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As we’ve reached the final month of the year, the holiday giving season has arrived. We give thanks to God for His provision in our lives and all of the physical blessings He has provided for us. Gift giving at Christmas dates back more than 2000 years ago.

Remember the time that the Magi recognized Jesus, not as a baby, but as our Messiah. Their joyful response was to offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh as an act of worship. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible mentions giving thanks dozens of times. The New Testament Greek word for giving thanks, eucharisteó, means that “God’s grace works well for our eternal gain and His Glory and we are thankful for God’s good grace.”

This type of giving isn’t a business transaction, it’s a human connection with God.

Why do you give?

• Is it because someone asked you and you want to assist them?
• Is it because you emotionally connect to someone’s story and want to change the life of others?
• Is it because you want to leave a legacy and support those who share your values and beliefs?
• Is it because you want to give back to show God you are thankful for His good grace?
  
  

At KiDs Beach Club®, our way of giving thanks to God is to be obedient to His calling to share the gospel in public schools so that unchurched children can hear about Him for the first time and accept Jesus as their Forever Friend. For churched children, KiDs Beach Club® helps provide an assurance for the time they put their trust in Jesus as their savior and helps provide a way for them to share that faith with friends at school.

For more than a decade, thousands of men and women, like you, have come along side us with a financial gift as a way of thanking God for His grace and blessings in their lives. This financial support has helped us provide more than 50,000 Bibles to children in public schools and for many, it’s the first Bible in their homes. That’s why WBAP Radio talk-show host Chris Krok gives to KBC.

“It’s important because many children are in families that are lost, don’t have a Bible and don’t have a barometer for anything. How many times have you heard a person say on radio and TV, ‘Well when they took God out of the schools…’ well that’s a lie. KBC is putting God into the schools with this program, how could you not give!”

Giving Bibles to every child in every Beach Club is a major reason that Gary and Michele Cramer, owners of Let It Shine Boutique in Hurst, Texas, are long-time financial supporters.

“I think it’s amazing that they can take Bibles and Jesus into public schools,” said Gary, who has been a donor for more than a decade. “It’s an incredible thing and they open up doors that are amazing.”

Gary’s wife, Michele agrees.

“There are a lot of ministries that we’ve been exposed to but KiDs Beach Club® stole our heart from the very beginning because we can see their heart. Anytime you’re around the people from KiDs Beach Club® you can see Jesus.”

Please go to KiDsBeachClub.org/give to hear more stories from these and more of our amazing donors and please consider joining them by providing a financial gift to support our ministry which God birthed and continues direct and bless.

We're also celebrating the many great stories you've helped us accomplish in 2017. To read some of those stories, visit KiDsBeachClub.org/2017. Please know that none of these stories could be possible without your financial support.

Now that the season of thankfulness and gratitude is upon us, our thoughts turn to all that we are thankful for. Family, friends, health and food are often high on everyone’s list. At the Beach Club at Ridgeway Balmoral Elementary in Memphis, Tenn., church coordinator Jason Almond decided to ask children what they were thankful for, but he was not prepared for some of their answers.

Almond and the rest of the volunteers were ready and excited for the Thanksgiving lesson at their Beach Club, sponsored by Ridgeway Baptist Church. Once they reached the point in the lesson where they began to ask what the children were thankful for, Almond said, “These kids surprised me, and brought all the leaders to a point of tears almost.”

Some of the kids shared that they were thankful for friends, parents, grandparents, teachers and other things you might expect a child to say. Almond remembers going through their responses and not really thinking too much about it.

That is, until the children started sharing how they were thankful for them, the volunteers.

Almond recalls one child saying, “We are thankful for you guys.” The children all then added on saying, “We can count on y’all to be here every week,” and “We look forward to this every week.”

The volunteers were caught off guard that the children would think of them and remember to list them as one of the things they are thankful for in Beach Club.

This attitude of love from the children to their Beach Club leaders continued all year. For another lesson, the children were prompted to share with everyone who they knew they could trust. One little boy raised his hand with such excitement and pleaded to be called on. Almond was expecting his answer to be his family, a firefighter or a police officer.

Instead the boy said, “We know that we can trust y’all. You’re here every week, you’re always there, we know that we can trust you.”

It was another touching surprise for the volunteers at Balmoral Ridgeway Elementary. “I didn’t realize the impact that we were having on these kids’ lives,” Almond said.

Volunteers, you are indeed impacting these kids’ lives for good. KiDs Beach Club® could not make Jesus cool at school without the time every volunteer invests in loving these kids and sharing Jesus with them. KiDs Beach Club® is so thankful for you!

First Baptist Church in Euless, Texas has enjoyed sponsoring a Beach Club at Meadow Creek Elementary in Bedford, Texas for several years. This year, the volunteers decided they wanted to add another unique element to their club.

