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The Beach Club at Sherrod Elementary in Arlington, Texas had the high honor of hosting Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson as the guest storyteller earlier this month. He inspired both children and volunteers with the powerful message he shared.

Club leader Susan Jiura enjoys inviting guest speakers who attend Pantego Bible Church, which partners with KiDs Beach Club® to sponsor the club, and various community leaders throughout the school year. She heard Chief Johnson speak a couple times before she was brave enough to invite him to speak at Beach Club.

Lt. Scott Brown of the Arlington Police Department already comes to speak at the Sherrod Beach Club as a special guest once a year. Chief Johnson had already been keeping up with the Sherrod Elementary Beach Club through Lt. Brown’s visits and updates. Chief Johnson was honored to be asked to come, and gladly accepted the invitation.

“Chief Johnson shared with our kids that he made many mistakes in his younger years, and he is thankful for people who cared about him, forgave him and helped him grow,” Jiura said in summary of Chief Johnson’s remarks. “He went on to say that the Bible teaches us about how God forgives us. As believers we are supposed to act like Jesus and forgive others.”

Based on Chief Johnson’s message, the volunteers were able to discuss the importance of prayer in life. Chief Johnson shared with the kids that they can pray to God any time. He likes praying while he jogs. He also gave a few examples of the things he prays about and thanks God for, like his family and being a police officer in Arlington.

"We represent light in the world as God's family. We are leaders. Others are watching us," Chief Johnson said. 

The kids, at first, were surprised and nervous to see a police officer visiting Beach Club. In the end they really enjoyed his talk. One fourth grade boy requested to have his picture taken with Chief Johnson. Jiura shared how many children don’t have a positive view of police officers these days. She hopes to help change that.

Even though Chief Johnson oversees a department of 649 officers, 195 professional staff and 12 reserve officers, he finds time to speak to kids in the community and share the love of Jesus to the kids at Beach Club.

Many churches were inspired to love their community a little extra in honor of Valentine's Day last month. Ridgeway Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., decided to celebrate an entire week expressing love around its community, and its favorite project centered around loving on the elementary school where they sponsor a Beach Club.

A group of Beach Club volunteers woke up in the very early hours on Valentine's Day to set up a coffee stand in front of their Beach Club school, Balmoral Ridgeway Elementary. These volunteers prepared enough coffee to give away to hundreds of parents and teachers and even decorated the tables with a fun Valentine theme. They served the coffee from 6:45 a.m. until the last parents came through to walk their children into school.

"I hope it lets the parents, students and faculty/staff know how much we care about all the students – not just those who are members of KBC,” Toni Davis, the club’s record keeper, said. “I hope the parents felt a sincere welcome for their families to visit Ridgeway Baptist Church. It’s important for those we encountered to have seeds planted that might grow into new Christians.”

Ridgeway Baptist Church sees the benefit of loving on the entire school. Right now, the Beach Club has only 18 children registered, but that smaller number does not deter the 15 volunteers from coming each week to invest in the whole school.

Along with the coffee they also gave out a card with their church information and offered a free copy of a book their pastor wrote about following Jesus. The church hoped to make many connections through its coffee stand; not only to grow their Beach Club, but also see more families connect to a local church.

This outreach by Ridgeway Baptist is exactly what KiDs Beach Club® was designed to do by mobilizing the church to go outside its walls in order to take the message of Jesus Christ into the heart of its community.

It’s a cycle that allows the church to make an impact in its community for the Kingdom, allows the church to share Jesus Christ in public schools to foster life change in the hearts of children and then connects that child and his or her family back to that partnering church.

Davis’ highlight of doing the coffee stand was getting to see the kids in Beach Club and their families as they were coming to school. She loved being able to wish the kids a great day at school, “and get hugs from them, too!”

