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One defining characteristic that makes KiDs Beach Club really unique is the awesome ability, character, compassion, and enthusiasm of our Surf Team Leaders. These heroes who engage the kids weekly in support of our mission are the heart and soul of the entire ministry. They don’t just inspire the kids though! 

Their determination has inspired KiDs Beach Club to start an entirely new project we’re excited to introduce called Surf’s Up! – Experiencing God’s Forgiveness. This new resource will be offered to churches this spring as an all-new form of ministry.

What’s it all about? 

Well, we took a five-week chunk of the KiDs Beach Club curriculum and used it as the foundation for this new week-long evangelistic Vacation Bible School handbook for our church partners to use. We’re knocking down the limits of the schools and letting our ministry spread to every child of any community. 

Not only will this exciting new handbook help lead Vacation Bible Schools all over the country, but it is also a revolutionary concept as it is the first COVID-applicable Vacation Bible School curriculum ever!

Custom-designed to abide by COVID safety guidelines, Surf’s Up! is made to accommodate either large, socially distanced indoor and outdoor groups or small groups. 

We will also be throwing in episodes of Beach Club at HOME! videos for each of the lessons. The host church will have the option to play the complete 30-minute video or download various clips that are pre-selected for easy use during the lessons. This will be especially helpful for our partnering churches who are still awaiting their full team of volunteers to return to their service. 

Now you may think, This sounds great! But I’m sure it will cost our church a fortune to host our own Surf’s Up!.

To this we are thrilled to announce the price of Surf’s Up! will be FREE of charge to church partners who will commit to hosting an in-school KiDs Beach Club in the fall, provided the schools allow after-school activities. Click here to find out more!

Should any other church choose to not help support a KiDs Beach Club, or can’t seem to find the resources to help us in the aftermath of COVID, they can still purchase the entire package for $150 in the Surf Shop on the KBC website.

We hope you're as excited about our newest adventure as we are, and we hope to see you out there with us on the KiDs Beach Club scene joining us for our launch of Surf’s Up! – Experiencing God’s Forgiveness.

We would also like to wish a fond thank you to our many Surf Team Leaders and volunteers who have inspired so many, and we are looking forward to your helping us in our newest expedition.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: 

What are you doing for others?” 

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eleven years of service is a long time, whether it be in business, politics, education, or day-to-day parenting. For the KiDs Beach Club volunteers in Dallas, Texas, the past eleven years of service have been a whirlwind.

Rick Gustafson, Marty Earls, Zoe Williams, Roger Gongora, Cathy Moore, Rose Jones, Patsy Lange, Neal Oelke, Mable Jones, John Akins, and Geary Laird have all gone above and beyond to help make Jesus cool in their local school.

These eleven volunteers started their KiDs Beach Club in partnership with Bush Elementary School and Brookhaven Church. As time passed, news came that Brookhaven was selling the property of their church and moving in a different direction—literally. Brookhaven was moving their church to a new location and just couldn’t find the funds to continue partnering.

As they looked for new options to keep the ministry going, they were relieved when they discovered the new church, Royal Haven Baptist Church, which purchased the Brookhaven property, actually agreed to support the club after seeing the impact of their ministry.

Only three years into their adventure, they had already changed church partners and had over thirty kids regularly attending, with another twenty kids coming as often as they could. Every Tuesday, the volunteers would teach and play games with the kids, but their work didn’t stop there. 

They aided the church’s food delivery program, bringing food to over 1,500 different people. Annually, the team would help the kids buy Christmas presents for their parents and loved ones. The joy of giving became a highlight of the year for the students, families, and volunteers alike, as they enjoyed this fun tradition of celebrating the Advent season. 

Unfortunately, after ten years of adventures and fun with their students, the team met another colossal roadblock in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bush Elementary was quickly shut down in response to the growing virus, suspending all in-person meetings throughout the 2020 semesters. But the volunteers wouldn’t let this stop them.

Finding solutions in their assorted respective strengths, Rick led the team to maximize their talents and make sure this COVID-Christmas would still be one to remember—pandemic or not. Marty, who was also on the church staff, looked into how the church was safely distributing food via the food program and brought the idea to the team of using the same system to get the presents to the kids and their families. They would sanitize and safely distribute the gifts in a drive-in style experience in the church parking lot; the plan was safe, fun, and just in time for Christmas!

