H. L. Grice

Homer Lamar Grice served as pastor of the Washington church from  September 1915 to September 1924. In 1912 Mrs. R. A. Oslin, Sr., voluntarily organized a Cradle Roll Department and operated it alone until 1916 when she presented it to the church with 27 babies enrolled. In December 1916 the church presented its first White Gift Service. During this pastorate the church conducted perhaps the first vacation Bible schools in the denomination and constructed a new Sunday School building and significant modifications to the church sanctuary. In 1916 an individual communion set was purchased. In 1919 the church adopted a five-year budget for local expenses and began the single-envelope system. The collection plates were found to be too small and larger ones were bought. During his pastorate the church supported Mrs. I. V. Larson as a missionary to China in 1919. Also in 1919 the church bought 82 feet of the Hogue property to the west of the church and began extensive additions to the brick church. In 1920 the additions were completed, the sanctuary was modified, memorial windows were installed, and a central heating system was installed. During the weeks of July 8-22, 1922, the church conducted Daily Vacation Bible School, one of the first in the convention.

VBS seeks to provide a fun-filled spiritual adventure for boys and girls involving concentrated Bible study and encourages real-life application. A doctor's wife in New York is credited with the VBS concept. In 1898, she began renting out a beer hall on New York's east side to conduct what she called Everyday Bible School. LifeWay began producing VBS resources in the early 1920s under the direction of Homer Lamar Grice.


Homer Lamar Grice Papers
AR 576

I. Biographical and Historical Sketch

Homer Grice was born in Citra, Florida on April 12, 1883.  He was the son of
Albert and Sarah Lee (Bennett) Grice. He married Ethel Harrison in Birmingham,
Alabama, August 21, 1912. A graduate of Mercer University (1912) and George
Peabody College (M.A., 1929), Grice taught in Alabama public schools and worked
for seven years with the United States Railway Postal Service. From 1913 to
1915 he was professor of English literature at Ouachita Baptist College. He was
pastor of First Baptist Church, Washington, Georgia, 1915-1924, where he
conducted some of the first Vacation Bible Schools.

In September, 1924, Grice became the first secretary of the Vacation Bible
School Department at the Sunday School Board, Nashville, where he served until
his retirement, January 1, 1953. He promoted VBS for Southern Baptists, edited
all VBS materials and wrote about 45 children's books. He died on May 17, 1974.

Vacation Bible School

The Vacation Bible School movement traces its origins to Mrs. Walker Aylett
Hawes, of the Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City. Mrs. Hawes began her
Everyday Bible School in 1898. It was an effort to care for the spiritual needs
of neglected immigrant children who played in the streets of the city's East
Side. The school was so successful that another was planned in 1899 and a third
in 1900. In 1901, Robert G. Boville, the newly elected secretary of the New
York City Baptist Mission Society, promoted five vacation schools in the
society's mission churches on the East Side. His own schools were so successful
that 10 were held the next year, 17 in 1903 and 16 in 1904.

In 1916 the International Association of Daily Vacation Bible Schools was
organized. In 1922, Bovill organized the World Association of Vacation Bible
Schools through which he promoted the schools in foreign countries. The
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. was the first denomination to utilize
Vacation Bible Schools as part of its denominational mission program.

Active promotion of Vacation Bible Schools by Southern Baptists came in
September of 1924 when Homer Grice was elected as secretary of the new Daily
Vacation Bible School Department. Grice developed a course of study,
established the plan of operation, formulated methods of procedure, devised
means for training a church and denominational leadership and developed a
program of promotion.

The number of schools grew from 300 in 1925 to 1,044 in 1935. In 1938 Sibley
Curtis Burnett was elected as associate in the Vacation Bible School section to
aid in promotion of schools and in the training of workers over the Convention.
In 1953, Charles Franklin Treadway succeeded Grice as editor of the Vacation
Bible School materials. By 1979 the total number of all VBS projects was 35,681
with a total enrollment of 3,197,517. These projects reported $1,412,316 total
mission offering and 55,680 professions of faith.

As presently promoted among Southern Baptists, Vacation Bible Schools are
conducted under local church direction during the summer for a one or two week

period for ages 3 to 16. The program focuses on Bible study, worship,
recreation, and crafts. The Projects Promotion Section, Sunday School
Department, Sunday School Board, is responsible for the general promotion of
VBS work.
See: Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists for additional information.

II. Scope and Content

The Grice Papers consist of manuscripts, publications, reports, books, lantern
slides, and motion picture film. The collection focuses on the Vacation Bible
School movement and Grice's research data on the Sunday School movement. The
collection spans the dates 1897 to 1973. The collection has been divided into
eight series. The description of each series is listed below. The size of the
collection is 13 linear feet.

Series description

I. Vacation Bible School -Hawes material

Grice's interest in the history of the Vacation Bible School made
 him a collector of original documents on the early days of the move-
 ment. This series includes original correspondence, documents,
 receipts and student records of Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes' school on
 New York City's East Side from 1898 to 1904. This series also
 includes some correspondence on the history of the first Vacation
 Bible School, photographs and articles. Material is arranged
 chronologically.

II. Vacation Bible School -Historical and Informational Material

This series contains material relating to the Vacation Bible School
movement, including articles, Birmingham Sunday School Council
material, data, historical research correspondence, information on
specific church schools, photographs and material related to the
First Baptist Church, Washington, Georgia. Material is arranged
alphabetically.

III. Vacation~ School- Publications (non-SBC)

Various booklets, pamphlets and books related to Vacation Bible

NASHVILLE, ~enn.--(BP)--~r, Homer i. Grice, Nashville, secretary of the Vacation
Bible School Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board assured members of the state
Sunday school secretaries1 conference that half of the "Million More in 1954" to be en-
roled in Baptist Sunday schools. can be enlisted through Vacation Bible schools.
He pointed out that in the past year 150,000 children have been enroled in Vacation
Bible schools who are not members of any Sunday school. He said that through these
youngsters it would be comparatively simple to reach !%0,000.
Dr. Grice reported 130,000 Vscatian,-Bible .schools this year with 40,000 professions
of faith in these schools, which are designed for children up to high school age,
An appreciation banquet at Belmont College was held for six retiring Sunday school
workers. These include