Standard Publishing--one of the major five suppliers of the outreach curriculum materials and the company that first used the term, almost 90 years ago--has dialed down the "glitz" factor for its 2010 offering.

Based on a television game show theme, last year's Studio GO! was "probably the most entertaining program we have ever done," but it was too much for "some of the more conservative churches," said Larry Carpenter, company president. "Bottom line, we lost some share to our competitors."

Writing at his "Raise the Standard" blog, Carpenter said that historically his company's VBS offerings had been "safe and true to the Bible, but not always the 'glitziest' thing out there." Market research for Studio GO! found some polarization, and "hindsight tells us that we should have been concerned."

As a result, the company approached this year's program preparations "with some trepidation," Carpenter said. "We were very careful in our research. We wanted a theme that would be exciting, but perceived as 'safe' and true to the Bible."

The result was Hero Headquarters, which includes fiction characters, everyday people and unnamed Bible characters, teaching children that "you don't have to be a big celebrity to be a hero." Presale numbers are up over last year, Carpenter said.

Standard Publishing won the Christian Retailing Retailers Choice Awards for best VBS in 2009 for God's Big Backyard, released the previous year.