The whole team found ways to get the presents in the weeks preceding the event, but in the meanwhile, they also continued helping teach KiDs Beach Club online.

One week in early December, Rick concluded a lesson and asked his students a question. “I told them I was going to say a short prayer,” Rick said, “and if they wanted to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior to raise their hand when I was finished. Then they could pray silently with me if they made that decision. While everybody kept their heads down and eyes closed, two of the kids, a girl and a boy, both raised their hands!” 

Members of the team reached out to both their families to make sure that the kids were serious. They discovered the young lady had made a profession of faith with her parents that very night, right after KiDs Beach Club! The entire team was ecstatic knowing their little friend had been saved. 

The young boy, Alex, was much harder to reach, and the team began to grow concerned. God still had a plan, however. When the day for the presents to be given finally arrived, Alex and his family were the last car to pull through the parking lot.

The entire team watched as Rick took the present to Alex and his mom. “I mentioned that he had made his profession of faith a couple of weeks before, and she seemed to be aware of it,” Rick said. “And I said, ‘I would like to ask him a few questions if you don't mind.’ And she said, ‘No, go ahead.’

So I said, ‘Alex, when you made the decision to trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, why did you do it?’ And he responded saying, ‘Because I wanted God in my life every day.’ And I said, ‘That's a great answer! Now that you've made that decision, what do you know for sure will happen someday?’ And he said, ‘I will go to heaven to be with Jesus forever!’ So I said, ‘Well, you just made the most important decision that you'll ever make in your life—an eternal decision.’”

With the ups and downs this team has experienced over the past eleven years, one might expect them to give up, reschedule, or maybe even say, better luck next time. But they have endured.

Today they again face uncertainty with the news that Bush Elementary will no longer be housing their mission. Even so, they press on with the same determination as they had on day one because they know, just as many of their students now know, that God is with them. He is moving mountains, partners, and even pandemics that shut down the world, to move His Kingdom. 

As this KiDs Beach Club looks for a new school in the area to continue the ministry, it makes those of us who are unsure how to proceed in the wake of COVID ask ourselves: What am I doing for others? If these champions for Christ can put their best foot forward week after week for over eleven years, maybe I can too!

The truth is you absolutely can. Now is the time to face the world and declare as John the Baptist declared in the wilderness in Matthew 3:2, “...the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 

These eleven volunteers from all walks of life accomplished what many would think to be impossible, but just as Christ said in Mathew 19:26, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So the question now is: What impossible things will do for His Kingdom?

In the wake of 2020, two phrases have been repeated almost daily: unprecedented times and the new normal. The first references the bizarre events which rocked the medical, social, and economical scenes seemingly out of nowhere; the second is the idea that since everything has changed, we will experience a new normal. But what is this new normal we see emerging out of the ashes of COVID-19? 

When COVID-19 shut down KiDs Beach Club inside schools last spring, we had no idea where God would lead us as we watched the world turn upside-down. We began forming our new plan of KiDs Beach Club at HOME!, but we also started to hear the stories of exactly what this new normal would entail for us. Our volunteers were continuing to find creative ways to inspire their students and community. They have worked throughout the pandemic to serve others as Christ first served us. 

As more and more of their inspiring stories poured in, we decided to share a few with you, our friends of KiDs Beach Club, so you could also see the way God has continued to move through this amazing team of dedicated Christians. Here is a small collection of stories of how our volunteers are continuing the mission of making Jesus cool, not just in school, but in their whole community: 

One of our church partners and volunteers, Jamie Brooks, wanted to demonstrate the impact we can still have through his testimony of how their club has endured. “The big questions our church has faced are similar to what KiDs Beach Club is facing now: Do we give up because we can’t do things the way we used to? Or do we imagine safe and responsible ways to continue offering opportunities?

Like you, we’ve chosen the latter.  This summer before we began having small groups on the church campus again, I drove around the metroplex telling Bible stories in the park with the families in each community. So, praise God! He is not surprised or overwhelmed by our need to be responsive in the midst of a viral pandemic, but He has been abundantly faithful to inspire, to protect, and to flourish His Kingdom.”

Gerry Andruszko, a veteran volunteer, wished to encourage us by saying, “It has been a strange year. Since my students were moving on to the 6th grade, I made sure that they could keep up with our activities during 2020. I do keep in touch with my KiDs Beach Club students at Eisenhower Elementary through one of the classes, and our Sunday School class continues to supply Christmas gifts and stockings for them.

