Mission offerings collected through the new Concordia Publishing House (CPH) Vacation Bible School (VBS) program for 2013, Tell It on the Mountain, will benefit a special fund of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), which aims to help disaster victims. LCMS' Ready Now: Disaster Response Fund is used to provide food, water, and survival and shelter kits in areas of need.

"Typically, when a disaster strikes, it can take several days and perhaps weeks for donations from the church to move from household and congregation across the nation to those who have been traumatically impacted," said Mark Hofman, executive director for LCMS Mission Advancement. "People affected are forced to wait until resources are available. The new fund is designed to function as a bridge between the disaster event itself and the availability of long-term financial assistance that follows, as households and congregations respond in Christian love to a specific disaster event.

"The fund will serve as a source of immediate, rapidly deployable assistance in the first critical hours and days after an event," he added. "During peaceful times, until a disaster event occurs, it will stand as a mountain of hope positioned to deploy at a moment's notice. The offerings gathered by children participating in this year's VBS program will make a tremendous difference when this new fund is called into action."

Retailers can click here to learn more about CPH's 2013 program, Tell It on the Mountain. 

In other VBS news, Standard Publishing's God's Backyard Bible Camp VBS has been named Top Pick for 2013 by Lynda Freeman, an expert in children's ministry and "About the Children's Department" blogger.

"I've been reviewing VBS resources for 16 years," said Freeman. "Standard not only 'hits the nail squarely on the head' with God's Backyard Bible Camp, but they have 'raised the bar' by presenting a VBS resource, which will change, once again, the way we look at VBS."

She specifically commended the way the service focus is put into action through the lessons, activities and missions partnership with Back2Back Ministries.

Retailers can click here to learn more about Standard Publishing's 2013 program, God's Backyard Bible Camp.