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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 Colombia.

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.

Typically, churches partner with KiDs Beach Club® so they can go outside their walls and into their communities, specifically to reach kids with the message of Jesus Christ in their public schools in an effort to connect them back to their church. However, we recently learned it doesn’t always work out that way.

Christ Church in Irving, Texas, which has sponsored a Beach Clubs at Farine Elementary School since the 2013-14 school year, found out a family picked its congregation because it partners with KiDs Beach Club®.

When Leslie Jaramillo and her family moved from Dallas to Irving, they took on the task of finding a new church home. She knew what they wanted denominationally but had another requirement – that the church must be sponsoring a Beach Club.

“When I had my list of churches, I saw that Christ Church had a Beach Club and I thought, ‘I know that they believe what I believe, in making Jesus your forever friend and that Jesus is the only way for salvation,’” Jaramillo said. “So, when I saw that Christ Church had a Beach Club, I was pretty much set on that church. Then once we met the people, I knew we couldn’t walk away.”

Jaramillo was a volunteer with KiDs Beach Club® through her church in Dallas for four years before she moved to Irving. Teaching in Beach Club is a huge part of her life. Her oldest son, who is now 7-years-old, is a club member as well.

“I tell him that he has been in Beach Club his entire life. I was pregnant with him and teaching in a Beach Club,” Jaramillo jokes.

She is so passionate about KiDs Beach Club®.

“I think having access to kids in their school is such a unique opportunity,” Jaramillo said. “KiDs Beach Club® meets kids where they are and reach kids that otherwise wouldn’t be reached. There are parents that would never consider putting their kids into a church program, but since it is so easy, they do.”

Megan Peacock, one of the club leaders at Farine Elementary talks about why KiDs Beach Club® is so important to Christ Church and why it drew Jaramillo to ultimately choosing it as her family’s church home.

“It is important to me because our church is very passionate about being involved in our community and building relationships with our schools in our community,” Peacock said. “It is just a phenomenal treasure that we get to go into public schools and talk about Jesus. So, we would be foolish to pass that opportunity up.”

For Christ Church, KiDs Beach Club® has been a catalyst in the community.

“It has really opened our eyes to the community, helping our church look more like our community culturally and appearance wise. So, we have seen the fruits of our investments at KiDs Beach Club® pour over into our Sunday morning programs by bringing families from Beach Club into our building.

“We have such an impact and it is amazing that Leslie chose our church because of Beach Club. She is a storyteller here and she is using her gift and passion. Her family is so highly involved, and I am not surprised at all that this is how she chose her church.”

To find out which schools have a Beach Club, you can visit KiDsBeachClub.org/Find-A-Club. There you can find out which church partners with us to operate that Beach Club.

Did you know that you are a KiDs Beach Club® brand ambassador? No, really. You are!

You have a distinct tie to our organization. Whether you are a parent of a child who attends Beach Club, a volunteer who gives your time, a donor who gives financially, a teacher or administrator who enjoys having Beach Club in your school or a staff member at a church that partners with KiDs Beach Club®, you have a KBC story to tell and we hope you are sharing it with others.

“An ambassador is a person who represents, speaks for or promotes a particular organization, group of people, activity or brand,” said Todd Lamb, the communications director at KiDs Beach Club®. “You know us. You are bought into what we do, so that makes you a brand ambassador. Why? You’re already on board. You’re passionate about our mission and our vision. You want to help us grow clubs and the number of kids attending each Beach Club. You want to help us grow our volunteer base and you’re connected in your community and at your church.”

Some of our volunteers do a fantastic job sharing the stories they experience in Beach Club with our communications team in the corporate office. That’s how we are able to pass them along to those who have a vested interested in our ministry. We share those stories in our newsletters like the Surf Report or the Bibles for Beach Club newsletter and on our social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so that you can see the difference you’re making in the ministry.

“We would love for you to share what we share with you to your friends on social media and in face-to-face conversations or by forwarding our newsletters to those in your personal network,” Lamb said. “It will just mean more coming from someone they already know rather than something that only comes from our organization. It gives you the chance to personalize your experience with KiDs Beach Club® to your personal network.”

Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon, says this about an organization’s brand, “Your brand is what others say about you when you’re not in the room.”