We are all looking forward to a time when we can get back into schools, to give hugs and high fives, to share character words, to memorize scripture, and sing God’s word. God is in control, and His timing is perfect, so until then we will keep on keeping on!” 

Volunteer Douglass Brown has put this time to good use helping others in other ways, saying, “Since KiDs Beach Club was put on hold, we’ve had church members and non-members who just call up because they’ve lost their job, or have quarantine without pay, seeking how they can make it until help comes. We worked with distributing the food from the Farm To Families Food Program. That was 8 weeks of distributing tons of produce all in the Name of Jesus!”

Kyle Terwilliger of First Presbyterian Church Arlington says, “We have been sending cards, making phone calls, stopping by houses, doing drive-thru events, outdoor, socially-distanced activities, and are constantly trying to figure out better ways to keep in contact with the kids and their families. I am thankful for what we are able to do.”

Lynn Sandberg related her and her husband Bob’s sentiments, stating, “Bob and I are missing KiDs Beach Club very much! We have been involved with two ministries for the past year and have enlisted volunteers to pray daily for our educators. We also have been ministering to the 60+ widows in our church. We are praying that the Lord opens the door for KiDs Beach Club to open back up again.” 

A former Surf Team leader, and forever member of the KiDs Beach Club family, Judy Braswell, says, “By the time schools here resumed last fall, our church decided to no longer partner with KiDs Beach Club to the dismay of students and volunteers alike.

As I began to serve as a substitute teacher, some of the KBC kids talked about missing it. I miss it too, but God has given me opportunities through substitute teaching to connect with and encourage many more students than just our former KiDs Beach Club kids. Thank you for the great curriculum that leaves kids wanting more. May God bless KiDs Beach Club and expand its impact despite the current challenges.”

Carol Baker shared her story after the shutdowns in Tildenville Elementary School, Orange County, saying, “We have continued to pray for each child in our club and have kept in touch by sending letters to them. We still look at the 43 Bibles now placed in their homes, and know God will protect and encourage every one of them and their families.”

Arlene Holland offered us words of encouragement, saying, “Our KiDs Beach Club in Burleson prays for you all every day at 3:00 P.M., about the time we would have been starting clubs. We pray for His protection over you all and this ministry. We pray for wisdom in moving forward; for each school that has opened up for us, at least to this extent; for churches to be ready to join us; and for the lives of the past, present, and future students and families, that they might see Jesus in us. We are blessed to be joined with you and KiDs Beach Club.”

After the ups and downs of COVID, we stand looking upon this new normal, and we don’t see a landscape of fear of confusion, but of hope.

As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are indescribably thankful for every one of our great volunteers and their determination to serve Christ—and the kids of KiDs Beach Club—no matter how crazy the world has become. Their inspiring stories have given hope to the entire KiDs Beach Club staff as we carry on our ministry and bring the light of scripture to all those we meet! 

KiDs Beach Club® is always overjoyed to announce a new arrival into the family of Christ! This semester we had just such a new arrival when a young boy named Daniel asked Jesus to be his Forever Friend!

This all began when our friends at First Baptist Church of Dover, Florida began hosting their own Beach Club just two miles down the road from their church building. Right from the start of the first meeting, a quiet but engaging 5th grader named Daniel, accompanied by his younger brother, came to the after-school program. 

One day in early spring, Daniel arrived for Beach Club with not only his brother, but also his two younger sisters. The church staff then engaged, having been given an introduction through Beach Club. 

As the Youth Pastor told Daniel about the youth events he could participate in once he crossed the threshold into 6th grade, the church’s Children’s Pastor engaged the sisters and younger brother about the exciting Sunday School activities they could enjoy. 

The kids were thrilled at being so welcomed, and that same day, Daniel politely came up to a volunteer and asked sheepishly if he could have two treasures from the treasure box to give to his little sisters. The volunteer said yes, which overjoyed an excited Daniel, eager to share this gift with his sisters. Daniel and his brother continued to attend their KiDs Beach Club weekly. 

That is, until COVID entered the picture.

As concerns for COVID continued to rise, the volunteers awaited news on what the schools of Dover would do and how this would affect their ministry. Meanwhile, Daniel cared for his little brother and continued to enjoy his time at the club. When Great Treasure Day came, they both were thrilled to receive their very own KiDs Beach Club Bibles!

