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In the rural area of Tool, Texas, the bus rides to school begin quite early in the morning and are often long ventures. Steve Palmer, the pastor of Providence Baptist Church, and his wife Wendy, greet children coming off of the bus every single morning when it arrives at school. They also greet parents at their cars when they drop off their children. 

Two days after the school’s Great Treasure Day celebration in early October, a little girl named Kendal stepped onto her school bus with a special request. Her bus driver, Ms. Mary, usually kept the bus lights turned off so the children could sleep or rest on their long drives to school in the early morning hours. But, with her KBC Explorer’s Study Bible in hand, Kendal asked Ms. Mary if she would turn on the bus light so she could be able to read her new Bible. Ms. Mary happily obliged and Kendal was able to read her new KBC Bible on the bus ride to school.

Wendy Palmer noticed Kendal with her new KBC Study Bible as soon as she hopped off of the school bus that morning. Wendy found out from Ms. Mary how Kendal had requested the bus lights be turned on so she could read her Bible. 

Wendy called Kendal’s mother to talk to her about it, and her mother shared how since Kendal started attending Beach Club their family has developed a genuine love for attending church. They do not see it as a chore as they once had, but instead they count down the days with excitement to the next time they can attend. 

While they have been faithfully attending a church together, Kendal’s mother said their family will visit Providence Baptist Church because of the impact the church leaders have made at the school through KiDs Beach Club. She loves how the pastor takes the time to greet the parents each day and how Kendal enjoys Beach Club.

Now that your child has his or her very own KBC Explorer’s Study Bible, we want to make sure they understand it. 

The word Bible means “book.” In fact, the Bible is THE BOOK, the most important book every written. It’s like a library of 66 smaller books that all fit together. The Bible is God’s message to all people. It tells what God is like, shows who Jesus is, and explains how we can have a relationship with God.

THE BIBLE IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS

The Old Testament

• Is in the front of the Bible.
• Contains 39 books.
• Was written many years before Jesus was born.
• Points to a promised Messiah, who is Jesus. 

The New Testament

• Is in the back of the Bible.
• Contains 27 books.
• Tells how Jesus is the promised Messiah who came to save all people from sin.
• Explains how Jesus’ first followers became the church.
• Tells how a person becomes a Christian.

WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?

God did. People who were listening to God wrote down the things that God wanted them to write. The Bible has many different writers who lived at different times and in different places. Yet their message remains consistent, because it’s God’s message! That makes the Bible true, dependable, trustworthy and right. 

Every part of the Bible was spoken by God and is useful for showing what is true, revealing sin, correcting errors, and teaching people how to have a right relationship with God. Because of the Bible, people can be complete through Jesus and prepared to do the things God has planned for them.

God wants you and your children to spend time with him daily and KiDs Beach Club tries to help you with that. Each week in Beach Club, your child learns a word that teaches biblical character as well as a memory link (Bible verse) to help them learn God’s word. They’re also sent home a Hang 10 page that provides a daily reading plan, activity and prayer. 

For more information about spending time with God, look at the tip-in pages in the KBC Explorer’s Study Bible between pages 242-243. Those pages provide the when, where, what and how to spend time with God every day.

Charity Verlander and Robbie Sparkman have joined the KiDs Beach Club® staff as area directors. Verlander will serve in North Texas in an area that stretches from New Boston to Celina, while Sparkman will cover an area in Southeast Texas and Louisiana that reaches from Baytown, Texas to Lake Charles, La.

Verlander grew up in DFW and is a former elementary school teacher. She has spent the last 14 years serving as a missionary in Wales, U.K. with the International Mission Board along with her husband, Marc, who is now the associate pastor at Lifepointe Fellowship in McKinney. They have recently relocated to Melissa, Texas with their three daughters: Cerys (11), Bailey (10) and Addison (7). Verlander is excited to join KiDs Beach Club®, to serve the local church and their community. 

Sparkman has been a Beach Club volunteer since 2008 when her family moved to Mont Belvieu, Texas on the east side of Houston. She previously taught Bible in a private school and was eager to continue serving in her new community. Her son, who was in third grade at the time, came home with a permission slip for KiDs Beach Club®. She called immediately to volunteer. This is Sparkman’s sixth year volunteering as the Bible Connections Leader. She and her husband David have two children, Leah (19) and William (15). The family attends Second Baptist Church of Baytown, Texas.

KiDs Beach Club® continues to grow and is looking to fill several other positions. Please visit our employment website for a complete list of positions and to fill out an application.

Great Treasure Day, the day when every child in every Beach Club is given a KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bible, is being celebrated in Beach Clubs again this fall. While most clubs will be participating this month, some of the festivities will continue into November.

While there are a number of new Beach Clubs that are observing Great Treasure Day for the first time, quite a few Beach Clubs are presenting fewer Bibles this year, giving them mostly to third graders and other first-time clubbers since everyone else received their own Bible within the last 18 months.