When a child receives a KBC Explorer’s Study Bible on Great Treasure Day it gives that child something of their very own that they can treasure forever. But, as KiDs Beach Club® found out, the gift of a KBC Study Bible can also give the parent of a child overwhelming peace during a devastating time.

In more ways than one, overwhelming peace is exactly what was given to a single mother of two little girls, Graceann and Julie, who both attended the Beach Club at Lakeview Elementary School in Gun Barrel City, Texas.

It is the goal for every child in KiDs Beach Club® to take home what they learn each week in club and to share it with their family. The life change in the hearts of the children should affect the whole family, and it will hopefully lead them all to connect to a church family if they are not already.

Grace and Julie’s mother was out driving one day when she felt a nudge to stop by First Baptist Church Gun Barrel City, the partnering church of her girls’ Beach Club.  After talking awhile with a church leader there, she accepted Jesus as her Savior! Because her girls had taken home what they learned in Beach Club their mother came to know Jesus, gaining the peace of where she will spend her eternity.

This past August, while the family was together on vacation, Graceann tragically died. Following her death, Grace’s mother found the KBC Bible her daughter was given in Beach Club on Great Treasure Day.

On the front page of her KBC Study Bible, Graceann had written the date she had asked Jesus to be her Forever Friend.

According to Melissa Compoc, the club leader at Lakeview Elementary, Graceann had not told her leaders at Beach Club of her decision to make Jesus her Forever Friend. Because of that decision, and because she took time to write that in the front of her KBC Bible, her family and leaders now have peace that they will see Graceann again in Glory!

Compoc shared this story during Leadership Luau, a training event for Beach Club volunteers. In her nervous preparation, the Lord put a verse on her mind.

“I know it’s twisted up the way it came into my mind,” she said. “But I was thinking, through faith by grace, we’re saved. It’s through grace by faith, but just think about Grace’s life.”

After seeds being planted by Graceann from what she learned in Beach Club, her mother accepted Christ through faith. This happened only a couple months before her daughter’s death. She now has peace that she will see her oldest daughter again one day. She is so thankful to the leaders, and to the Lord for KiDs Beach Club® for being a part of her daughter’s life.

Thank you for your support in making sure every sure every child is given a Bible in KiDs Beach Club®. Your donations are proving to eternally impact the children they are given to, as well as their families. Please pray for the family and friends of Grace as they continue to walk through this difficult time.

Jack Terrell, the president and founder of KiDs Beach Club®, delivered a powerful message at two of the three Leadership Luau: Spring Training events designed to encourage volunteers. It’s a strategy he uses to lift up others and take them to a higher level.

Terrell opened his talk with a short story from his childhood. His family owned a couple businesses in town where he helped out when he was young. One of those businesses was a gas station in near proximity to a few local bars. People coming over from the bars would often make a mess in their bathrooms and Terrell’s father wouldn’t allow anyone to clean it up except Terrell. Because of the experience, Terrell knew from an early age he didn’t want anything to do with alcohol, because of the byproduct.

“Sometimes people don’t want to have anything to do with us because they’ve seen the byproduct,” Terrell said about how the world mistakenly labels Christians.

“I believe what Father is wanting us to do is to set the appropriate example,” he continued. “The world wants to see that joy!”

Terrell encouraged each listener to practice their faith and lift up others.

To create a visual, Terrell talked about the glass half empty against the glass half full example. Your perception of the glass will determine the outcome of how you act. As Christians, we should lean toward choosing joy and rejoice in the Lord in light of any situation, as it says in Philippians 4:4-9.

In order to do this there’s got to be a plan. Terrell uses this one: commit, know, initiate and understand.

For commit, Terrell said to, “commit to daily encouragement.” Rather have a mental commitment to love on people. Know says to, “know the difference that separates hurting people and helping people.” People need to know there’s a difference between the two, and approach them in different manners if they are hurting or healthy. During Beach Club, this means not ignoring bad behavior in children, but instead, loving them through it.

“We need to be willing to work differently in different environments,” Terrell said.