Unfortunately, Great Treasure Day would be the last in-person day for the semester, as the nation shut down over concerns of the ever-spreading virus. Still, the volunteers and church staff joined together during these irregular times to discover new ways to engage the kids. 

Together they emerged with many creative solutions, includingan exciting day where the 5th graders received their grade     “clap-out” as they safely drove past the encouraging volunteers. They also conducted online activities and were eventually able to host Vacation Bible School, with which the Beach Club volunteers gladly helped. 

It was at this VBS that Daniel made his decision. He had come with not only one, but two younger brothers, expanding his own micro-ministry to his siblings. Throughout the week of VBS, Daniel seemed especially interested and intent on learning as much as he could about Jesus.

On the final day, Daniel went to the same Youth Pastor who signed his KiDs Beach Club Bible months earlier and asked if he could pray and ask Jesus to be his Forever Friend. As they prayed over that little KiDs Beach Club Bible, the Kingdom of Heaven rejoiced.

If there's anything 2020 taught us, it’s that things rarely go according to plan. In a year of canceled get-togethers, weddings, parties, and even jobs, we’ve all had to come to grips in one way or another with the fact that even our simplest plans can fail.

What do you do when it feels like the world is against you? What’s your response when things just fall through?

For Pastor Steven Greene, prayer is always the answer. 

In January 2020, Pastor Steven Greene spearheaded the effort within Central Baptist Church to engage Lawrenceville Elementary School across the street via KiDs Beach Club. The club was growing rapidly in those first few weeks; then the infamous shutdowns were enacted, and schools all across America shut down due to COVID-19 concerns.

Steven was as disheartened as anyone when he heard the news. But he wouldn’t let this stop him; he turned to the highest power for help. When the world was in disarray and absolutely no one appeared to know what to do, Steven asked for God to show him how to continue the ministry and to watch over his students wherever they may be.

God provided. Steven was met with inspiration to provide neighborhood Bible Studies with VBS kits in the local community. These Bible Studies proved a success, and God’s work had just begun.

Steven and his team at Central Baptist Church blitzed the local communities with flyers, emails, and phone calls of encouragement and help. It wasn’t easy at first. Many of the students were still not catching wind of the opportunities available to them even during the shutdown.

“Some never checked the emails because they didn't have internet access,” Steven said. “The majority of the kids that we knew at the school weren't making any contact that way. It's been pretty difficult.” They wouldn’t let this stop them, however. They continued attempting to make contact, all while engaging local kids living in trailer parks with the message of the Gospel.

One young man named Tristan, who attended KiDs Beach Club, was prevalent in Steven’s prayers and remained one of the students that Steven’s team had lost contact with. Little did Steven know, but God was fully on the move in reconnecting Tristan with his KiDs Beach Club family. 

In the weeks preceding the shutdown, Tristan was very quiet and listened intently to the lessons taught at KiDs Beach Club. On the last in-person day of the semester, Tristan actually asked a volunteer about trusting in Jesus, expressing he wanted to put his faith in him. 

“I talked to his mom after the club meeting, and she was excited for Tristan,” Steven said. “She's a single mom with two kids and was struggling to hang in there. She had been saved and baptized as a young person herself. So she said, ‘I want you to come to talk with my other son about it.’

I responded saying, ‘We want to get both of them in church and get them baptized!’ Then COVID shut us down. Then her phone number went dead, and I never got an email response. We even had trouble locating the apartment listed on Tristan’s sign-up sheet. I mean, we just went months without any contact. It was seemingly a dead end.” 

Steven continued, “I added the younger brother to my salvation-prayer-list and began praying for him with our church once we were able to meet back for Wednesday services. In our prayer meeting, we prayed by name for that young man. After church, I drove home, and he was standing in the road in front of my house!” 

Steven jumped out of the car and asked him what he was doing there. The boy simply said his grandmother lived around the corner from Steven’s house. “I asked him to talk to his mom about reconnecting, and he texted her on the spot,” Steven related.

“A month passed. I called again, and a week later she called me back on a new number saying her old phone broke out of the blue.” Another week later, and the entire family showed up Sunday morning for church!

“We talked about going ahead and starting counseling for Tristan to get baptized, and at the same time, we would witness to Jayden, the younger son. Then she said she wanted to rededicate her life as well!”