In 2019, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools we have as an organization and we want to better equip you to be able to share Beach Club stories with your friends and colleagues.

When someone asks you about KiDs Beach Club®, what do you tell them? You probably tell them we’re an after-school Bible club meeting in public schools; that we’re sharing the gospel with kids; that we teach character through the lens of scripture; that we give kids Bibles; and that we’re making Jesus cool at school!

Do you know our mission and our vision?

KiDs Beach Club® is an innovative ministry established to mobilize the church to go outside its walls in order to take the message of Jesus Christ into the heart of its community. Our vision is to provide every third- through sixth-grade boy and girl a Jesus experience within the culture of the public school! We are connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands.

Those are the two most important things you can tell others about us, but do you know how the early story about how Beach Club started? Do you know why we’re called KiDs Beach Club® or why we capitalize the “D” in KiDs?

When your friends see why you’re so passionate about our ministry, they may want to support it, too. We have had a clear goal of 200 Beach Clubs and now that the goal is within reach, continued growth remains a priority.

By sharing your stories about KiDs Beach Club® within your realm of influence, it will help us to reach even more kids with the gospel of Jesus Christ in their public school and to impact these communities for God’s kingdom.

To share your KBC Story with us, visit kidsbeachclub.org/mykbcstory.

The Beach Clubs at E.K. Key, Frasch and Oak Park elementary schools in Louisiana were recently featured in an article in the Lake Charles American Press.

The article starts, “For students in three area elementary schools, learning about the good news is easier than ever. It gets delivered to them once a week.”

The American Press article was titled: “Local schools participate in Bible study after hours.”

E.K. Key also was featured in the Louisiana Baptist Message. That article begins, “Volunteers with an after-school outreach are finding Jesus saves in the halls of Sulphur’s E.K. Key Elementary School.”

The Louisiana Baptist Message article was titled: “Houston River ‘beach’ ministry is more than a kids’ club.”

That article likely prompted the American Press to expand the story for its local readers.

Suzanne Massey, the strategic growth director at KiDs Beach Club®, explained why being featured in the media is so important.

“It thrills my heart to see these Beach Clubs featured in the media,” she said. “When a community of families see first-hand the impact that activities like this can have on the hearts and minds of children today gives us all hope for the future. Because of the widespread areas these types of media reach, we have hope that others, too, will want to share Christ in the public school by Making Jesus Cool at School!”

If you are contacted by a media outlet to do a story about KiDs Beach Club® or see a story in your local media about our ministry, we encourage you let us know about the interview request by contacting our office at 817-510-5885. After the article has be published, please email it to us at news@kbcmail.org.

Tickets for the 2019 Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner are now on sale. The event, which raises money to give a Bible to every child in every Beach Club, returns to the Grand Ballroom at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday, April 13.

Your past support of the Bibles for Beach Club program has put a Bible in the hands of 38,988 children since Great Treasure Day began in 2015. That's nearly 65 percent of the more than 60,000 Bibles KiDs Beach Club® has handed out since the ministry began in 2003.

At our last Benefit Dinner in July 2017, you helped us raise money to buy 10,500 Bibles. The last of those Bibles will be handed out this spring, making your support at this year's Benefit Dinner crucial for our growing ministry. We anticipate our next order to be between 15,000 and 20,000 Bibles, but that number depends on you!

Join us for a night of great food, fun and fellowship as we celebrate people of influence, all for the benefit of connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands.

Dr. David Vroonland, the superintendent of the Mesquite Independent School District, will be the keynote speaker. An educator of more than 30 years, Vroonland has been vocal about the benefits Beach Club brings to his district and continues to say that his desire is to have a Beach Club in all 33 Mesquite ISD elementary schools. Currently, there are Beach Clubs in 19 elementary schools in his district.

You will also hear from Dr. Jeff Thompson, the director of missions for the Concord Baptist Association, who was instrumental in our ministry's growth in Arkansas, our 11th state. In the 2017-18 school year, KiDs Beach Club® launched in Arkansas with one club in Fort Smith. With his vision, Thompson helped KiDs Beach Club® grow into seven schools this year.

In addition to a wonderful program, we'll again have the popular Pick & Play, Dine & Dash and Last Man Standing games throughout the night and feature a live auction after dinner. There will be many ways for you to support our Bibles for Beach Club program and to make an impact in the lives of thousands of kids in Beach Club.

