Salem Baptist Church’s Vacation Bible School “Submerged: Finding truth below the surface” started Monday and will continue through Thursday.

VBS Director Jane Thrash said about 45 kids and workers enrolled to be a part of the school. “It’s been an exciting time,” she said. “It’s really an awesome sight to see these kids here learning about Jesus.”

Pastor Chad Mannion explained this year’s theme.

“When we first looked at the curriculum we thought it was going to be some kind of an ocean theme,” he said. “But then we got it and we realized it’s actually more subliminal than that. Finding truth below the surface obviously refers to the submarine exploring the ocean, but as far as the lessons go it means looking beyond what you see on the surface of a situation and finding the truth about it. All of the lessons go back to the fact that Jesus looks beyond the outside and sees our heart. He helps us to understand that we need Him.”

Mannion described how some of the individual lessons being taught corresponded to that theme.

“With Zaccheus, he had a physical problem of being short, but his real problem was greed,” he said. “The woman at the well had physical thirst, but Jesus showed her that she needed to quench her spiritual thirst. The blind man’s real problem was spiritual blindness.”

In conjunction with that theme, Mannion said the kids are helping to collect food for the Salem-Troy Baptist Association Food Bank. He said that it shows how meeting a physical need can open up the opportunity to talk to people about their spiritual needs.

VBS starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 11 a.m. daily Salem Baptist Church is located at 217 S. Main St., Brundidge.