June is the main month for Vacation Bible School in the area around Greenwood.
Hundreds of children and some adults are attending classes intended to entertain, educate and spiritually enrich
their participants.
These days, there's always a theme, although some people may remember when Bible Schools offered a less organized mosaic of crafts, cookies, songs and stories.
But Bible School organizers for decades have been ordering courses and materials.
One of the courses making the rounds in Greenwood is "Power On! With Jesus." Stranger's Home Missionary Baptist Church used it for a Bible School last week. The Bible School met in the evenings and was attended by adults and children.
One of the organizers, Melverta Henderson, said the theme reflects the age of computers and uses this to teach "how you 'power on with Jesus.'"
Evelyn Watts, director, said she could not be more pleased with the curriculum and the school itself.
Her son, art teacher Donald Parker, painted a bulletin-board size poster to illustrate the idea, and about 50 people attended the classes.
Henderson said, "I just love the theme we are using this year. The lessons each day give an objective and a word study and a choice of words to study."
At the heart of the study was the concept of "spiritual power that was promised to believers by Jesus," she said.
"You need the power to live the Christian life. It is not self-generated in my opinion," Henderson said.
The "Power On!" curriculum also includes "heritage" studies - history lessons centering on African Americans. Both children and adults learned from these, Henderson said.
During the morning hours last week, children attending First Presbyterian Church's Vacation Bible School were learning not to take blessings for granted and to think about the conditions in which other people have to live.
The theme was "Clean Water for All God's Children."
Barbara Gragson, the church's Christian education director, said the material was picked and ordered particularly because adult members of the church have been involved in helping people who do not have clean water.
Several adults have been trained in water purification and earlier this year helped a community in Mexico by installing a water purification system there. Before, people were drinking unsafe water.
At the Presbyterian school, children played with water balloons and ate crackers shaped like goldfish. "We had a different Bible story every day," Gragson said, pointing out "Jesus was baptized with water."
Children heard about the woman at the well offering water to Jesus, and listened to the creation account in Genesis. Skits included Mr. Bramble, who was a lot better off after "Mr. Clean Water taught him how to clean up," Gragson said.
"Most of our world is water," Gragson said, but "the children learned that other children do not have clean water like we do."