So Steven set up a meeting to arrange it all, but she never came. She called and asked if he could reschedule for the next day. The morning of the new appointment she called saying Jayden was feeling sick. Another appointment was set up; again, she didn't come. Steven called again to discover that she was now hospitalized after a dog had bitten her!

Steven was shocked at the difficulty of getting this family baptized. He was even more shocked when he was in an accident on his way to work, T-boned by an oncoming car the day the mother finally arrived for the meeting. Steven was at a complete loss. He set up another appointment right away, only for her to be in a car accident this time! 

After all this madness, the mother started bringing the boys to Central Baptist’s Youth Group. After one hospitalization, one quarantine, two car accidents, and weeks without contact, Tristan was finally baptized.

His family has been attending the church for weeks, and Steven can breathe a sigh of relief as he and Tristan minister to Jayden both in and out of KiDs Beach Club®.

Regardless of how difficult the situation became, Steven and his team never gave up the battle for Tristan’s soul. God empowered them all, no matter how hectic things appeared.

A year filled with uncertainty concluded in celebration.

No matter how crazy our day-to-day gets, we have the ultimate help from our Lord, Jesus Christ. God is on the move in KiDs Beach Club and His Kingdom.

So when you feel like the world is upside-down, backward, or what have you, remember, prayer changes everything.  

With 2020 throwing all of us a curveball or two, it could be easy to become discouraged. 

Lockdowns, restrictions, the media giving us 24/7 coverage of bad news nobody asked for—sometimes everything just looks bleak, causing us to wonder, Can I really still make a difference?

As a result, those times we encounter light, hope, positivity, and encouragement are even more special, and at Midway Elementary in Sanford, Florida, two KiDs Beach Club® volunteers are shining examples. 

Mary and her daughter Ashley have been working hard at Midway to keep their Beach Club the same welcoming place for their students it's always been. The joy of seeing their students’ beaming (but masked) faces after school every Monday is part of what motivates these two diligent volunteers to persist even in the face of unprecedented and unpredictable challenges. 

The beauty of meeting in-person, even with appropriate safety measures in place, is that Ashley is able to enjoy listening to what's been going on in the students’ lives just as much as she enjoys sharing the Good News with them. She’s grown closer to everyone in her group. 

It hasn’t been normal, and it hasn’t been easy, but with plenty of prayer and determination, Mary and Ashley have made it work during the hectic first few months of the 2020-21 school year.  

With the pivots made and the fall semester well underway, the next exciting event for the students in KBC at Midway Elementary was Great Treasure Day! 

Ashley recalls the high level of anticipation among the kids: “When the school year started, we gave them big black Bibles, and we told them that when they got their Beach Club Bible, they could give the other one to a friend. And they felt really excited about that!

But when I told them, ‘Hey, next week is our Great Treasure Day. That's when you're going to get your new Bibles, and we're going to have a celebration!’ I've never seen kids get so excited about getting a Bible...ever. It just made me so happy and they were just thrilled!” 

The kids were literally jumping in anticipation of Great Treasure Day!

Before Great Treasure Day came, Ashley was met with an inspiring surprise. One of the little girls ran up to her, gave her a huge hug, and exclaimed, “I was with my aunt this past weekend, and I prayed for Jesus to be in my heart!” 

She explained how she was asking her aunt about the cool things she learned at KiDs Beach Club, and she made the choice for Christ. Ashley overflowed with joy for her young friend, now also her eternal friend. 

While the small group enthusiastically celebrated their new Bibles on Great Treasure Day, another student approached Ashley and Mary to ask them about what baptism has to do with being saved. 

They explained that accepting Jesus is what saves. After thinking about it a moment, the student declared, “I think I need to do that!”

As they approach the end of the first semester of this entirely unique school year, Ashley and Mary, along with their team, continue to minister to these children each week, determined to keep bringing them the Word. 

As Mary so eloquently put it, “If these two kids are saved, and that's all that came out of this little club, it's already been worth it.” 

Mary and Ashley would both encourage other churches, club leaders, and schools to get back into bringing KBC to the students as soon as possible. “It's not that hard to do it once you get back in; the school already has the safety standards going, so you don't have to worry about that. But don’t be afraid to start small!” 

Together, even at a time such as this, we can bring more kids to Christ both in-person and online! We can’t do it without the support of our incredible team of KBC volunteers, our partner schools, and you!