Club leader Carla Moody started leading once-a-month service projects this school year. These projects let the Beach Club volunteers not only teach the children about character during club, but they also allow the kids to see how to live out with character.

Their most recent project was creating bags filled with food, hygiene products and other essentials for the children to take home and give away to someone in need. The volunteers encouraged them to keep the bags in the car with them so they could be ready to give it away when they saw someone in need.

This gave Paul Tinguely the opportunity to share with the kids that “when you make Jesus your Forever Friend, He will speak to your heart! And Jesus will help you know who you should give your bag to!”

The children were given empty bags, instructed to visit each “filling station,” and told grab one item at each station. There were socks, snacks, deodorant, toothbrushes, water bottles, tissues, chap stick and a local hotel even donated all kinds of soap for the occasion. Once the bags were created, the kids divided back into their surf teams.

One little girl immediately grabbed her memory link card and put it in the bag she had just assembled. Surf team leader Nora Solis told her she needed to have that card for what they going to do next as a surf team. The little girl was adamant to Solis that her memory link card should go into her bag, “So they can learn about God!”

Each girl then wanted to add a note with the memory link for their bags, too. Then, as they went through their prayer requests, most girls wrote down prayers for who would receive their bag. One of the younger girls specifically wrote, “God ples Help the Homlis (God, please Help the Homeless).”

It’s important to the volunteers to do these projects because, “I don’t think these kids get it anywhere else,” surf team leader Doug Brown said. Moody added, “It’s important to give kids ideas and show them how we serve others.”

The children were encouraged once they found someone to give their bag to, to make another with their parents to keep blessing others. They were excited to assemble the bags together with their friends and even more excited to find someone to give their bags to.

“Even if you’re small you still have the ability to make the community better,” Moody told them before they did the project. “If you feel like what you’re doing is small, if it is done in His name, it’s big.”

Rachael Wilson has been a faithful surf team leader for the past four years at the Beach Club at Wilson Elementary School in Coppell, Texas, which is sponsored by Coppell Bible Fellowship.

Two years ago, she was assigned a surf team of rowdy third-grade boys. Having a military background, the club leader thought Wilson would be the best fit to match their high amount of energy. Wilson ended up teaching the boys different phrases and practices that she used in the military to encourage them to pay attention and listen while in club. The boys loved it and caught on quickly.

That group of third grade boys turned their rambunctiousness into a passionate energy for the Lord! They soon grew into the largest surf team at Wilson Elementary. Wilson said they are a special group.

“They invite their friends and really keep track of each other to make sure they are at club,” she said.

Coppell Bible Fellowship organizes their Beach Club so that the fifth-grade boys each year help lead worship. They stand up front to do the motions and sing, as examples to the rest of the kids. When Wilson’s surf team of boys were in fourth grade, they had a deep desire to help lead worship. The fifth-grade boys at the time didn’t mind letting the fourth-grade boys take their privilege, because the fourth graders cared so much about doing it.

Each boy is special to her in different ways.

“Thomas is the Bible encyclopedia of the group. He knows more detail of the Bible stories and I often ask him if there’s any more facts he wants to add,” Wilson said. “Noah accepted Christ at club and prays with boldness. Gonzalo puts things in little parables he relates to, to understand what we are talking about.”

Wilson’s favorite thing about volunteering is when the kids explain back what the lesson and the scriptures mean to them. She loves hearing how they can apply it to their lives and how they want to put it into action.

Wilson got to present them all with their very own KBC Explorer’s Study Bible when they were in third grade. She was able to explain to them how the Bible is like our owner’s manual. Like for a car, for instance, “the owner’s manual tells you how to operate the vehicle and keep problems from happening. The Bible is in the same way, an owner’s manual for life, showing how to live right and keep problems from happening. They were amazed they truly had a treasure!” she said.

“You can go through your day and feel like you didn’t do anything important,” Wilson said. “I look forward to those times solely talking about God and how He is acting in those boys’ lives.”

Wilson sent in her KBC Story through Instagram. Thank you for your willingness to serve and sharing your story with KiDs Beach Club®.

Hey volunteers, were you assigned a rambunctious group of kids at the start of club, and like Wilson, got to see God move in them at Beach Club? Or are you the Beach Club worship leader and had an extra special time at worship one club meeting?

We want to hear from you! Send in your KBC Story using the hashtag #MyKBCStory on social media or email us anytime at news@kbcmail.org!

It is always exciting for Jack Terrell, the founder and president of KiDs Beach Club® to hear someone tell him that they know that the Lord is calling them to serve KBC and that didn’t just happen once last month, it happened three times!

Let us introduce you to Angie Hughes, Becky Morton and Kerri Nelson.