For initiate, you “initiate the positive in a negative environment.” As Christians, we need to be the ones to initiate relationships, and we need to do it from a positive perspective, not a negative perspective. The last, understand, is to “understand life is not a dress rehearsal.

“You’re on stage; it starts the moment you wake up. People are watching to see how you react. For the kids in Beach Club, they are watching you to see if you are really who you say you are.

“If you don’t ‘commit,’ you can’t act on the ‘know.’ If you don’t ‘know’ you can’t ‘initiate.’ If you don’t ‘initiate,’ you will never ‘understand.’ These four things build on each other and work together to showing Jesus to those around you, and the children who attend Beach Club.

“When you see people, whether you know them or not, say a good word unto the Lord,” Terrell said.

Watch Terrell’s full message from the Leadership Luau: Spring Training in Houston below:

Kirk Zehnder, the pastor at The Fellowship at Weatherford, Texas, which partners with KiDs Beach Club®, has written a book designed to help parents prepare their younger children to take the next step in discipleship after their Beach Club kid chooses to make Jesus their Forever Friend.

"It is good to see them coming to Christ,” Zehnder said. “But what do we do with them after they have come to Christ?"

Zehnder is passionate about KiDs Beach Club® and the opportunities the ministry brings to connect kids to Christ, but he is equally excited about the opportunities to lead their parents to Christ and connect the entire family to a local church, specifically the church that partners with KiDs Beach Club®.

In his book, "Jesus, Baptism and Me," Zehnder clearly presents the next step for a child after making Jesus their Forever Friend, which is baptism and learning to walk with Jesus every day.

"What do we do as far as a discipleship step? How do we get them on a pathway about learning about what they've done and then on a pathway about how to grow in Christ? And then connect the dots so that we can connect them to a local church?"

The book was written with these goals in mind and is designed to be done by a child along with their parents. It goes step by step through the gospel again and shares what it means to follow Jesus. This is with intention to eliminate the uncertainty that a child made strictly an emotional decision or accepted the invitation of salvation just because a friend did too.

"Jesus, Baptism and Me" will prepare a child for baptism. There is no set timing for a child to complete the book. Zehnder encourages all to go through it at the pace of the child without rushing so you can enjoy the discipleship time. Baptism is meant to happen once and Zehnder has written this book so that children will understand baptism as well as the importance and significance of what they are doing.

“I want a child to really know what they are doing and cherish it forever,” he said.

With an emphasis on baptism, the book also covers how to be close to Jesus, reading and studying the Bible, prayer and living with Jesus.

A special printing of "Jesus, Baptism and Me" was made especially for KiDs Beach Club®. For easy reference for Beach Club kids, every scripture in the version includes page numbers where the scripture can be found in the KBC Explorer Study Bible to add easy reference. The child and parent are led in discussion as they go through the pages about topics as sin, redemption and repentance.

"Not only will the child be trained and discipled so that they are ready to follow the Lord in baptism," Zehnder said. "If there is an unsaved parent they will open the Bible with their child and read the word of God." 

"We want to touch children's lives, but we want to touch parents and lead their whole family to Christ," he said. That goal can be more easily accomplished by all churches and clubs through the incorporation of this book to the curriculum of KiDs Beach Club®.

KiDs Beach Club® will begin to fully integrate the “Jesus, Baptism and Me” as a resource beginning in the fall.

Would you take just a couple of minutes to visit our Facebook page and leave a review? Your favorable reviews of KiDs Beach Club® will help us better communicate to prospective church partners and potential schools what we’re about and what we can do for the culture of their school and on a broader scope, their community.

As our teams have these conversations, potential churches and schools often turn to our social media accounts – specifically our Facebook page – and we want those comments to adequately reflect what KiDs Beach Club® is all about.

Thank you for your support of this ministry. Together we’re connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands. Help us continue making Jesus cool at school!