Hi everybody!
I am an S scale modeler from Iowa who loves the great northern! This week for our vacation bible school the theme is the gospel express, so I have set up a 6x8 layout for a train to run on. Also I have prepared 30 buildings from heavy cardstock so that the students just have to cut and glue and then decorate the buildings for the layout. I think that they will have fun with it.
Randy Johnson
Dallas Center IA
Well that sounds pretty nice. A great way to promote the hobby too. Good luck with the project. [:D]
“Train up a child in the way they should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Proverbs 22:6
i really like that idea, this week my church is also having VBS and since i’m a young minister age 21, i’m teaching the high school class ( [}:)] please pray this week lol [angel] I will need it) but we don’t have that same theme but if we do get it just might use your idea.
Well praise the Lord. He can work in any environment. Will have to pass on the idea to VBS leaders for next year. Peter
Here’s the church
Here’s the steeple
Open it up,
see all the Woodland Scenics people
What an inspirational story! In over 30 years in this hobby, I have always found that it attracted a certain demographic that overwhelmingly puts family values and faith as their top priority. Model Railroading is the World’s Greatest Hobby largely because it is such a wholesome and family-friendly endeavor. Our local churches seem like a wonderful place to introduce youth to our hobby.
As a teacher at a Christian School, I also introduce my students to railroading, both prototype and model, through a unit on transportation. The week culminates with an actual trip aboard Amtrak’s City of New Orleans. I have shared my website with some of the older elementary students and have even allowed some of the parents to come visit the layout with their children. If we could find room on campus, I would like to sponsor/mentor a MRR club and build a small layout.
There are so many valuable skills and talents that can be developed through our hobby, not to mention character traits like patience, diligence and self-control, that it would benefit any young person who pursued it. To be able to tie this into a ministry is such a blessing - for you and those in your care. Thanks for using our hobby to serve others and our Lord.
I find it interesting in that, while I knew God as ‘God’, I never knew Him as Father until one day He suggested we build a layout together, It was and is the best thing I ever did because i finally found out who He is.
Like Jesus said
" THIS is eternal life. That you KNOW the Father AND Him whom He has sent".
To know someone you have to have a relationship. Not a religion. Just as I don’t have a religion with my friends. Neither do I have a ‘religion’ with God. [Matthew 5 to 7 takes care of that basically].
Having said all of that.
I willpray that this will help the people learn who God really is. Their Father. One who loves them dearly. 
Thanks for posting. I liked it a lot.
I thought I was the only one who used trains to help people know Dad
How nice to see your thread answered by so many Christian model railroad fans, what you are doing for your Church is very good, nothing like introducing people to one of the most creative, clean and decent hobbies on the Planet, your project is in my Prayers.
I have had not just one, but two pastors counsel me to stay active with the hobby during times when I mentioned that I was getting burned-out with it. They recognized it as a great activity to establish friendships and evangalize [directly or indirectly].
Yep, patience and diligence - absolute prerequisites if you want to build a good-sized layout that is free of derailments and ‘dead’ spots.
Self-control - this was a major stumbling block for me. I ultimately had to cancel my monthly subscription to MR and RMC because of the ads - my credit card balance got dangerously large[:O] because I “just HAD to have” that new Kato/Altas/Athearn Genesis loco, or Cornerstone structure, …
As for skills, I think the ultimate example for me was being able to use my Dremel and a few other tools normally dedicated to mrr’ing, to replace a corroded [leaking] section of my house’s water main - saved ~$300 in plumbers fees![^]
I wanted to do something like that to introduce people to the Lord too! So keep up the good work!
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life in Christ,Jesus our Lord.”
You must have missed the thread a while back that was titled something like “When did Model Railroading become a Christian hobby?” It was fairly interesting. And then there was the fellow in Oklahoma who was beginning a whole “Model Railroad Ministry”, but that was a couple years ago.
Thanks for all your great responses! Yesterday was the first day and the kids loved the trains! My American Models Pacific smoking around the track had all the kids crowded around the layout. And the buildings are a big hit as well. I get to play the conductor on the gospel express, who lets all the kids know that Jesus paid for their ticket. It’s a blast!
thanks again
Randy
Randyaj…the above post is very heartwarming. Now I will tell my Pastor the Soundman has trains, God Bless your ministry…John
that is a great idea!..i have always tryied to start a christian MRR club but still no takers…i guess i live just too far in the country to get enough people together to get it going…sure could use the help too!..at the rate i’m building i’ll be too old to build anymore before the layout is complete…chuck
May the Lord bless and use your effort to reach our youth. Phil