Blog

Beach Clubbers Baptised from KiDs Beach Club on Vimeo.

Harmony Baptist Church in Weatherford, Texas recently had a special worship service. The church, fresh off its first year partnering with KiDs Beach Club® to sponsor a Beach Club at Wright Elementary, has seen the Lord working in the club and in its church. 

Jeremiah and Liliana, a brother and sister who attend Beach Club, asked to be baptized at Harmony Baptist Church. Jeremiah had previously made Jesus his Forever Friend and Liliana welcomed Christ into her life after a Beach Club meeting with her Christ-following parents at home.

Jeremiah and Liliana’s family regularly attend a different church in the area, but they really wanted to be baptized at Harmony Baptist since Beach Club has such an impact in their lives. They also wanted to be baptized in the presence of so many of their Beach Club volunteers who attend the club. 

On a Sunday morning last month, the two siblings were baptized by Tyson Shapley, the church’s students pastor who also serves as the Bible Connection leader in their Beach Club.

In addition to the baptisms, the church also recognized each Beach Club volunteer who was in attendance that morning. Harmony Baptist provides regular updates to its congregation and celebrates together when there are praises and professions of faith. But, that April morning it was a special service to honor the efforts of their members and to rejoice in seeing the fruits of their labor.

For church coordinator Lea Sosebee, it was an overwhelming thought to see where the Lord has brought the church since it first partnered with KiDs Beach Club® last fall.

Harmony Baptist struggled with the decision to sponsor a Beach Club. Like many churches they didn’t think they would have enough volunteers or the funds to sponsor the club. The church started a Beach Club in faith, but at first saw little progress. It struggled and the leaders wondered if this was really what the Lord wanted them to do.

“We were faithful, and in God’s timing. And, in God’s timing, it was done,” Sosebee said.

By partnering with KiDs Beach Club®, the church not only was able to make an impact in the young lives of Jeremiah and Liliana, they were also able to reach an entire family.

Liliana came to understand the gospel during her time at Beach Club and Jeremiah saw his faith grow and become more solidified.

“The two started out at Beach Club so shy, but now they are rockin’ it!” Dylan Sosebee, the club’s worship leader said.

Jeremiah and Liliana’s mother saw this change in them and ended up becoming a volunteer in the club. The entire family was excited to visit Harmony Baptist for their baptisms.

“KiDs Beach Club® has ignited a desire in our church to minister more.” Lea Sosebee said.

After hearing updates and now seeing the fruits of labor in the baptisms of Jeremiah and Liliana, the church’s Beach Club has seen an increase in volunteers and is receiving other great support. Harmony Baptist Church is excited and ready for a summer of ministry and continuing into next school year at Beach Club.

Don and Sue Lynn are not only husband and wife, but they are also Surf Team leaders at the Overton Elementary School Beach Club in Lubbock, Texas. The Lynns initially became involved after a request for help from their church, the First Church of the Nazarene, which partners with KiDs Beach Club®.

Don signed on first. Then, as Sue listened to Don convey the impact the experience was having in his life, she decided to volunteer as well. Together, they lead a Surf Team of about a dozen kids. 

“Our prayer is that they’ll see Jesus in us, and that we will make an impression upon them that will be life-lasting,” Don said.

And indeed they have. They consider the children friends, praying for them throughout the week and greeting them with hugs at each meeting. This approach has garnered a positive response from the kids, who happily return their hugs.

However, the Lynn’s prayer to make a positive impact extends beyond the school walls and the weekly club meetings. They view Beach Club as a mission field, hoping to reach not only the children, but their families as well.

Each week, they walk the kids to their cars, greet their parents and invite them to church. They also encourage the kids to come up and speak if they see each other outside of club, and they do—usually with their parents.

“We have run into a lot of these kids around Lubbock,” Sue said, “and they always come and talk to us.”

Although their focus has been on the kids and their families, Sue says that the church’s efforts have reached a wider audience. In fact, people they do not know and who have no kids in Beach Club still know what their church is doing for their community and are grateful.

