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Thank you to everyone who participated in North Texas Giving Day last Thursday, September 19! Your support is helping fight the spiritual battle that going on in our communities. Your gifts are helping our organization shine the Light of Jesus Christ in public schools.

Our volunteers shine the Light and then the students in our after-school Bible clubs are shining that Light in their school, at home and in their community. Your gift is making an eternal difference in the lives impacted weekly in Beach Clubs across the country.

You helped us raise nearly $55,000, easily surpassing our $40,000 goal and last year’s total of almost $37,500. Several of you made gifts on the North Texas Giving Day website, but others donated through our website, mailed in checks or gave using our new text-to-give technology. Of the 123 people who made a gift on North Texas Giving Day, 60 were first-time donors.

Your gifts allow our volunteers to shine the Light of Christ in public schools by sharing the gospel with kids, teaching them biblical character and providing them with their very own copy of God's word, which often times is their very first Bible. In some instances, it's the first Bible in a child's home.

We had a full slate of activities on North Texas Giving Day that started at 4:30 a.m. with a small group representing KiDs Beach Club® at South Victory outside the WFAA-TV studios in downtown Dallas and ended after 10 p.m. when Dr. Frank Banfill, our executive vice president for strategy and organizational growth, wrapped up an appearance on a local radio station. Watch Now!

If you were in the DFW Metroplex and tuned in to News 8 Daybreak on WFAA-TV that morning, you probably saw our motley crew wearing their bright orange KBC leadership t-shirts holding our new “KiDs Beach Club” and palm tree signs. Jack Terrell, our founder and president, talked about the armor of God and how Beach Club volunteers are helping students in public school suit up to fight the spiritual battle between darkness and light that is going on in our neighborhoods and in culture at large.

Throughout the day, we shared other videos and went live on Facebook on multiple occasions. One video highlighted volunteers from First Baptist Church Richardson who enjoy taking “church” into the community. Kathy Porter, a former educator and now the club leader at Northrich, said the gospel is the Light that can change a life.

Your generosity is appreciated. In times like these, the work you're helping us do is more important than ever. Your generosity is helping us share the Light of Christ in public schools, which is making an impact on the next generation. The impact is eternal. Thank you!

If you did not have a chance to make a gift on North Texas Giving Day, please know you can support us anytime at kidsbeachclub.org/give or by texting the word “Bibles” to 444-999.

Children who attend Beach Club already bring their Bible to school on the day their club meets, but KiDs Beach Club® is encouraging everyone to bring their Bible with them to school another special day; Bring Your Bible to School Day is Thursday, October 3. 

Bring Your Bible to School Day is an annual, nationwide, religious-freedom initiative for students from elementary school all the way up to college level. It was created by Focus on the Family to equip and empower Christian students to understand their religious freedoms and express their biblical beliefs in a way that shows the love of Jesus.

Participation in Bring Your Bible to School Day is student organized and initiated, as well as protected under both First Amendment and Equal Access rights. These are the same rights that allow KiDs Beach Club® to be held on public school campuses.

In recent years, you may have noticed the increase in news headlines about students being told they can’t engage in simple religious-freedom activities, such as reading their Bible personally during free time or praying during lunch. That’s why it’s so important to come alongside our students and encourage them that they do still have religious-freedoms protected under the United States Constitution – and they don’t have to be ashamed of or hide their deeply held religious beliefs.

Students in Beach Club know they can have their Bible at school and read it during quiet time. They enjoy reading it before school, in the library, hallway, cafeteria and even together on the playground.

They are taught how to share their faith and pray with their classmates. These religious freedoms are protected. 

Read More: Here's How You Can Make Jesus Cool at School!

On Bring Your Bible to School Day, thousands of students across the country will take the lead on their campuses to celebrate religious freedom and share God’s hope with peers by taking a simple action: Bringing their Bible to school!

We hope all Beach Club kids will participate and we encourage you to your KBC Study Bible with you to school that day. If you can take a picture of your child with his or her KBC Bible at school and share it with us using the hashtags #BringYourKBCBible and #MyKBCBible we would love to see those pictures!

To learn more about what you can do to support the students’ efforts and help them get the word out, please visit bringyourbible.org. They have resources for parents and churches to help you share the event with your students. They also have videos of students just like yours sharing their story of bringing their Bible to school. They even have explanations about myth vs. fact regarding students’ legal rights. 

I Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” And that’s what the Bring Your Bible website seeks to equip students to do.

Parental support for students participating in Bring Your Bible to School Day will be absolutely key since it does require courage in this culture of spiritual relativism to acknowledge the existence of redemptive truth. So, we hope you will surround your student participant with prayer and encouragement as they participate in the event.