What clubs are trying to do now is make Great Treasure Day just as special for those children getting a Bible for the first time as it was for those who already have a Bible when they got to experience Great Treasure Day the first time. 

The Beach Club at South Euless Elementary, sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Euless, Texas, held Great Treasure Day the second week of October. Each child was presented with a lei when they arrived to club and there were special snacks on a beautifully decorated table. In the middle of the room sat a large table with stacks of new Bibles. Volunteers had arranged each Bible by Surf Team and placed a sticker in the Bible with each child’s name.

To begin the ceremony, the club leader at South Euless asked the children, “Who can tell me why we call it KiDs Beach Club?” A little red headed second grader named Maddie raised her hand high and was called on to answer. She said, “Because of the treasure we find on the beach and our treasure is God’s word!” 

Maddie was not being given a Bible that day, but she was being celebrated in a different way. Maddie previously had been given a Bible on Great Treasure Day last fall. Maddie was being celebrated because of her faithfulness to bring her Bible to club, taking good care of it and also reading it on her own. She was given a sticker and another special prize by her club leader, as were many other children who attend Beach Club at South Euless.

These children cherish the gift of a brand new Bible.

“It’s really a treasure to me and I’m really happy to have it,” said Ben, a third grader who started attending Beach Club this year at River Trails Elementary in Fort Worth, Texas. “I already had another Bible and I like reading different Bible verses. I felt really proud and excited when I got this Bible today. I can’t wait to start reading it. I think Beach Club is an awesome place and I really like the stuff we learn.”

Audey, a sixth-grade girl at River Trails, said watching kids get their Bibles this year brought back memories of when she received her Bible.

“Thinking back to when I got my Bible, it meant a lot. I was glad to finally get my Beach Club Bible,” she said. “Today, it looked like the younger kids were really happy. They were excited like I was when I got mine.”

Your monthly support for Bibles for Beach Club does not just put a Bible in the hand of a child for one special day. It gives children a long-lasting opportunity to know and learn the scriptures and that further connects them to Christ.

Children who attend Beach Club already bring their Bible to school on the day their club meets, but we’re encouraging everyone to bring their Bible with them to school another day next week. Bring Your Bible to School Day is Thursday, October 6. 

Bring Your Bible to School Day is a nationwide, religious-freedom initiative for students from kindergarten-age all the way up to college level. It was created by Focus on the Family to equip and inspire Christian students to be a voice of hope, understand their religious freedoms and express their biblical beliefs in a loving, Christ-centered way.

In recent years, you’ve probably noticed the increase in news headlines about students being told they can’t engage in simple religious-freedom activities, such as reading their Bible personally during free time or praying during lunch. That’s why it’s so important to come alongside our students and encourage them that they do still have religious-freedoms protected under the U.S. Constitution–and they don’t have to be ashamed of or hide their deeply held religious beliefs. 

Our Beach Club kids know they can have their Bible at school and read it during quiet time. They read it before school, in the library, music room, hallway, cafeteria, computer lab and even on the playground.

They are taught how to share their faith and pray with their classmates. These religious freedoms are protected. 

On Bring Your Bible to School Day, thousands of students across the country will take the lead on their campuses to celebrate religious freedom and share God’s hope with peers by taking a simple action: Bringing their Bible to school! We hope all Beach Club kids will participate. 

To learn more about what you can do to support the students’ efforts and help them get the word out, be visit bringyourbible.org. They have resources for parents and churches to help you share the event with your students. They even have explanations about myth vs. fact regarding students’ legal rights. 

I Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” And that’s what the Bring Your Bible website seeks to equip students to do.

Parental support for students participating in Bring Your Bible to School Day will be absolutely key since it does require great courage in this culture of spiritual relativism to acknowledge the existence of redemptive truth. So we hope you will surround your student participant with prayer as they participate in the event.

Bring Your Bible To School Day from KiDs Beach Club on Vimeo.

Great Treasure Day – the day children receive their own KBC Explorer’s Study Bible – is just around the corner.

God’s word is the greatest treasure on earth and it is the centerpiece of KiDs Beach Club®. We want every child to have their very own copy to read, study, share and grow from, making a daily and eternal impact on their lives. This is a fun and exciting day for all involved.

Great Treasure Day is different for every Beach Club and usually takes place during the fifth club meeting each year. Most of those will fall in the month of October though some Beach Clubs will celebrate in November. There are even some Beach Clubs that have already had their Great Treasure Day, like the one pictured here from Hood-Case Elementary in Alvin, Texas, which celebrated Great Treasure Day on September 26.

Bibles are provided to the children and the churches at no cost thanks to our many great Bibles for Beach Club donors whether they give at the annual dinner and auction or are a recurring Bible donor. 

We want to encourage everyone to take photos and videos during their Great Treasure Day and to share them with us at KiDs Beach Club®. You can share them on social media by using the hashtags #KiDsBeachClub or #GreatTreasureDay. Also, you can email them to us at photos@beachclubs.org. Remember, when taking video with your smart phone, please turn it on its side so that the long edge of the device is parallel to the floor.