“I’ve heard this time after time,” Sue said. “Just like we don’t know the impression that we make, but something’s going on. God makes a way when there is no way. And I think this is one of those times.”

However, she is quick to point out that all of the credit goes to God, as it is indeed all about Him and all because of Him. They are simply blessed to be a part of it, and Sue echoes Don’s prayer that they will make a lifelong impression on the kids.

She quotes Proverbs 22:6, which reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

This promise gives Sue hope. “Maybe what we’re doing is a lasting impression on these kids,” she said. “And maybe it will be something they will take through their life. And they will want to grow closer to God as they go through their life.”

Samantha Helms and Mandy Hendry have joined the KiDs Beach Club® staff in the month of May. Helms will serve as a club relations specialist focusing on the area that includes Hurst, Euless and Bedford, Texas, while Hendry has been hired as a communications specialist based in the corporate office in Bedford.

Helms and her husband, Jared, are students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. She is pursuing a master of divinity degree with a concentration in biblical counseling. She is planning to graduate in spring 2018. Helms is a member at North Richland Hills Baptist Church where she enjoys leading a youth girls’ Bible study each week. She loves to handcraft cards and other small projects in her spare time. Although Helms is new to Beach Club, she brings experience in children’s ministry and missions outreach in the local church setting. She is looking forward to how God will teach her and use her at KiDs Beach Club®.

Hendry is familiar with Beach Club and is excited about joining the corporate team this summer. She has served as a Club Leader at West Hurst Elementary School in Hurst, Texas since January 2016. She is a member of Hurst Baptist Church, where she serves as children’s church director and sings in the praise team. Hendry is a graduate of Texas Christian University with a master’s degree in communication studies, also from TCU. Her husband Chris is a retired Army veteran, and they have two kids, Lizzie (18) and Ryan (14). Hendry is passionate about writing, and is currently authoring a series of novels. She also enjoys photography, crafting, sewing, and classic television.

Many people think KiDs Beach Club® is a school-year only program designed to connect kids to Christ and put Bibles in their hands. Well that’s correct… in part. With KBC Explorer’s Study Bibles in the hands of kids and now in their homes, boys and girls can continue what they learned in Beach Club. So, again this summer, KiDs Beach Club® is providing a summer Bible reading plan for kids.

“Hang 10” is the phrase used by KiDs Beach Club® to encourage kids to hang out with God for 10 minutes each day reading the Bible and in prayer. At the end of each club meeting, kids are given “Hang 10 Pages” to take home and use as a guide to spend time with God each day. Some clubs even offer prizes to kids who return their completed Hang 10 Pages to club the following week.

The Hang 10 Summer Reading Program continues this purpose of building habits in kids of daily Bible reading and prayer. This year’s Summer Reading Program focuses on character words already taught in Beach Club. Each week for 14 weeks, beginning the Sunday before Memorial Day and continuing through the Sunday before Labor Day, the plan will a provide daily Bible verse, an action and a prayer.

The character words featured in the Summer Reading Program include compassion, confidence, contentment, courage, dependability, forgiveness, generosity, humility, love, obedience, respect, self-control, thankfulness and truthfulness.

Summer Bible reading isn’t just for kids! We are encouraging everyone to “Hang 10” this summer. Parents, teachers, volunteers and other Beach Club supporters can lead by example and spend at least 10 minutes each day with God through Bible reading and prayer.

We hope you will stay connected to KiDs Beach Club® during the summer. We would love to see you, your children and your grandchildren with their KBC Study Bible. Please follow us at @KiDsBeachClub on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and be sure to like, comment and share your own posts by using the hashtag #MyKBCBible.

Look for the Hang 10 Summer Reading Program in your inbox on Friday or on our website.

Normally, the fifth week of the Beach Club calendar is circled for Great Treasure Day, the day that every child receives their own copy of the KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bible. But it wasn’t until week 10 that Bibles were handed out at Harris Elementary in St. Charles, Mo. 

