For the past three weeks, Dr. Adlin Cotto, Fellow and Director of the Master’s Degree and Hispanic Studies Programs at Carroll Institute, has been involved with the National Vacation Bible School Institute and Preview Events through LifeWay Christian Resources. Dr. Cotto has conducted training workshops at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina, Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and Hermitage Hills Baptist Church near Nashville, Tennessee.
Vacation Bible School is the premier outreach event of the year for many churches. For years, Dr. Cotto has been part of a team of conference leaders led by Jerry Wooley, Specialist for LifeWay VBS Institutes and Previews. Dr. Cotto writes the teaching plans in Spanish for Preschool, Children, Directors, Student (Youth), and Adult VBS materials. She also leads the training sessions that prepare Spanish-speaking leaders to make the most of VBS within their Hispanic context in the United States (including Alaska and Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico, and other Latin American countries.
Participants or “multipliers” in these training sessions return to their conventions, associations and local areas to train other leaders who will in turn go back to their churches to prepare workers for their Vacation Bible Schools, Backyard Bible Clubs, and mission trips. As part of this ministry, Dr. Cotto translates LifeWay’s Adult and Youth VBS materials to Spanish which is provided as a free download through Tarrant Baptist Association’s website.