Another year of the Hang 10 Summer Reading Program came to a close Labor Day weekend. We provide the plan to encourage students to read their KBC Explorer’s Study Bible every day during the summer months when they can’t attend Beach Club.

We often hear from parents or grandparents telling us about how their children or grandchildren enjoy the Summer Reading Program and some even send pictures to show those curious faces buried in their Bible.

Our Summer Reading Program focuses on walking readers through the Bible, using stories selected from each Bible book. The daily reading plan provides Bible passages and additional “bonus” content designed to help students dig deeper into their KBC Study Bible.

Our reading program isn’t just for kids. It’s a plan for anyone and it’s great when parents, grandparents, teachers, volunteers and other adults tell us they participate. We got an email last month from April Ford, whose daughter participates in the Summer Reading Program. Actually, the mother and daughter tandem are working through the program together.

“We both read the plan this summer and then get together to discuss what we got out of the topic and the scriptures,” Ford said. The point of her email was to ask if KiDs Beach Club® offers other reading programs.

Unfortunately, we do not, though we do send “Hang 10” pages home each week with students who attend Beach Club that highlight the character word, memory verse and Bible lesson. It also contains a mini five-day plan to get kids to develop the habit spending 10 minutes every day with God, either reading the Bible or in prayer.

Ford’s daughter doesn’t attend a Beach Club and it might come as somewhat of surprise, but she’s now a high school sophomore. She only attended Beach Club for one year after her family moved when she was in sixth grade and her elementary school had a Beach Club. She received a KBC Study Bible that year before going on to middle school.

Ford wants to thank everyone who supports KiDs Beach Club®, including the donors and volunteers.

“I want to thank you for all you do at KiDs Beach Club® and for taking the time to teach our kids about God and prepare them for their future,” she said.

Psalm 119:105 tell us, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

When you support our Bibles for Beach Club program, please know you are putting a Bible in the hands of every student in every one of our after-school clubs, but you’re also teaching them how to use it so that it illuminates their path beyond Beach Club.

KiDs Beach Club® is grateful for our students, parents, volunteers, educators, churches and other friends of our ministry. We are excited to hear how the Lord is working in your child’s life, in your family, in your Beach Club, in your school and in your church.

Your KBC stories and experiences not only inspire us at the corporate office but they also encourage others who are part of our amazing team of more than 2,200 volunteers and more than 20,000 parents and supporters. 

As the Lord provides powerful moments in your Beach Club or in your child’s life, please take a moment to share them with us by visiting kidsbeachclub.org/mykbcstory. Of course, you can email your story idea to stories@kbcmail.org or you can share them with us on social media by using the hashtag #MyKBCStory.

We want to not only showcase you and the students at Beach Cub but to show our amazing donors and supporters how their prayers and financial gifts are resulting in life-changing experiences in communities and public schools across the country.

We have many avenues to share your great stories with thousands of our KBC friends:

• Surf Report E-News
• KBC "Beach Currents" Blog
• Bibles for Beach Club Monthly Newsletter
• Social Media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @KiDsBeachClub

The story below was originally published on our blog on April 26, 2017, when Michael Proctor was a volunteer in the Beach Club at Mohawk Elementary in Richardson, Texas.

Michael Proctor volunteers at the Beach Club at Mohawk Elementary in Richardson, Texas every Friday afternoon. He has been faithfully serving with KiDs Beach Club® for a few years, but visiting public schools is nothing new to him.

Proctor, now 20 years retired, spent years serving as a juvenile probation officer. He logged a lot of time in public schools and considers it a joy to be back volunteering in the public school system. The big difference is that this time he is sharing the Good News of Jesus instead of dealing with troubled kids.

Proctor is amazed that he is allowed to go into public schools with his church through KiDs Beach Club® to share the gospel. 

He says it is a great thing to be able to reach these children at such a young age and influence them positively, rather than trying to reach them after they may have made some negative life choices.

“More needs to be put into prevention,” Proctor explained. “Instead of dealing with things after they have already happened. That is what this program is about.”

KiDs Beach Club® is teaching children the word of God so that as they grow and mature they will make better life choices, instead of negative ones. The truth of scripture is incorporated in every club meeting, which reinforces the character words taught each week in club and in the elementary schools themselves. The vision of KiDs Beach Club® is for every child to have a Jesus experience within the culture of their elementary school.

Proctor has had the same core group of boys in his surf team each school year since he started serving in Beach Club. He has had the joy of pouring into this group, teaching them about the Bible and watching them grow with the Lord.

Proctor enjoys loving on these kids, many of whom view him as a grandparent-type figure. He feels he is seen as their authority, but in a softer light than that of their schoolteacher. With some children not having a grandparent, this relationship is especially treasured.

