KBC Blog (2021)

At the end of each after-school club meeting, KiDs Beach Club kids are reminded by their Surf Team leaders about the Hang 10 Challenge. The Hang 10 Challenge is an encouragement to spend 10 minutes a day hanging out with God reading the Bible and praying. KiDs Beach Club makes it easy by giving children a take home sheet with a scripture reading, activity, and prayer for each day.

The Hang 10 Challenge isn’t just for kids in our after-school clubs anymore. Now, we’re offering this resource to families around the globe, encouraging kids everywhere to spend time with God. By the way, parents, this is a great challenge for you to take on as well! Spending time with God can be done as a family or as an individual, but doing the Hang 10 Challenge as a family will lead to much needed spiritual conversations around the dinner table or wherever your family decides to spend time with God.

If you’ve been watching KiDs Beach Club TV on one of over 500 channels carrying the show in the United States, you may have already seen our Hang 10 Challenge promo starring Surf Team leaders Jason and Jordan.

Station Managers are seeing the results. "WTLW TV call letters stand for ‘Witness The Living Word’, so our partnership with KiDs Beach Club TV is a powerful way to reach the next generation with the Word of God. Older viewers love the Hang 10 Challenge as much as the children do," stated Kevin Bowers, General Manager at partner station WTLW in Lima, Ohio.

Ohio is one of many locations where families are taking the Hang 10 Challenge. Challenge commitments have come from around the United States: Indiana, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and more. Recently, multiple requests have come in from India. Yes, families in the nation of India are enjoying KBC TV and asking how they can create daily spiritual conversations.

You and your family can take the Hang 10 Challenge today by visiting Hang10Challenge.com, fill out the short form, and download all 20 weeks of Hang 10 Handouts absolutely free!

The 43rd Annual Telly Awards announced on May 24 that an episode from season two of KiDs Beach Club TV has been named the Silver Telly Winner for Religious/Spiritual Television and the Bronze Telly Winner in the Writing, Children, Not-for-Profit, and Education & Training television categories. Other winners in the Children category include The Walt Disney Company and Sesame Workshop.

The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks, and production companies including Adobe, Netflix, Jennifer Garner, A&E Networks, Nickelodeon, and ESPN Films, among others. The Telly Awards attracted more than 12,000 entries from top video content producers from all 50 U.S. states and five continents.

KiDs Beach Club^® TV is an uplifting half-hour children’s edutainment show featuring talented child and adult actors dramatizing “character education through the lens of the Bible.” The series follows the lives of the Clubhouse Kids, a group of preteen students, as they navigate life, explore character lessons, and play memorable games.

“Now, more than ever, it is necessary to celebrate video work that reflects the top tier of our industry, such as KiDs Beach Club TV,” says Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje. “This year’s submissions reflect an industry that has returned to the important work of storytelling, one that has returned with a new perspective that values innovation, agility, equity, and tenacious creativity.”

“We are so appreciative to be honored by the Telly Awards in this way,” says KiDs Beach Club TV Executive Producer Dr. Frank Banfill. “These awards not only recognize the great talent of our actors, writer, and production partners at CRM Studios, but the nearly 20 years of in-person ministry to 110,000 children in our after-school Bible clubs. Our TV show is a direct outgrowth of our school ministry and the lessons we learned from it.”

Season one of KiDs Beach Club TV currently airs across the U.S. on DIRECTV and DISH as well as numerous local broadcast stations, and it airs globally on Angel TV and Inspiration TV. Season two of KiDs Beach Club is distributed by Bridgestone Media Group. Season three is currently in production, bringing the number of KiDs Beach Club episodes to 55.

In March, KiDs Beach Club TV won the People’s Choice Award for Children’s Television at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. Last year, the show garnered four Bronze Telly Awards. Dove.org calls KiDs Beach Club TV “a must-view experience as it shows kids how to function in the world according to God’s word, and parents are going to love it.”

On the evening of March 1, 2022, a couple hundred people gathered in a small, historic theater in downtown Grapevine to celebrate yet another milestone event in the unbelievable storied history of KiDs Beach Club TV, the Premiere of Season 2. A full 20-episode season with new storylines, new characters, and new topics that pre-teens deal with in their everyday lives. But before we go too far down that road, let’s take a quick look back at what brought us to this point.

Before the COVID-19 Pandemic began, KiDs Beach Club after-school program had more than 210 clubs across 14 states ministering to over 10,000 kids per week. But in March of 2020, the United States went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Kids weren’t able to attend school, so there were no more Beach Club meetings. To make sure that these kids were still able to receive the message of hope found in scripture, the KBC corporate staff and volunteers began filming Beach Club at Home segments in our training room. Based on the responses from club leaders around the country and the number of online views, KBC made the decision to up our game and prepared to film shows in a professional television studio. Scripts were written based on the KBC curriculum with a specific structure to reflect what was being taught in after-school clubs.

Through a booth at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in 2021, KBC quickly realized that we had something others were looking for. Television stations, networks, and streaming services all over the world were looking for current, high-quality children’s Christian programming. As of this writing, KiDs Beach Club TV is available on over 500 stations in the United States and via satellite everywhere in the world except for Antarctica and parts of Greenland. Now you can see why when the decision came up to film another season or not, there really was no question. And that’s what brings us to the Season 2 Premiere event on March 1 in a small, historic theater in Grapevine, TX.

