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On a Thursday in late January, volunteers from Shady Oaks Baptist Church were ready for another great day of KiDs Beach Club® at Shady Oaks Elementary School. 

But, as soon as the kids came in, the day felt off. All the children were rowdier than normal. For the majority of their time in Beach Club that day, the volunteers felt as if they were constantly reminding children how to behave appropriately.

Throughout snack time, worship, Surf Team and Memory Link time, several of the children would not settle down to focus on what was happening in Beach Club. When it came time to share the Bible story, Beach Club leader Christy Fritts was already disheartened. As the story began, most of the children were finally able to settle down and listen. However, a group of older children were still completely disengaged. They continued on, giggling and whispering to one another, more interested in telling jokes than what was being presented to them in the lesson.

Fritts then decided she was going to do a shorter presentation of the gospel. She was concerned the continued misbehavior of the older children and overall abnormal day of Beach Club would “muddy” the presentation of the gospel.

“Each week we aim to present the gospel clearly,” Fritts explained. “Some weeks we share the gospel, and then simply let the children know if they have questions they can seek us out. Other weeks, we go into greater detail and offer a longer time of questioning and a prayer time. What we do each week really depends on what we feel the Spirit leading us to do.”

That day in Beach Club, however, as soon as Fritts got to the part of the lesson that shared the gospel, she felt a nudge from God that instead of cutting it short, she should go ahead and take her time presenting the gospel and allow for questions and discussion.

Fritts listened to that nudge and moments later, children’s hands began flying into the air. The children had so many questions, and many of them came from the group of older children Fritts was convinced had not been listening. Some of the questions included: Is sin the reason people die? If you are saved, but sin again, what happens then? Why would Jesus do that for me? The volunteers were amazed at the depth of questions these third through sixth grade children were asking. 

The discussion went on for so long they completely missed game time. But no one seemed to be bothered. The rowdy children that entered club that day became quiet, engaged and captivated by the conversation they were having together.

As the discussion began winding down, Fritts felt led to reemphasize the gospel. During prayer time, the children were given the opportunity to respond and accept Jesus as their Savior making Him their Forever Friend. Four children, three in sixth grade and one in fifth grade, made Jesus their Forever Friend that day!

“I was reminded of something,” Fritts said. “When God is moving, so is Satan. That club started out so rough. The children seemed to be completely distracted. If I had gone with my frustrated and tired feelings and not taken the extra time on the gospel, then this wouldn’t have happened. It is a great reminder that God is always in charge and the Gospel is always worth the time.”

Interested in finding out how we present the gospel in Beach Club, click here to watch a video.

KiDs Beach Club® made changes to its curriculum this year to ensure the gospel message of Jesus is fully integrated into every part of Beach Club. The curriculum was redesigned to reflect the passion KiDs Beach Club® has to see children respond to the gospel.

With Beach Clubs facing more turnover from year to year with families moving and kids changing schools, aging out of club and schedules changing, the ministry decided it needed to be more intentional in sharing the gospel in every aspect of Beach Club. The window to reach a child is much smaller than the four years from third through sixth grades the ministry serves.

The ministry is still telling Bible stories, but now is even more focused on how these stories connect to the gospel and how children can start and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

KiDs Beach Club® asks children to remember A-B-C in helping them get to know God: ADMIT you’re a sinner; BELIEVE that Jesus is the son of God and He died for your sin; and, CHOOSE to follow Him.

At Northrich Elementary in Richardson, Texas, Beach Club volunteers from First Baptist Church Richardson are using the new curriculum that is focused on sharing the gospel using the A-B-C method. Last year, they had the kids memorize the steps and everyone could repeat them back effortlessly.

“We had three professions of faith and felt great about it,” said Kathy Porter, the club’s leader.

“While we use the terminology A-B-C, we try to share the gospel in a lot of different ways with a lot of different illustrations because you never know what it might be that helps a child understand,” Cindy Leach, executive director for KiDs Beach Club®, said of this increased focus.