The delay came with a good reason. When week five arrived and for the fifth consecutive week, no children had shown up for the new Beach Club. The school had restrictions prohibiting the group from passing out or sending flyers home with children at the school so there was no way to get the word to parents that this Beach Club had started meeting on campus.

Despite the obstacle, a group of volunteers from Jungs Station Baptist Church, which partners with KiDs Beach Club® to sponsor the club, had faith that the Lord would send the children. 

“We accepted that the Lord wanted us to be in Harris Elementary and that He opened the door for us to be there so we’re going to go in and we’re going to start having club,” Bob Feeler, the senior pastor at Jungs Station Baptist Church, said.

Faithfully, for five consecutive weeks, a dedicated group of volunteers not only showed up at Beach Club each week, but also went through each part of the club schedule as if there were children present.

“I kind of got to thinking, did the Israelites feel like this, that we’re doing all of this over and over again each day and nothing’s happening?” club leader Ron Gray remembered. “But I kept encouraging myself; God caused the walls of Jericho to fall, maybe He’s just giving us extra time to practice.”

On the fifth week that was supposed feature the celebration of Great Treasure Day, the mood was understandably filled with disappointment, starting with pastor Feeler.

“I came into club that day and I guess I was lacking faith and thinking, Lord, we can’t even get one kid to come to club,” Feeler said. “At the end of our club that day I was going to say to our workers, ‘Hey you’ve give in a great try and been faithful to come and set up and you’ve done everything you can do, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.’ And then just before 4 o’clock, Miley and her mother show up at the door.”

Miley had the undivided attention of the entire team of volunteers and won all the prizes for that day. Miley had such a great time, she invited her friend Sofia, who came with her the following week. Miley continued to invite her friends each week and the club continued to grow. By the time Great Treasure Day arrived in week 10, seven children were there to receive a Bible and despite the small group, there was a big celebration.

“It was really exciting,” Brenda McClain, who teaches the memory verse each week, said. “You know you’re not only giving that child a Bible but you’re giving that home a Bible and some of our children aren’t in Christian homes.”

Club Leader Ron Gray remembers seeing the smiles on the faces of the seven children who received Bibles and is excited with the treasure they’ve received in God’s word.

“Those Bibles are so well put together that the kids were just excited to get them and start looking through them and to use them,” Gray said.

Generous donors like you have supported the Bibles for Beach Club program and made those Bibles possible. Feeler is grateful for that gift.

“I want to thank you for purchasing Bibles for the kids in our club,” he said. “There is an expense to a KiDs Beach Club®, and for a church our size, it is a significant financial investment; so the gift of Bibles was a great blessing, is greatly appreciated and is being used.”

By now you know that KiDs Beach Club® provides a KBC Explorer's Study Bible to every child in every Beach Club. We are able to do that at no cost to the partnering church, school or parents thanks to our generous donors, like many of you, who support our Bibles for Beach Club program. 

Some give monthly or annually while others give at our annual Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner. All money raised during that event goes directly to putting Bibles in the hands of children in public elementary schools. For many of these children it’s the first Bible they have and in some instances, it may even be the first Bible in their home.

This year’s Benefit Dinner, presented by Home Point Home Medical Equipment, is Friday, July 14 in the Grand Ballroom at Texas Motor Speedway. The featured speaker that night is Lee Strobel, whose book The Case for Christ, was made into a movie, which is now in theaters. It documents his journey from atheism to Christianity.

When you buy a ticket to attend the Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner to hear Strobel speak about the urgency of reaching the next generation with the Good News of Jesus Christ, we’ll give you a complimentary ticket to see The Case for Christ movie. 

Since the first Great Treasure Day in the spring 2015, KiDs Beach Club® has distributed 26,758 Bibles thanks to our passionate donors. Since KiDs Beach Club® began distributing Bibles in 2003, we have been blessed to deliver Bibles to 47,823 children.

We couldn’t do that without the investment of our many great donors, so thank you for your support. Together, we're connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands!