had a lot of practices since we started learning the music to our LifeWay Christmas program this year. We started in September, but this was the first complete run through with the choir, orchestra, children's choir, and the actors in the drama. It was very long, but necessary -- since we had to get the sound right, cues in the right places, etc. We prayed that it all comes together for the 3 scheduled performances! 

Tuesday, December 15 ~ choir call time is 9:15am

When we got to the Van Ness Auditorium a little after 9am, visitors were already in their seats, and lots of retirees and guest were coming in.  It amazes me still after all the years I've done this with the LifeWay choir, how many people -- in addition to our employees -- come to this Christmas chapel each year ... I've been in our LifeWay choir almost 10 years, and the Christmas program is the thing I enjoy most. 

The first performance kicked off at 10 am, and went great! The comment I've heard the most is that folks should be warned to bring a kleenex or hankie! It's one of the most emotional musicals we've done, but it has a lot of humor too.

Truly, "The Ornament" is a great Christmas message with today's problems in life -- it's all there: death, divorce, unemployment, homelessness, orphans, life's disappointments, things we all deal with.  But through it all, we can always count on our Savior, Jesus.

All the actors did an amazing job, especially Dr. Terry Terry, one of our recent LifeWay retirees.

I'm tired but excited about how well our program went. I know that the next two performances will great as well! Merry Christmas!!!!

Entry byJanet Sullivan. Janet has worked at LifeWay off and on since 1974, and is a member of the LifeWay Choir. She's serves as the corporate switchboard operator in the Communications Deptartment.

Please also enjoy the following slideshow presentation of "The Ornament" by Kent Harville, LifeWay's corporate visuals coordinator.