Proctor, who serves in Beach Club with his wife, encourages everyone to get out and volunteer. “You’ll find it has more benefits than you realize,” he said.

Probation Officer to Surf Team Leader from KiDs Beach Club on Vimeo.

Your support of KiDs Beach Club® September 19 on North Texas Giving Day will help us continue sharing the Light of Jesus Christ in public schools. For more information and to donate, click here. Or you can text "Bibles" to 444-999.

The story below was originally published on our blog on March 13, 2019. Thank you to The Branch Church for partnering with KiDs Beach Club® to go outside the walls of your church to take the message of Christ into the heart of your community - the public school! This is the second year for the Beach Club at Janie Stark Elementary in Farmers Branch, Texas. The church has added a second Beach Club this year at Country Place Elementary in Carrollton, Texas.

We often hear people say that God is no longer allowed in public schools or that our public schools are full of darkness where there isn’t light.

As a friend of KiDs Beach Club®, you know the first statement just isn’t true because you cannot remove God from anywhere Christians are present. As for the second statement, we are helping our partnering churches go into our public schools, an often-overlooked mission field, to show the love of Jesus Christ and to shine His light.

Schalee Sanchez, now the club leader for the first-year Beach Club at Janie Stark Elementary in Farmer’s Branch, Texas, decided to enroll her kids in public school rather than go the home school or private school route. It was a process that began about four years ago, when she and her husband moved back to the United States after serving as missionaries in Columbia.

Sanchez said her heart was burdened and troubled for all of the things that go on in schools during this day and age.

“It’s just so sad,” Sanchez said. “I began praying about it more and more. I felt like God was saying I want to teach you to fight back but in the right way. I believe that KiDs Beach Club® is doing that. It’s a way, in a spiritual realm, that the armies of God are fighting against the darkness.”

Her children now attend Janie Stark Elementary and participate in Beach Club.

“We felt called that God opened a door for our kids to go to school here,” Sanchez said. “So, as our kids started getting involved, I heard about a Beach Club in another school through a member at our church and that sparked my interest”

During this past year, God brought several people into Sanchez’s life who were volunteering at Beach Clubs in other schools. She went to visit one club and talked with parents who had children in the club about the positive impact it was having on their family. God’s hand began to work and the desire to start a Beach Club grew on Sanchez.

“As a mom of four kids, I was concerned about becoming a club leader and taking on that responsibility,” Sanchez admitted. “But God brought a whole team of prayer warriors to come alongside me, a team of incredible volunteers that have made it possible, support from my church and the elders there – from prayers to financial support.”

A majority of the volunteers in the Beach Club at Janie Stark Elementary School have children who also attend. The volunteers don’t all attend The Branch Church, which partners with KiDs Beach Club®. Sanchez says that the volunteer group come from four other churches and almost all of them attend a Mom’s in Prayer Bible study.

“One of the really cool things for me was that it wasn’t just about people from the local congregation that were interested in sharing the love of Jesus in a public school,” Sanchez said. “But He brought other believers from the body of Christ in from other churches with the mission of sharing the light and God’s love. So, children will know that God loves them and has a special plan for their lives.”

Keneé Dover is a volunteer in the Beach Club. She and her husband also serve together in a kindergarten class in their church and he told her Beach Club might be the most important work she does all year.

“Being able to spread the Word of God to young hearts is the biggest blessing that we are given,” Dover said. “To be able to give that gift to children when it really sinks in. I feel like it’s when they are children, especially children that have never heard about God and never heard about Jesus. It’s important for us to share that with them because we are called to share the Good News. It’s the Great Commission, ‘Go to all the world and preach the Good News…’ Our world is right here in this community and there are people who don’t know Him yet.”

Dover is proud of Sanchez for bringing the Beach Club to Janie Stark Elementary.

“Schalee had it called on her heart to start this club,” Dover added. “We debated on public school or private school for that reason and we chose, because we are believers, to be the light in the public school. This just gives us another avenue for our children to be able to share and be an encouragement to their friends, and then to be able to partner with our children, to be the light in little hearts, is just the biggest blessing.”

Sanchez urges anyone who thinking about starting a Beach Club or to become a volunteer to go for it.

“I would tell you that God is able to work through you, in a powerful way,” Sanchez said. “He isn’t just going to impact the kids an hour a week when the volunteers are there. What I have seen is how God uses a Beach Club to impact students and their parents throughout the week. That for me makes it a valuable investment of our time. God multiplies what we pour into that one hour during the afternoons every week.”

For more information about KiDs Beach Club®, click the "About" tab at the top of the website.

Your support of KiDs Beach Club® September 19 on North Texas Giving Day will help us continue sharing the Light of Jesus Christ in public schools. For more information and to donate, click here. Or you can text "Bibles" to 444-999.