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Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
We wholeheartedly believe this verse to be true. At VOUS Kids, our mission is to develop leaders who are passionately in love with Jesus. Each week, they grow more in love with God and his house through worship, interactive lessons, and fun! We like to say, it’s not babysitting, it's leadership development. Not only do we gather on Sundays, but we also have the opportunity to pour into the next generation at VOUS KIDSCon, our annual Kids Conference, running simultaneously with VOUSCon.
KIDSCon began in 2019, with one goal: to provide a fun, interactive, educational experience for our VOUS Kids and families to encourage and empower the next generation. Each year our VOUS Kids team works to plan a unique experience for children 5-11 years old. Hosting 300 future world changers, this group is a mixture of local VOUS Kids and VOUSCon guests. Whether it’s their 100th or very first time in VOUS Kids, we aim to develop a weekend experience that marks them and strengthens their relationship with God. This all starts with our preparation.
Step 1 — Theme
Each year we take time to develop a theme. This theme will guide the creative and programming of KIDSCon and help to anchor our Creative and Kids teams to develop meaningful moments.This year, our theme was, “The Great Adventure.”
Key Verse: “Anyone who lives without blame walks away safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught.” Proverbs 10:9, NIrV
Key Concept: Integrity—Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do.
Idea Activation: Our VOUS Kids at KidsCon will take a road trip journey across the country. They will journey through different lands, overcome obstacles, and embrace the adventure of a lifetime as they learn that what drives them isn’t a car but living a life of integrity. On this journey, they will learn that because God is good we can live a life of integrity. They will go further in the journey knowing that we can always choose to do what is right, even when no one is watching. In the end, they will know God has called them to live a life with integrity and we can be truthful with whatever we say and do as we drive through life.
Step 2 — Creative
Once the theme is defined our Creative Team can build Art Direction. Leaning into the concept of adventure/road trip we gathered references that aligned with a vintage road trip vibe. The approved art direction below infused every space from environments at our VOUS SoMi location (where KIDSCon is held) to the print material promoting the event.
Step 3 — Programming
With art underway, our VOUS Kids team moved to focus on programming. KIDSCon typically runs for two-three days. We kick off Thursday evening and wrap Saturday mid day. Below was this year's schedule.
DAY ONE
- 6:30PM CHECK IN OPENS
- 7:30PM MILE 100 STARTS
- 9:05PM PITSTOP 1/2
- 9:40PM BACK TO HOMEROOM
- 9:50PM KIDS CREW
- 10:00PM PARENT PICK UP
DAY TWO
- 8:00AM CHECK IN OPENS
- 9:00AM MILE 200
- 11:00AM PITSTOP 3/4
- 11:50 LUNCH IN HOMEROOM
- 12:30PM PITSTOP 5/6
- 2:00PM MILE 300
- 4:00PM PARENT PICK UP
- 6:30PM CHECK IN OPENS
- 7:15PM - MILE 400
- 8:45PM - DRIVE IN MOVIE
- 10:00PM PARENT PICK UP
DAY THREE
- 8:00AM CHECK IN OPENS
- 9:00AM AUTO FEST BEGINS
- 12:00PM PARENT PICK UP
The program had two core components: large group worship sessions/lessons (also called "miles") and small group activities by teams and age (also called "pit stops"). Outside of these pillars we weaved in times of play, with a field day (also called "auto fest") and a movie night (also called "drive in"). Year over year we aim to maintain this rhythm of programming, leaning into the theme for non conventional naming, while also looking for ways to make the schedule unique to the season. This year, the large group sessions (aka miles) connected to our overall theme of integrity.
Main Message 1 Teaching Concept
Story: Keeping the Faith (Daniel’s Integrity with Food in Daniel 1)
Main Idea: Do what’s right wherever you are.
Main Message 2 Teaching Concept
Story: We Didn’t Start the Fire (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3)
Main Idea: When you do what’s right others can see God.
Step 4 — Operations/Environments
KIDSCon is historically hosted at our VOUS SoMi location. This Sunday location is just a short drive from the Watsco Arena, the home of VOUSCon. This allows parents an easy pick up and drop off experience. Our goal is to transform this location into a dynamic experience for our VOUS Kids. The VOUS Kids Team partners with Environments and Creative to re-imagine our existing spaces.
Additional — Resources
Our goal throughout is to build relationships with families that extend beyond just their time at KIDSCon. In order to help us do this we work in collaboration with our resource partners.
Think Orange creates strategic curriculum, resources, and training for future thinking children’s ministry and youth ministry leaders. We pulled concepts and verbiage from Think Orange to help guide our Kids and Creative teams when building programming content.
Minno is a kids Christian streaming service with online shows designed for kids to learn more about the Bible. Minno gave all VOUS Kids staff one free year of streaming and all VOUS Kids parents three free months of streaming at KIDScon.
One Hope creates scripture engagement programs in partnership with churches worldwide. They gave free Bibles to all VOUS Kids at KIDSCon.
Epic Ministries partners with churches to provide entertainers who want to serve and support kids spaces with fun interactive worship experiences. They helped plan our programming content and provided staff support.
