For being at school on a sunny summer day, the kids seemed pretty happy as they playfully quizzed each other while waiting to go indoors.

Then again, this was no ordinary summer school. It did not offer remedial studies to improve academic performance. Held at Calvary Baptist Church, it was a series of lessons to help nearly 170 children improve life performance. The Pledge of Allegiance was said to the flag of the United States of America, as well as the Christian flag. The textbook was the Bible. The daily quizzes were memorized scripture verses. And the heroes of history were apostles and missionaries.

Summer is the season of vacation Bible schools, a time for churches to offer a different kind of education. Through crafts, games, skits, songs, Bible lessons and time with Christian teachers, kids learn about how to know Jesus and go to heaven. They also learn how to live a moral life in a world where doing so is becoming harder, said Tom Rickard, a pastor from Wheatland who has run a variety of Vacation Bible Schools around the nation for the last 20 years.

"It used to be that kids went to church," Rickard said. "But they don't go to church anymore. They don't hear the gospel anymore. Some of these kids have never been to church or heard a Bible verse. The moral fabric of our society is disappearing."

Research by The Barna Group, a company that does research on cultural and spiritual trends related to Christian ministries, supports Rickard's claim. According to 2006 statistics, 33 percent of people ages 6 to 24 attend church. Fifty-three percent of those 63 or older and 49 percent of Baby Boomers attend church, the study found. Trends for other Christian activities - such as reading the Bible, praying and volunteering - are about the same, showing lower percentages for younger people.

That's something Rickard and countless other church members around the nation would like to change. Many see vacation Bible school as a good place to start. VBS is often a church's primary outreach to the community, an attempt to integrate youngsters into church and encourage them to lead a moral life.

VBS is also good for a little fun. OK, a lot of fun. It is, after all, summer vacation. Kids at Calvary Baptist Church had contests to see who - boys or girls - could say their scripture verses the fastest and sing them the loudest. They also filled cowboy boots with money for a good cause, again seeing which gender would raise more the other. Add to that a carnival, prizes and snacks, and the school day was a snap.

"The VBS school is a very cool church for you to learn about God," said 8-year-old Phoebe Schaible. "You learn that he's our Lord and he watches over us and he sees everything we do."

First-time VBS student Austin Crow, 9, who came from Colorado to visit his Grandma, agreed: "It's been really fun. I don't usually go to church, but I've really liked this VBS and would like to keep going."

Reach reporter Hannah Wiest at (307) 266-0535 or hannah.wiest@trib.com.