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For the Beach Club at Ocean Springs Upper Elementary in Ocean Springs, Miss., Great Treasure Day was especially exciting. Earlier this month, the club’s new church sponsor, St. Paul United Methodist Church received its shipment of KBC Explorer’s Study Bibles to hand out to 75 children, each Bible wrapped in shiny Christmas paper.

It wasn’t the first time that kids had received Bibles in that school. Ocean Springs previously had a Beach Club, but it ended in the spring semester of 2016 when the partnering church experienced leadership changes and decided not to conduct Beach Club during the 2016-17 school year.

In an elementary school of roughly 1,400 fourth through sixth graders and with many other after-school club options, not having Beach Club left a void and not just with the kids, with the school’s administration as well.

Jon Wilson, the vice principal at the school, said the kids kept coming up to him asking why they weren’t having Beach Club that year. The kids who had been attending that club at Ocean Springs Upper really wanted it back. He also noticed that without a Beach Club at the school, the culture was changing in a negative way so he went to work to try to get Beach Club back.

Wilson picked up the phone and started out calling many churches in the area to ask if they would consider sponsoring the club for the upcoming year and when St. Paul United Methodist learned what Beach Club was all about, church leaders jumped at the chance to get a club going again this fall.

St. Paul United Methodist was excited to be part of the growing number of churches who are using KBC as a tool to go outside the walls of their church to take the message of Jesus Christ into the heart of their community. Specifically, KiDs Beach Club® enables churches to give boys and girls a Jesus experience within the culture of their public school.

By the fifth week of club, Ocean Springs Upper had nearly 80 kids in attendance and gave away 75 new Bibles on Great Treasure Day.

Marina, now in sixth grade, received a KBC Bible when she was in fourth grade and brought hers on Great Treasure Day while others were receiving their own Bible for the very first time.

“I am happy to have Beach Club back because I really missed it,” Marina said. “It really helps me learn more about God.”

Anna, in her first year in Beach Club, received her very first Bible on Great Treasure Day and it has created a special opportunity at home. Her favorite part of getting her new Bible is, “reading it with my mom,” she replied

Your commitment to our Bibles for Beach Club program is putting Bibles in the hands of every child in every one of our 166 Beach Clubs and it is teaching kids character through scripture which is resulting in a change of culture in our schools by, fostering life change in the hearts of children and their families.

Stories like this couldn’t be possible without your generous donations to KiDs Beach Club®. Together we’re connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands.

In the spirit of Christmas and from the file of “Children say the darndest things,” we want to tell you about what children at two Beach Clubs near Memphis, Tenn. put under the Christmas tree recently.

Volunteers asked the children in to write down something they would give to Jesus for Christmas. Their answers were written on notecards, each one with a bow and were placed under a Christmas tree.

Ranging from humorous and childlike, to serious and kind, we hope you enjoy reading a few of their answers!

• I want to give him my heart
• My gift to God is my heart and my love
• I want to give Jesus my love and that it is true he died for the cross
• I want to give God all of my “praiar”
• An XBox 1
• A star of love
• If I could give Jesus something I would give him my life
• I’d give Jesus a bible
• My gift to Jesus is my everything
• I would give him worship
• “Nintindo Swich”
• A car to drive and it’s going to be a “lambo”
• My heart, love, and talent
• Giving something to someone that needs it
• I would give to Jesus worship, praise, glory
• I would give more of my time to him in prayer
• I would give him a sign that says, “Thank you Jesus”
• I would give Jesus my Beat Boxing “talant”
• I would give him love
  
  

Merry Christmas!

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!