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We make a huge deal about Great Treasure Day at KiDs Beach Club® and rightfully so. It’s the day that every child in every Beach Club receives his or her own KBC Explorer’s Study Bible.

You’ve read the stories and watched the videos recounting the Great Treasure Day celebrations, but what happens after the Bibles are stuffed into a child’s backpack and head out the door and into a home? Do they take up permanent residence in the backpack to be read regularly or do they only make it back into the backpack on the day of Beach Club.

“I’ve seen a tremendous impact through these Bibles,” said Robert Schulze, the children’s pastor at North Pointe Baptist Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. “Sometimes when we give a Bible, a kid will take it home and we’re not always sure what they’re doing with them.”

After Great Treasure Day last month at Mohawk Elementary in Richardson, Texas, a mom sent a text to her son’s Surf Team leader thanking her for the impact she is making through KiDs Beach Club®.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that Anderson has been loving his new Bible,” she wrote. “He has several Bibles floating around our house, but not one of which has grabbed his attention like this one has. He has spent hours reading through it and highlighting any passage that grabs his attention. He has actually found some really neat scriptures that are new to me. Thanks so much for the part you have been playing in Beach Club with him.”  

Many of the volunteers at Mohawk have been able to recount similar stories about Great Treasure Day.

“My kiddos both had their Bibles out this morning and were eager to highlight anything and everything,” said Ashley Gillard, a Surf Team Leader who works with third-grade girls and whose two children attend the Beach Club.

The Bibles come out of the backpacks during school hours, too.

“I have had a conversation with one teacher in particular,” said Laurie Newby, the children’s minister at Trinity Bible Church that sponsors the Beach Club at Mohawk. “She said, ‘I just want you to know it is so great to see these kids take their Bibles out and spend their time reading them; and then hear them discussing what they are reading.’”

Since this was the second Great Treasure Day at Mohawk, some of the kids already had received a KBC Bible.

“I had an amazing day with my fourth-grade girls,” said Pam Deahl, a Surf Team leader at Mohawk. “While the majority of them already had a KBC Bible, it was a sweet time sharing what the Bible has meant to them and an opportunity for me to ask them to share verses that are special to them and to ask who had originally shared those verses with them. It was incredible and gave me a lot of insight into their hearts and where they are in their spiritual journeys.” 

For most kids who attend Beach Club, the KBC Bible jumpstarts their journey with God.

“It’s really cool to see how excited they are about those Bibles,” Newby said. “For me, the coolest thing is that they understand what a treasure God’s Word really is.”

The Bibles are making an impact beyond weekly Beach Club meetings.

“It has had a tremendous impact getting these Bibles into the home,” Schulze said. “We use them at Beach Club so the kids are using the Bibles and learning how to use them and by virtue of that they’re going home and they’re using them.”

March 1 is Super Tuesday, the biggest single day for presidential candidates to receive votes and delegates before the party conventions this summer. People in 12 states and one U.S. territory are involved in this important day which many pundits believe will point to the eventual presidential nominee in both parties. Primaries will continue from now until the end of June. It is a great God-given privilege and blessing to have the right to vote in our free country. We at KiDs Beach Club® encourage you to make your vote count in both the primaries and general election this year!

We heard from Todd Gray, the pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Ennis, Texas, with a story that best illustrates the fruits of a partnership between KiDs Beach Club® and Can We Talk. Here is what he wrote:

“One Wednesday evening, I was going out with a Can We Talk evangelism team from our church. Can We Talk is an evangelism program that equips churches and laity to lead members of the community to Christ. We were using family connections made through our KiDs Beach Club® at a local elementary school to go out and visit.

“When we knocked on the door, Jessica answered. Just a few minutes into our visit, we discovered that two of her children are attending Beach Clubs in Ennis at two different locations. One is sponsored by Tabernacle and the other is sponsored by a sister church in the community that we helped get started. Awesome!

“Both her children loved learning about Jesus at school, which made the introduction to us very easy. A ton of barriers that are normally experienced when knocking on a door came tumbling down because of our connections to KiDs Beach Club®.

“Turns out Jessica was attending Beach Club with her daughter that our sister church was leading. She confessed to us that she felt like she wanted to teach her children about Jesus but was hesitant because she did not know much about the subject herself.  She decided to learn with her child. Long story short, God had been working on her for several weeks at Beach Club.

“The lady from our church who was leading the conversation on the Can We Talk team had never shared the Gospel with someone outside her family. It was amazing to watch the Holy Spirit lead both women. He led the lady from Tabernacle in what to say and he was leading Jessica in understanding and conviction.

“The conversation ultimately led to Jessica praying to trust Christ for Salvation and clearly make a decision to follow Him for the rest of her life. Both ladies were crying and left changed that evening. Jessica was connected the very next week with a one-on-one disciple from our church.  She now actively attends our church and is growing in the Lord while learning to disciple her children. 

“As the Pastor of Tabernacle, I was blessed to see God use KiDs Beach Club®, a sister church in the community, our Can We Talk evangelism strategy and our one-on-one discipleship ministry to reach Jessica with the Gospel and change her eternal destiny. 

“Just wow! I stand amazed. I truly believe the key factor in all of this was KiDs Beach Club® who allowed us to meet Jessica. May this type of thing continue to happen in communities all across America!”

This story perfectly illustrates the objectives of KiDs Beach Club®: impact communities for the Kingdom, share Christ in public schools, foster life change in the hearts of children and connect families to a church family. It also worked in perfect harmony with the church’s Can We Talk evangelism strategy to lead Jessica to salvation.