“We start with our Bible content and then pick which character word goes with the story,” Leach continued. “Then we study how that story and character word tie to the gospel. Lastly, we pick which Bible verse will be the memory link. We want the verses to tie to the story and character word, but also stand alone so if kids only remember one thing it’s the Bible verse.” 

This year at Northrich, volunteers have embraced the enhanced curriculum. Instead of simply clinging to the A-B-C method to be the focus of sharing the gospel, they use the Bible story for that week to lead to specific gospel focus for that week. 

For example, when the Bible story was about Elijah (sample curriculum), the character word was “helpfulness.” After the story of Elijah they shared that the biggest way God helped people was by sending His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. Once you invite Jesus to become your Forever Friend, He gives you the Holy Spirit. God has a wonderful plan for your life and will guide you to follow this plan and also help others.

Each week, the character word changes and volunteers are able to share the gospel in a different way, which gives an opportunity for more children to understand.

“We’ve already seen a marked increase in professions of faith based on what our clubs have recorded so far this year,” Leach said. “While we know numbers aren’t the only indicator of spiritual effectiveness, it helps us know we are on the right track. Each time a child hears the gospel, seeds are planted. We trust the Holy Spirit to work in each child’s heart to make those seeds grow.”

This year at Northrich, volunteers have already seen 11 children make Jesus their Forever Friend!

“We are amazed at how God is moving within our club,” Porter said. “We love the new gospel-focused curriculum. There is a great harvest of new Christ followers at Northrich Elementary. God is on the move.”

The keynote speaker for the annual Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner will be announced next month. The Benefit Dinner will be held Friday, July 14 at the Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway.

The fundraising event allows KiDs Beach Club® to provide a Bible to every child who attends Beach Club. Because of our great donors we have been able to provide nearly 48,000 kids with Bibles since 2003, including almost 26,500 since starting Great Treasure Day in 2015.

Be sure you follow the organization’s social media accounts so you don’t miss the announcement about an exciting speaker you will not want to miss.

Visit the Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner website.

KiDs Beach Club® continues to grow in 2017 with the additions this month of Gary Pool as the director of systems and technology at the KBC corporate office and Vickie Sneed, who has been hired as an independent area strategist near Memphis, Tenn.

Skilled in information technology, Pool considers himself to be a “GEEK,” which he says is short for God’s Electronic Equipment Keeper. Pool has been active in church since his late teens, both in his home state of Minnesota and in Texas, serving on everything from soundboards to church boards. He currently serves on the board of Career Solutions Workshop and as a career coach with Career Solutions, a ministry-based organization that helps people find a job God’s way. 

Pool possesses an undergraduate degree in music education and a master’s in logistics management. He has built two traditional businesses and previously served as a regional vice president for a Minnesota insurance company. He has also reached respected positions of leadership with several home-based marketing firms, being a regional vice president for one of them. 

Gary and his wife, Laura, have been married for 35 years and attend Hillside Community Church in Keller, Texas. Their son, Brandon, and his wife, Victoria, have two children, Lillian (10) and Jaxon (6) and live in Fort Worth, Texas. Their daughter, Julia and her husband, Adam, live near Indianapolis, Ind.

Sneed takes a new role with KiDs Beach Club® after serving as the Beach Club leader at Ellendale Elementary, which is sponsored by Ellendale Baptist Church. She and her husband Norman of 32 years attend the church, where she also serves in a leadership capacity for the church’s women’s ministry.

Sneed holds a bachelor’s of science degree in education and a master’s of science in leadership and policy studies with a concentration in school administration. She is a retired educator with Memphis City Schools having served as teacher, instructional facilitator, assistant principal and principal. After an early retirement in 2012, Sneed became active in KiDs Beach Club®, where the Lord has allowed her to merge her passions for public schools, children and the gospel all in one.

