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Chris Dove has been a part of KiDs Beach Club® for a long time. From getting involved with the ministry as a children’s minister in Georgia to later becoming an independent area strategist for the states of Kentucky and Ohio after starting clubs in those states. Dove is currently transitioning out of his role to serve with his family as missionaries to the Dominican Republic.

He penned the following testimony and sent it to KBC staff as a means of encouragement. We want to share it with you to see the passion he has for KiDs Beach Club® and for ministry.

Back in 2010, I heard about KiDs Beach Club® from a family that attended the church where I was the children’s pastor at in Georgia. Their elementary age son was going to a club at his public school. They told me about this thing called KiDs Beach Club® and left a flyer on my desk, where it sat for a long, long time.

I was intrigued but was way too busy to start a new ministry.

As a children's minister, it wasn’t uncommon for people to come and tell me about the latest, greatest ministry idea. Our senior pastor would say, ‘Your passion, is not my burden.’ Meaning just because it's a good idea, doesn’t mean you can do everything. That was until one day when that same family came to church and their youngest told me he was saved at school, a public school.

Now, I was more than intrigued; I was invested. I had to see KiDs Beach Club® in action. I was beyond impressed. It was run like a good children’s church program but done in the public school, and they had more than 100 kids! How priorities change.

I was now too busy not to do this.

In early 2011, I accepted the children’s minister position at a church in Kentucky and we moved. When we got settled in, I called KiDs Beach Club® and told them I wanted to start a club. But there was one issue, there was no area director for Kentucky. Through some changes, my wife became the area director for a short period and helped me launch the club. Shortly thereafter, she accepted a fulltime job and I was grateful to connect with another very talented woman, who then became the area director. The Lord blessed that club and brought some great families to our church. The following year we added another church partner and club.

Then in 2014-2015, we added two more clubs. Things were going well.

Meanwhile, while all this growth was happening, both my family and the current Kentucky area director moved out of state. Since there was no longer an area director, I asked to step into that role knowing that I could still help the clubs prosper from my new home in Ohio. During the last two-plus years, I have managed KBC operations in Kentucky from afar and was also able to get it started in Ohio. It was fun being able to introduce KBC to two different states!

As we prepare to transition to yet another role, missionaries to the Dominican Republic, when we ask our son how he feels about going overseas, he says happy and sad. That’s exactly how I feel about saying goodbye to KiDs Beach Club®. I am so happy to hand off KBC to someone that is a Kentucky lifer, who is so passionate about KBC, who you almost have to tell her to slow down to catch her breath. But I’m also sad, as KBC has been part of my life for the last eight years.

I’m still holding out hope to one day be KBC’s first international club in San Pablo, Dominican Republic.

We know you’ll be joining us in praying for Chris and his family as they head off to their next mission field this summer. Glenna Hockensmith will be taking over the reins for KiDs Beach Club® in Kentucky. She has been a fantastic club leader at Peaks Mill Elementary School in Frankfort, Ky. We will give her a proper introduction in next month’s newsletter.

Volunteers, how is sharing the gospel impacting the school where you serve and your community? Have you since seen Jesus move in the lives of the kids in you club? Parents, have your kids decided to use KiDs Beach Club® as a way to tell their friends about Jesus? We want to hear your stories about the impact of our ministry! Use #MyKBCStory in your social media posts or email us at news@kbcmail.org.

Club leaders and volunteers, do you remember the day you signed up to serve in Beach Club? You probably felt an array of emotions; excited, nervous or unsure, but expectant of the work the Lord would do through your club.

Most club leaders and volunteers are excited to begin, but they don’t know where to start. Or you might be a volunteer making the switch to club leader for the first time and you’re feeling lost in the transition. Either way, we know you have questions, but you don’t know who to ask or who has the answers you are seeking.

As a seasoned club leader or faithful volunteer, you soar in such areas as the Bible story, games, fun snacks, church involvement, Lifeguards and making Great Treasure Day special. You have ideas to share from those areas where you excel that would inspire leaders in other Beach Clubs.

