In the summer of 1956, Trinity Baptist Church was still in its first year.
The congregation had gathered for its first Sunday School and Worship Service only a few months earlier, on January 8. The church was meeting on Six Forks Road in the building that had once served as Oak Grove School, and the practical needs of a new and growing congregation were already becoming clear.
On May 9, 1956, the church voted to accept a Quonset Hut as a gift from Hugh Shaw and William Bass. It was to be erected as soon as possible to relieve the very crowded Sunday School classroom situation. Work on the building began that July.
In the middle of that same season, Trinity held its first Vacation Bible School.
From June 8 through June 20, 1956, children gathered for Vacation Bible School at Trinity, with Mrs. S. H. Whitworth serving as the first principal. It was among the ministries begun during the earliest months of the church’s life together.
Two years later, a report in the Biblical Recorder recorded the continuing growth of Vacation Bible School at Trinity. The 1958 school enrolled 118 pupils and faculty members, with an average daily attendance of 100. The report also recorded eight professions of faith and ten rededications in the Junior Department on Decision Day. Mrs. Whitworth was again serving as principal, and Dr. Henry Walden, Jr., was pastor.
These early records tell a simple and meaningful story. Trinity was a new church, still developing its facilities and organizing its ministries, yet children were already being welcomed into its life. Classroom space mattered because there were children to teach. Vacation Bible School mattered because there were families in the community to serve.
This summer, Trinity will once again welcome children for Vacation Bible School. From June 15–18, children will gather for Bible study, music, missions, art, recreation and worship.
The setting is different from that first summer in 1956, but the opportunity remains a joyful one: to make room for children, to teach them the story of Jesus and to welcome families into the life of the church.
Learn more about Vacation Bible School at Trinity:
Click here to register for VBS
Read More in 70 Years at Trinity
This story was drawn from 70 Years at Trinity: February 5, 1956 – May 3, 2026, prepared in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Trinity Baptist Church.
For more about Trinity’s first Vacation Bible School and its early ministry with children, see page 16 and pages 77–78 of the anniversary book.
