Southern Student gives back to the youth of her church

Emma Boughman, member of the Spartanburg Adventist Church and junior character animation major at Southern Adventist University, has been a part of Vacation Bible School (VBS) for as long as she can remember. Her mom hosted VBS for many years, and Boughman

would help with small tasks such as cutting out paper decorations and arranging props. She still recalls the excitement she felt watching the week’s theme spring to life all around her.

“I looked forward to VBS every summer,” Boughman says. “I always enjoyed getting to know the crew members, doing crafts, singing songs, and collecting the Bible buddies.”

When Boughman became too old to attend VBS, she still volunteered every year, sometimes at multiple churches each summer. In the summer of 2023, she was astonished to learn that there would be no VBS at her home church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, because no one had volunteered to lead.

“I couldn’t let those kids miss out on an experience that had been so special to me,” Boughman refl ects. “I had built up my confi dence assisting others over the years. Now it was

my turn.”

With only three weeks to plan the event, Boughman and her friends Kaitlyn Whalley, junior accounting major, and Emma Frank, attended, set out to do the impossible. The girls recruited volunteers, ordered supplies, crafted decorations, hosted registration, and transformed the church into outer space. More than 60 children attended their program, and even more people volunteered.

“I always love seeing the youth get involved in leadership,” says Don Davis, pastor of the Spartanburg Seventh-day Adventist Church. “Those girls worked so hard. Vacation Bible School is extremely important because it gives children a chance to connect with Jesus during the time when they are most likely to accept Him, between the ages of 4 and 14.”

In 2024, Boughman decided to lead again with the theme “Scuba.” As a creative person, she saw artistic possibilities in every direction. At Southern, she spent hours in her dorm room planning the event. Back home, she and her best friend Emma Frank covered the stage in sea creatures and created a ten-foot paper mache whale shark. Boughman led the opening and closing ceremonies in her wetsuit, and they had another great turnout. Her favorite moment was when a child who had attended both years came up after the program to thank her.

“It might be hard for children to want to get to know God during a sermon at church,” Boughman says, “but it’s different when a program designed specifi cally for them shows how fun a relationship with God can be. It helps them want to know Jesus and to understand that they have a church family that cares about them specifically.”

—by Angela Baerg