We want you to know we’re listening to our volunteers. At the suggestion of many, we have created a new Facebook Group called KiDs Beach Club Leaders and Volunteers designed for you, the volunteers, to have as a place to share your ideas, collaborate, ask questions and offer encouragement!

This group is designed to be run by you and for you. If you have an idea, post it! Share your club ideas, pictures, questions for each other, prayer requests and other related things. Let this be a resource for you to encourage one another and explore new ways to do the ministry of Beach Club.

How to find this group:

1. Login to your personal Facebook page
2. Go to the search bar and type in KiDs Beach Club Leaders and Volunteers or click here
3. Click on the +1Join directly to the right of KiDs Beach Club Leaders and Volunteers

It is that simple! An administrator of the group will approve you to join, then you are free to browse through the posts of ideas, questions and pictures. Don’t forget to make posts of your own!

Also, don’t be surprised if some of your great ideas end up on our blog or in future newsletters.

Most of the kids in the Beach Club at George Bush Elementary School in Addison, Texas, received a Bible on Great Treasure Day last fall, but a small group of kids, who started attending the club after the most celebrated day in club, were eager to get a Bible of their very own.

Donors like you, who support the KiDs Beach Club® Bibles for Beach Club program, raised enough money the last two years to allow us to incorporate a second Great Treasure Day in the second semester so that everyone attending the club who had not yet received a Bible, could have one. Prior to that, if a church partner wanted to provide new kids with a Bible, they had to do so at their own expense.

For the six new children who started attending Beach Club at George Bush Elementary after Great Treasure Day last fall, this second Great Treasure Day could not have come soon enough.

Volunteers from sponsoring church, Royal Haven Baptist Church in Farmers Branch, Texas, do a fantastic job of getting these kids excited for the day they would be given their own Bible. In the four weeks prior to Great Treasure Day this spring, children are taught how the Bible is the word of God and something to be treasured. The children who already had their KBC Study Bibles would faithfully bring them to club and also use them outside of club, which helps aid the excitement of the children yet to receive theirs.

“These kids are so excited to get their Bibles,” Marty Earls, the church coordinator and family pastor at Royal Haven, said. “I wish we could have Bibles for them on day one, but with that anticipation of, ‘When are we going to get our Bibles?’ they are so excited when we have Great Treasure Day and we hand out their Bibles.”

“It’s cool because it has God’s words in it, and God’s words are in the Bible so we can read them all the time,” said Kaelynn T. after she received her Bible. She is most excited about having time reading God’s words and had already picked out John 3:16 to be her favorite verse. It helped that it was the verse she was asked to recite in front of the entire group that day.

Surf team leader Rick Gustafson has been volunteering at Dallas ISD’s George Bush Elementary since Beach Club started there seven years ago. With confidence he said, “the happiest day of the year for each and every kid in Beach Club is Great Treasure Day, when they get their Bible.”

Elijah C. could not stop sharing how thankful he was to receive his Bible. “I can’t believe that I have my own book that came from God. I’m so happy. I thank God for it. Thank you!”

KiDs Beach Club® was a deciding factor for Earls when he was considering joining the staff at Royal Haven. In talking with the head pastor, he was told the church already was doing ministry in a local elementary school. Earls was shocked that they were able to be in the school doing ministry, and even more shocked when he learned the church was able to openly share the gospel and hand out Bibles because of its partnership with KiDs Beach Club®.

Earls recognizes the gift it is for their church to be given Bibles for every child in Beach Club at no extra cost to them.

“That’s not (one of those) little paperback Bible(s),” Earls said. “This is a study Bible that has great notes and graphics and everything in it. KiDs Beach Club® has afforded us an opportunity that I do not think we would find anywhere else.”

Thank you for your generous gifts each month to ensure that we are able to provide a Bible to every child in every Beach Club, and that it is valued by us and our church partners.

Dr. David Vroonland currently serves as the superintendent of schools in Mesquite Independent School District and is a prominent supporter of KiDs Beach Club®. Vroonland delivered the keynote message at a recent KiDs Beach Club® training event. 