Emcee for the event and Executive Producer of the show Dr. Frank Banfill talked about the true impact of KBC TV being on display at the premiere. “Wow! The world premiere of KBC-TV Season 2 was an amazing night. It was so fun to see and hear the audience’s reaction to the show. But the best part of the night was hearing from some of the child actors who are in the show. These are real kids helping other real kids navigate life and having fun doing it! It is so good to know that we are producing a world-class show that engages audience and makes an eternal impact.”

Founder and President of KBC Jack Terrell summarized the evening this way: “I’d never experienced a Premiere, so the evening was spectacular. However, the icing on the cake was hearing the engagement from all the 50 plus kids as they watched the show. Their expressions… priceless!”

If you’d like to watch a recording of the event, that can be viewed here.

And the 2022 NRB People's Choice Award for Christian kids program goes to..... KiDs Beach Club TV! 

That was an exciting announcement from the NRB TV Executive Committee at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee two weeks ago. A group of nearly 60 content providers chose KBC-TV Season 2 ahead of four other competitors during a special screening of newly released programs for 2022. Accompanying the victory was a snazzy, color-changing glass trophy now proudly displayed at the KBC Corporate Headquarters in Bedford, Texas. Click here to see the two-minute trailer that won the award. The 20 episodes from Season 2 are all available on the KiDs Beach Club website, www.kidsbeachclub.org/online. The Season 2 episodes will match the curriculum for our after-school Beach Clubs that begin in the fall of 2022.  

In addition, the KBC-TV Season 2 episode that features the character word of Obedience, is nominated alongside 7 other programs for best TV Show at the International Christian Film and Music Festival. The winner will be announced in early May in front of more than 3,500 attendees during the annual festival in Orlando, Florida. "Just being nominated is a big deal," said Dr. Frank Banfill, KBC Executive Vice President. "We were selected for the TV Show category, not just kids TV but for all TV!" KiDs Beach Club TV is one of 300 projects selected to be in the running for one of 65 awards.  This event will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of ICFM, which is one of the largest Christian Film festivals in the world. Their goal is to help filmmakers of faith-based, family friendly films, shows, and documentaries get to the next level.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most schools in the United States in 2020 and then banned many after-school activities in 2021, including KiDs Beach Club, the Lord provided for the production of KiDs Beach Club TV as a way to assist churches to get the gospel to the kids they normally ministered to in public schools. As it turns out, the Lord had even bigger plans for KBC-TV as Christian TV networks TCT, CTN, TLN, KBTV, World Trumpet TV, and The Walk TV all signed on to air the 15 episodes in season one. All of those connections started at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Grapevine, Texas in the summer of 2021. Nearly one year later, those networks, now very familiar with KBC-TV, were excited to share what it meant to have our show as part of their weekly schedule as we talked to them at the NRB Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. 

"When we saw KiDs Beach Club TV we said, this is perfect content for children in New Mexico," said KCHF-TV General Manager Warren Trumbly, one of the first TV stations to air KBC-TV. "Children need to get the word of God, they need to be drawn in and KiDs Beach Club creates that interest," Trumbly said. Click here to hear the rest of Trumbley's interview from our KBC-TV podcast including his plans to use the TV show as a jump starter to get churches all throughout New Mexico, to partner with KBC for after-school Bible Clubs.

"We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God puts things together and even in the midst of COVID. That is when we started growing, that caused changes in your ministry and thankfully for our viewers, they love your program," said Tom Nolan, the CEO of TCT Network. "I think as Christians, we need to stay positive about what God is doing in the times we're living in." TCT Network has expanded to more than 50 stations around America and also has a nationwide feed that airs KBC-TV every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. ET on DIRECTV channel 377. Catch more of Tom's interview here.

Another of our TV partners, KBTV Global is available to more than 250 million people in more than 31 countries around the world, available on streaming devices such as Apple TV and Roku. "It's great to get the word of God out, especially for our children through KiDs Beach Club TV," said Dr. Kerrick Butler, Founder and President of KBTV Global. "Studys are now showing that we need to catch our children in elementary schools because they've basically written off reaching them by the time they get to high school. Having this program that is going to minister to the elementary age student, and on platforms where they can always see it, whether it's on a phone or a tablet, it's a blessing." Listen to the rest of Dr. Butler's interview by clicking here.

We were also excited to catch up with the President of the CTN Network, Yolanda Morris who carries KBC-TV on 26 stations nationwide.  KBC-TV also airs every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. ET on their national DIRECTV Channel 376 and Dish Network Channel 262.  KBC-TV first aired on CTN's Fort Myers station, WRKY-TV, and when Yolanda Morris heard about the show, it didn't take long for her to add it to the program lineups of the other 25 stations on the network. One of those stations is located in Denver, Colorado, KQDK-TV which is run by her husband, Brian Morris. Brian and his TV crew stopped by our booth in the NRB exhibit hall and spoke with KBC Executive VP, Dr. Frank Banfill for a Facebook Live segment. Click here to see that report.

During the week long conference, there were many exciting conversations taking place at our booth with prospective TV partners from all over the world, including Canada, South Africa, and even Romania. In the words of KBC Founder and President Jack Terrell, "What child doesn't deserve to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel?"  KBC-TV has that clear Gospel presentation in every one of the first 35 episodes. Pray with us that the Lord continues to use this television program to draw kids to Himself, all around the world.