Sneed also enjoys scrapbooking, paper crafting, quilting, being a doting mother and grandmother to her four grown children and three grandchildren.

Please visit our employment website for a list of open positions and to fill out an application.

At a Beach Club at Harrison Lane Elementary School in Hurst, Texas, the volunteers see firsthand how important it is that KiDs Beach Club® celebrates Great Treasure Day and gives away a KBC Explorer’s Study Bible to every child.

Approximately 62 percent of all children who enroll in KiDs Beach Club® do not have a church home. These children are lost, and are searching for where to place their faith. With so much information so easily accessible to influence this young generation, it is vital that KiDs Beach Club® teaches these children the truth. Furthermore, it is important that we put that truth – the word of God – in their hands. 

Johnnie Wallace, the senior pastor at Hurst Baptist Church, which partners with KiDs Beach Club® to sponsor the club at Harrison Lane, noticed a particular little girl in his Beach Club. 

This little girl came to club her first week without a Bible. The very next week she brought a religious book to use in Beach Club like her peers. Except the religious book she brought wasn’t a Bible, it was the Quran. The next week she came back with another religious book. Realizing the week before she did not need the Quran, she instead brought the Book of Mormon.

The next week at club they celebrated Great Treasure Day, and this little girl was given her own KBC Explorer’s Study Bible. “And she also left there with something else,” Wallace said.

Each week in club after he tells the Bible story, Wallace encourages children who have questions about receiving salvation and making Jesus their Forever Friend to talk with him. As soon as that invitation was made on Great Treasure Day, that little girl was the first one to come up and visit with Wallace about making Jesus her Forever Friend.

“She left there with a new citizenship that day,” he went on to say. However, it’s not a great ending, because the Beach Club volunteers suspect she went home, told her parents what she had decided, and never came back to Beach Club, further illustrating the short amount of time KiDs Beach Club® has to reach these children for Christ. “But I know this, one of these days; I’ll see her again,” Wallace said.

These children are vulnerable and they are seeking. They want to know more. KiDs Beach Club® is giving them the tools to know more, and the Bible is that tool.

“I feel like we are giving the children something they can build their lives on,” Wallace said. “We may get them in Beach Club one week, but if we can get them in club to give them a Bible, we've given them something that can last them the rest of their lives. We try to teach that there is nothing more valuable than this.” 

KiDs Beach Club® is connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands. Thank you for your continued support of the Bibles for Beach Club program and for your continued prayers as churches go outside their own walls and inside public elementary schools to share the gospel with hundreds of children all over the country.

KiDs Beach Club® has been accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) the organization announced Monday, February 13. 

ECFA accreditation is based on the ECFA Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship, including financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance and ethical fundraising.

KiDs Beach Club® joins a growing number of Christ-centered churches and ministries across America, supported by more than 27 million donors that have earned the right to display the ECFA seal. When an organization is accredited by ECFA, it demonstrates its willingness to follow the model of biblical accountability.

More Information about KBC & ECFA

“We are pleased to accredit a ministry committed to mobilize the church to go outside its walls in order to take the message of Jesus Christ into the heart of its community,” said Dan Busby, president of ECFA.

Founded in 2006, the vision of KiDs Beach Club® is to provide every third through sixth grade boy and girl a Jesus experience within the culture of their public school. KiDs Beach Club® is connecting kids to Christ and putting Bibles in their hands.

To learn more about KiDs Beach Club® and its stewardship opportunities, visit ServantMatch®, ECFA’s program that matches God’s servants with the stewardship options of ECFA members based on ministry sectors and categories. It is ECFA’s newest online feature that allows individuals to quickly and easily find giving opportunities.

ECFA, founded in 1979, provides accreditation to leading Christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with the ECFA Standards pertaining to financial accountability, fundraising and board governance. For more information about ECFA, including information about accreditation and a listing of ECFA-accredited members, visit ECFA.org or call 1-800-323-9473.