As superintendent, Vroonland oversees a district of 33 elementary schools. Currently, Mesquite ISD has Beach Clubs in 15 of those schools. Vroonland looks forward to the day when every one of the elementary schools in his district has its own Beach Club. 

“I hope we get a Beach Club at every single one of our elementary schools,” Vroonland said. “All of those children need the opportunity to experience the love and the faith and the educational experiences.”

Those are three key elements to the success of a child, he continued. That is an opportunity for Beach Club volunteers.

“That’s what I mean when I say you have impact to do great things,” Vroonland said. “That is an opportunity to do something great – to provide guidance and direction – and really build promise in young peoples’ lives.”

The first element is love. A child must feel loved. “A child can always use more love; there is never enough,” Vroonland said. “Children need more people to invest in them, teach them and love them with their time.” Beach Club volunteers help fill this need by serving in schools.

The second element is faith. A child needs to be brought up in faith.

"This is not a little thing," Vroonland warned. "They have to have a faith, and in my way of thinking they have to have a faith in Christ.

“There is always going to be a beast that will come and attack what KiDs Beach Club® is doing in our schools, but what is sad to me, is you do no harm," he said. “It depends a lot upon the family and the church whether a child will stay in the faith or not but teaching a child faith does no harm.

“In fact, it moves it forward; It makes them better. I just want you to remember that and approach those things with a sense of peace and calm. You are serving Christ and you are doing a good thing for these children.”

The last thing a child needs for success, according to Vroonland, is a strong education system. The public education system was designed with a purpose so that every child could receive a quality education, regardless of wealth or poverty.

As a young child, Vroonland grew up in poverty. Approximately 75 percent of the children in his school district come from poverty. Without these three elements in his life, Vroonland could very well have been stuck in poverty, but through his adoptive family he was shown love, brought up in faith and received a quality education.

“Those three things made a huge difference in my life,” Vroonland said. “Significantly and obviously is God’s presence. Those three things matter. They helped me overcome a difficult situation.

“That’s why your love, your helping people in faith, and your ensuring the quality of their education will provide a direction for young people you just simply can’t understand. You can’t understand the impact of that.”

KiDs Beach Club® is a voluntary after-school experience for the kids whose parents sign them up to participate. They are taught character words through the lens of scripture and provided with a KBC Study Bible.

“From a superintendent’s perspective and a Christian’s perspective, honestly, I’m not sure I want a leader in my building proselytizing in my building,” Vroonland said. “I mean that honestly because your faith may not be my faith. Your understanding of God might be different than mine.

“What I want is a leader in my building who characterizes themselves as they walk around as a person of faith, but not proselytizing. That is not our place. That’s the family’s place. That’s the church’s place and if we can have people come after school in a voluntary place for children, that’s wonderful.”

He also wanted to dispel the notion by some people who say that God is not in our schools.

“God is in our schools. There is no taking Him out,” Vroonland said. “There may be people who say, ‘God is not in schools.’ Nonsense! God is in schools. Children can pray in schools and they can read their Bible in schools and I think we have to dispel that notion, and frankly, honor the sovereignty of God.”

Vroonland said that we were all designed to have impact, and we were all designed to have great impact.

“You don’t always know your impact, but you’re out there to have impact, in this case, an impact for Christ. You need to persist in it.”

Please let us know if you are interested in bringing Beach Club to your district or school or if your church is interested in partnering with us to take the message of Christ outside its church walls and into an elementary school in your community.

Volunteers from First Baptist Church, which sponsors the Beach Club at North Euless Elementary in Euless, Texas, are passionate about each child in club hearing and understanding the gospel.

Each week, club leader Stephanie Mounzika comes excited to see the students and excited share with them the love of Jesus.

Imagine her joy when a fourth-grade girl named Nicole came to her at club and said she had led a friend of hers to Christ!

On days when there is no Beach Club, Nicole attends the daily after-school program. She regularly talks about Jesus with her friends there and shares what He means to her.

“Whoever will talk to me I’ll just tell them about Jesus,” she said.

When talking with her friend Haley, Nicole discovered that Haley had never asked Jesus into her heart. Nicole then decided she would share the gospel with Haley the next day at recess.

Mounzika is faithful to tell the children how the gospel is not just for kids at Beach Club.

“This is not just for here inside of these walls, once you leave Beach Club you are to share the gospel and tell everyone that will listen about Jesus,” Mounzika said.

The North Euless Beach Club focuses on sharing the gospel and giving children the opportunity to make Jesus their Forever Friend, but they don’t stop there. Each week they teach kids another way to share the gospel with their peers.

Some weeks they use EvangeCubes to share the gospel. EvangeCubes are used by folding sections in a specific order to reveal different pictures. The cubes help kids learn to tell the story of Jesus step by step with each picture. Other weeks they use a hand game to explain the gospel, or the Beach Club A-B-Cs (in the KBC Study Bible between pages 626 and 627).

“There are so many ways to lead someone to Christ and anyone can do it,” Mounzika said.

Nicole decided she would bring her EvangeCube to school to show Haley and lead her in a prayer of salvation if she wanted to.

At recess the next day, Nicole told Haley the gospel with the EvangeCube.

“I told her the only way to heaven is through God, and you have to ask God into your heart first,” Nicole said.

It turns out Haley did want to ask God into her heart, and Nicole confidently led her in that prayer. Nicole then wrote down what she said so Haley could share then with her family, too.

“It’s not that hard to tell people about Jesus,” she said.

Nicole said that some of her friends get a little tired of her talking about Jesus, but she’s not afraid to talk about Him and tell others how they can be saved.

“Nicole is only in fourth grade and is already leading others to Christ,” Mounzika said. “We are so happy and excited to see what all God will do through Nicole. It's always a joy to see what she will share with us each week!”

In Isaiah 55, the prophet extends God’s great invitation to put our trust in Him who alone and only can satisfy our greatest needs and desires. The invitation comes to all who will trust and believe in His word and His character.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ²Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. ³Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.”
Isaiah 55:1-3 (NASB)

My prayer is that you have placed your confidence in the work of Jesus Christ and the power of His life, death and resurrection. If not, I would invite you along with the prophet, Isaiah, to stop and consider all that God offers to us through His Son and respond today. You have no greater priority than to respond to God’s great invitation. Time is short, and the consequences are eternal.

Prayerfully you have responded and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. But, the question remains, “Are you still spending your money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”

Throughout the New Testament, we see a pattern of believing Christians faithfully supporting the ministry of those who were taking the message to unbelievers throughout the world. It was a response of thanksgiving for their own salvation and a love for the unbelievers that prompted the believers to support the mission to reach the lost.

Would you consider asking the Lord if KiDs Beach Club® is a ministry that He would have you support? We continue to be successful through the faithfulness of our friends and supporters – our extended family – of KiDs Beach Club®.

First of all, we need your continued prayer. We have a real enemy and he works hard to hinder the work of the gospel. Secondly, financial support is mission critical for us to continue our work into and throughout the 2018-19 school year. Please pray about how God can use you to further the mission of taking the gospel into public schools across America.

Lastly, please don’t do ministry alone. We, as believers, all need to be about the business that Jesus commissioned us to in Matthew 28:19-20. Be an encourager to those around you to discover a way to advance the kingdom to a lost and dying world. Who can you introduce to KiDs Beach Club®, and who can join you in being a faithful supporter of this ministry in both prayer and financial support?

We have created a page on our website that contains a thorough explanation of how our ministry operates and how our ministry dollars are invested to both evangelize and disciple the children and families that we serve. Please share this information with those in your circle of influence who might be interested in the KiDs Beach Club® ministry.

For those who can financially support KiDs Beach Club®, there is a “Donate” button in the top corner of our website that takes you to a secure site where you can enter your gift – whether it is a single gift or a recurring gift – and some suggested areas of the ministry that may impassion your giving.

If you are setting up a recurring gift, please note that giving by e-check is the most efficient and convenient way to give consistently as additional processing fees are not incurred by the ministry.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration and we look forward to partnering with you again in 2018.

“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1 (NASB)

Paul McCollum
VP Development & School Relations
KiDs Beach Club®