Three years ago, when her daughter Tyler was in fifth grade at Stonegate Elementary in Bedford, Texas, Hughes heard about an after-school Bible club that was meeting in the Stonegate cafeteria. Tyler spent two years memorizing scripture, playing games and hearing Bible stories in KiDs Beach Club® and then went on to middle school, but KBC is still a part of Hughes’ life as she now serves as the ministry’s finance director at the corporate level. She grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has spent the better part of three decades in the accounting field. Hughes and her husband Rob have three children, daughters Dani (20) and Tyler (13) as well as son Reese (7), who is excited to participate in KiDs Beach Club® next year. Currently, Reese is active in the Boy Scouts and keeps his mom busy on the pack committee. The Hughes family serves and worships the Lord at First Baptist Church in Colleyville, Texas.

Like Hughes, whose daughter introduced her to KiDs Beach Club®, it was Morton’s son, Dawson, that got her acquainted with KBC. While at Meadow Creek Elementary in Hurst, Texas, Dawson heard Terrell, who was serving at the school’s Beach Club as the Bible connection leader, share the gospel week after week and one day decided to make Jesus his Forever Friend. From that moment on, Morton started volunteering in the club. Dawson has since moved on to college but Becky has continued to serve as a club leader at River Trails Elementary and then heard God calling her to join the KBC staff.

“God has revealed to me that I need to be more involved with this ministry and He opened the door for me to work at the corporate level, as a club relations specialist, where I will have the opportunity to still love on the children, but also love on the churches and school staff in our community.”

Morton and her husband Dave have been married 23 years and serve and worship at First Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas.

Serving for 32 years on the preschool staff of First Baptist Church in Euless, Texas, shows where Nelson’s heart is – the kids! During the more than three decades of service, she has held virtually every role including starting up and directing the church’s weekday preschool program then developing the popular preschool program on Wednesday night known as Pajama Jam!

Nelson also started the preschool home-school program and was in charge of organizing and equipping the Sunday morning preschool ministry for 2-year-olds through kindergartners. While the Lord has instilled her passion and talent for the preschool ministry for many years, He recently has been calling her to a greater role in evangelism and opened the door for her to join what she calls “a dynamic team at KiDs Beach Club®, dedicated to sharing the Gospel with Children and making Jesus Cool at School.”

Nelson and her husband Brian have been married for 36 years and have two adult children, Matt (33) and Jenn (28). Jenn and her husband Patrick recently welcomed son Liam into the world making Kerri and Brian grandparents for the first time! Kerri and Brian serve and worship at First Baptist Church in Euless, Texas.

Do you feel the calling from God to join our KiDs Beach Club® team like these three ladies?

We currently have three areas for you to serve as a club relations specialist in North Dallas, South Dallas and East Texas. Make sure to check out the job descriptions on the employment opportunities page of our website.

Thanks to your donations in support of KiDs Beach Club®, we are able to provide Bibles to every child in each Beach Club across the country. Partnering churches do a fantastic job of telling theses children how God’s word is truly a gift to us that should be treasured. One church in West Texas emphasizes that fact by wrapping each Bible it hands out in a different, yet meaningful way.

First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas, has sponsored a Beach Club at Bayless Elementary for several years, and they have been using a special method of wrapping the KBC Explorer’s Study Bibles since their first Great Treasure Day four years ago.

Their unique method wraps the Bibles in three different layers of wrapping paper like a present. Each layer has a significance to share with the children some reasons why their Bible is something to treasure. The idea first came from the church’s children’s director.

“The first time she did it,” club leader Leslie Moss said. “I thought that is what we need to do.”

The Bibles are brought to club ready to be unwrapped by the children. The outside layer that everyone sees at first is plain brown paper. This layer represents history. The Bible has stood the test of time and is also full of truth that is still relevant today.

The middle layer is bright and fun superhero or comic book wrapping paper. This paper helps show that the Bible is packed full of heroes and fun adventures.

The final layer before their new Bible is revealed is fancy gold paper, which helps the children see that the Bible is something to be treasured. It is worth more than gold and should be read and cherished, not thrown aside or kept on the shelf.

They considered other ideas for layers like wrapping the Bibles in a layer of newspaper to share how the Bible is full of good news to us. Or, wrapping the Bibles in old maps since the Bible is a map for us to live our lives well. The volunteers also thought of wrapping them with a layer of blueprint paper because the Bible is a blueprint on how to live our lives.

“The children are precious,” Moss said. “Ninety percent carefully open each layer and many of the children save the wrapping paper.”

The coolest thing about presenting the Bibles this way is the kids vividly remember the meanings and the symbolisms of each paper. If a child misses Great Treasure Day and receives their Bible later, their whole surf team chimes in to explain each part and what it represents.

“It is exciting to see the difference we are making in these kids’ lives,” Moss said.

She finds giving the kids their Bibles this way helps them better understand how important the gift of a Bible is. Great Treasure Day will be a lasting memory for every child who attends Beach Club at Bayless Elementary!