Over the next five weeks, I will be writing a book about Sunday School. During that period, I will be sharing favorite blog posts--those which have received the most hits (pageviews). Here is the number nineteen favorite!

Each year, Vacation Bible School is the largest prospect discovery effort for most churches. In fact, about 25-30% of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches are a result of VBS. In addition to key prospect information about participants in VBS, additional information is discovered about their families: parents, siblings, and others residing with the attenders. On top of that, ministry needs are discovered.

Each of these facts are opportunities for Sunday School to step in to follow up. So many times, VBS has required so much time and energy that when it is over, church leaders walk away with relief at a good experience. They stack registration cards on a shelf and don't think about them until next year. What a wasted opportunity!

Instead, there are so many ways that Sunday School can capitalize upon the great investment of time and energy during VBS. Consider some of the following:

• Enlist a VBS follow up director whose job is to mobilize Sunday School teachers and workers to visit and contact all VBS prospects and their families.
• Ask Sunday School classes to set aside a specific time to pray for VBS and for prospects to be enrolled and won to Christ.
• Set a goal for enrolling VBS prospects and family members.
• Enlist Sunday School leaders to help with advance and daily VBS registration.
• Make sure you get thorough records of every VBS participant and their families.
• Set up a special day immediately after VBS for Sunday School classes (and/or VBS workers) to visit all VBS prospects and families.
• Send information home with every prospect on the final day of VBS about Sunday School classes and other church activities appropriate for each age group.
• Have the pastor send a letter to every VBS prospect the week after VBS with information about the location of the age appropriate Sunday School class(es).
• Share reports about VBS with your congregation so they can share in the excitement, follow up, and prayer.
• Plan a VBS Day in Sunday School on the Sunday after VBS and don't remove the decorations or allow children to take home their VBS materials until then. Invite parents and families. Celebrate VBS in worship. Sing VBS songs. Share testimonies. Show pictures set to a VBS song. Recognize each age group. Give everyone present a handout with information about Sunday School classes.
• Ask Sunday School classes to sponsor a VBS Carnival on Sunday night after VBS with each class providing a game/booth and refreshments. Provide all attenders with a handout with Sunday School class information.

I would love to have a dozen ways that Sunday School can capitalize upon great VBS work. What would you add? Press the Comments button below and share your ideas and experiences. Make VBS even better. Partner with Sunday School in following up VBS. Be revolutionary!

For more ideas about growing your Sunday School, check out these blog posts:

• Sunday School Enrollment: Attendance List or Ministry List?
• Sunday School Growth Spiral
• Sunday School’s Vision to Change the World
• The Big Four to Be a Sticky Sunday School Class, Part 1
• Part 2: What Is the Ideal Balance of Age Groups in a Growing Sunday School?
• Identify and Invite Sunday School Prospects, Part 1, Identify and Invite Sunday School Prospects, Part 3
• Evaluate and Plan to Take Your Sunday School to the Next Level
• Sunday School Class Growth Is Spelled W-O-R-K, Part 3
• Avoid Enlisting ’Warm-Bodies’ as Sunday School Teachers!
• What You Can Do to Make Sunday School Classes Feel (and Act) More Like Small Groups, Part 1 and What You Can Do to Make Sunday School Classes Feel (and Act) More Like Small Groups, Part 2
• Using Sunday School Enrollment to Grow, Part 1
• Overcoming Sunday School Problems, Part 2
• Growing Your Sunday School by Increasing Your Budget
• Nine Key Healthy Sunday School Issues, Part 3
• How LARGE Should We Make Our Sunday School Goals?
• Changing Sunday School Measurements, Part 1