KiDs Beach Club® is 10 years old and we want you to celebrate with us on April 16 at the Hurst Conference Center. God has blessed us with the opportunity to minister to more than 67,000 children in public schools and more than 7,000 of those have made Jesus their Forever Friend, now that’s something to celebrate!  

That will also be a night that we raise the funds to purchase our next round of 20,000 KBC Explorer’s Study Bibles to hand out on Great Treasure Day in the 2016-17 school year. As a result of our last Bibles For Beach Club Benefit Dinner and Auction, we were able to hand a Bible to every child in every Beach Club, which amounted to 17,777 Bibles! Please make plans to join us for this important night by going to our website, www.kidsbeachclub.org/BDA to register. If you can’t make it, would you consider providing a gift to help us purchase these Bibles?  

Our guest speaker for the evening Chris Krok, of WBAP Radio in Dallas, who takes the pulse of our country every night on his evening talk show. He knows the climate of our nation and the vital importance of reaching the next generation for Christ which is taking place at 170 Beach Clubs across America every week. Lifeway Song Writer David Gentiles will lead us in a time of praise and worship and of course, we’ll feature many incredible items in our popular silent auction.  

It will be a night to remember so please reserve your spot today!

KiDs Beach Club® has added Susan Baird, Megan Brunner and Chinita Lewis to its club relations team as the organization continues to grow to serve its 170 clubs. Baird will serve as a club relations director in the Wichita Falls, Texas area, while Brunner and Lewis will serve in the same capacity in Tarrant County.

Susan Baird was born and raised in Wichita Falls, one of the newest areas to add KiDs Beach Club®. She loves being part of a close-knit community. Baird has served in part-time capacities in church childcare and preschool and children’s ministry while raising her family. Susan and her husband Terry have been married for 29 years and have one son, two daughters, and a son-in-law.

Brunner recently graduated from Northwestern State University with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and addiction studies. She has served in children’s ministry with experience as a camp counselor and Sunday school teacher. She also has led Bible studies. She and her husband Jeff, who is a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, were married this past May. They live in Fort Worth.

Lewis is a member of North Richland Hills Baptist Church, where she has served in children's ministry for the last eight years. She has taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. She and her husband Bryan live in Fort Worth with their three daughters Journee, Jewel and Joi, who all actively serve with in ministry alongside their mom at church. 

KiDs Beach Club® is also looking to fill other positions, click here for a full list of positions currently available.

Tyler Gets His KBC Explorer's Study Bible from KiDs Beach Club on Vimeo.

Chances are pretty good that you remember receiving your first Bible. So many KiDs Beach Club® volunteers and pastors at partnering churches are eager to share their memories with kids in their Beach Club.

Meet David Ng, a volunteer at Sherrod Elementary in Arlington, Texas. When his Beach Club celebrated Great Treasure Day last fall, he pulled out the very first Bible he received 47 years ago. It was written in Chinese and was so worn, the front and back covers were missing. He has to carry it in a Ziploc® bag to keep it protected. He told the kids he found Jesus in the pages of that Bible and the cafeteria erupted with applause.

Kriss Bryant, the children’s pastor at Center Point Church, which sponsors two Beach Clubs in Birdville Independent School District, mentioned a popular entry one of their volunteers posted on Facebook.

“One of our leaders shared the front of her Bible that she received when she was 7 years old,” Bryant said. “She said she still remembers that day and I hope that we have made that memory for these kids – that they will get to cherish that Bible and be something that they will hang on to for a really long time and even share with their own kids someday.”

KiDs Beach Club® has made it a priority to give a Bible to every child in every Beach Club and hopes that children will remember the day. In 2015 alone, Beach Club handed out 17,777 copies of God’s word on Great Treasure Day. 

“The most important thing about handing out the Bibles is that a lot of these kids don’t have the opportunity to own a Bible or ever read the Bible,” said David Griffin, a pastor at C-Life Church in Forney, Texas. “So to give kids the opportunity to have a Bible to call their own means a great deal.

“When these kids get their Bible, it’s an exciting moment for them to get to walk in and say this is mine and this is my treasure that I’m getting to learn from today.”

Great Treasure Day, no doubt, is not only creating memories that will last a lifetime, but also is giving kids a hands-on tool to use as they start life-long relationships with Jesus.

Tyler and Piper attend Beach Club at Johnson Elementary in Southlake, Texas. The club is sponsored by Southlake Baptist Church and pastor Clayton Reed.

“When I got my Bible I was surprised and happy,” Tyler said. “I use it everyday to learn about God and Jesus.”

“When I got my Beach Club Bible I was happy and excited,” Piper said. “I use my Beach Club Bible to read at home and when pastor Clay reads us a story from the Bible.”

Bryant enjoys watching the kids’ reactions when they receive their Bible.

“It’s a huge blessing to get to see their faces light up when they get their Bibles,” he said. “And to actually get to share with them all the different parts of the Bible about what they can dig in and make the Bible stories come alive and it’s just a great opportunity to do that.”

Hopefully, they’ll be able to keep the covers intact.

KiDs Beach Club® will celebrate its 10th birthday at the annual Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner & Auction April 16 at the Hurst Conference Center. Your monthly support combined with the funds raised at the last Benefit Dinner & Auction has allowed us to provide nearly 20,000 Bibles since then. Please help us purchase an additional 20,000 Bibles so we can continue to provide Bibles to every Beach Club child the next two years and make these memories for kids and reach them for His kingdom.

If you would like to attend this year’s Benefit Dinner & Auction please register at www.kidsbeachclub.org/BDA. Thank you for your continued support.