We hope you will invite your friends so you can introduce them to a ministry that is so incredibly important to you and that is making a tremendous impact in the lives of the children it touches.

To join us, visit KiDsBeachClub.org/Dinner for more information and to buy a table. A full table seats 10 people. We also have options to buy a half table and single tickets. When you buy or sponsor a full table, it comes with one pace car ride before dinner. Additionally, we offer sponsorship packages if you, or someone you know, want help underwrite this event so that all money raised that night can make an even greater impact in the lives of kids and their families.

If you can't join us at the Benefit Dinner, you can still donate Bibles today at KiDsBeachClub.org/Bibles.

With the turn of the calendar, there are many of us who made New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it was to lose weight, eat more healthily, join a Bible study, set aside time to read the Bible in daily devotion and prayer, or perhaps your resolution was to become more active in your church.

We hope you haven’t already given up on your resolutions. We think the new year is a great time to become a volunteer. We have great volunteers in the KiDs Beach Club® organization, but we probably all know someone at our church who could join you at after school for one hour each week to share Christ’s love with elementary school children.

In a devotional earlier this month by Dr. Charles F. Stanley, the senior pastor at First Baptist Atlanta (Ga.) and founder of In Touch Ministries, he wrote that church is a place for participants, not spectators.

“Although we are each saved individually, the Lord doesn’t intend for us to live as if we’re on an island – set apart to ourselves,” Stanley wrote. “We are called the body of Christ, and as such, our lives are meant to touch, intersect and connect with other believers in a local church… God calls us to be devoted to one another through service, prayer and hospitality.”

It’s a similar idea that Glenna and Michael Hockensmith shared with their congregation on Beach Club Sunday last August at Peaks Mill Christian Church in Frankfort, Ky. Michael, the Bible Connection leader at the Beach Club at Peaks Mill Elementary School, one of two clubs the church sponsors, was trying to encourage more of his fellow church members to volunteer in Beach Club.

“I despise public speaking,” Michael said that morning. “But I’ll beg you to let me come up here and tell you about Jesus. Let me come here and ask you to come and serve and be a part of this. That is how much it changes you if you’ll let Him. I want you to experience it. That’s why I’m so passionate about this. That is why I’m so determined in this; it’s because I want you to taste that surrender and see what it’s like when you surrender to God and you just let Him use you.”

Michael, who is currently the interim director of the parks and recreation department for the City of Frankfort, recalled a story about one of his former summer interns, who was getting scholarship offers to play Division I college basketball.

“He didn’t have any really big offers, just some mid-major offers, and then, right at the end (of the recruiting process), a big school came, and they offered him a scholarship,” Michael said. “I asked him what he was going to do, and he said, ‘I’m going to go to that big school.’ And I said, ‘why are you going to do that?’ He looked at me like I was crazy and asked, ‘Why wouldn’t I go there?’ I said ‘you’re never going to play. You’re good, but you’re not that good. You’re never going to play.’

“He went to that big school and I think he had a great experience. He got a college education. I’m sure he has some good memories. I know one of the years he was there, that team went to the Final Four. But I remember thinking how sad I was for him because every day he went to practice and every day he prepared for that – two to three hours every day –and he never got to play.”

Michael continued his message by looking around the sanctuary.

“I look out here at some of you and I feel the same way. How sad that you would come in here week after week to train and that God would prepare you to go out into service for Him, but you’re content to sit on the sidelines; you’re content not playing.

“God doesn’t call His children to a playground,” Michael said. “He calls them to a battleground. There is a war going on around you every day. It is a spiritual war and it’s a war for lost souls. You’re either competing for them or you’re just sitting on the sidelines. That’s not who you are. You were meant for so much more and God has prepared you for this time.”

Stanley acknowledges that many Christians find involvement in others’ lives too invasive.

“So, they come on Sunday, stand to sing, sit to listen, and walk out to get back to their own lives,” he wrote. “The term ‘spectator Christian’ doesn’t apply only to those who deliberately avoid going to church. In fact, many churches are filled with observant attendees who sit in the pews each week but never touch a fellow believer’s life.”

What about you? Are you a spectator seeking what you can get or a participant looking for ways to give to someone else?

We would love to see you serving in Beach Club!