The International Christian Film and Music Festival recently announced its official 2023 nominations. We are thrilled to share with you that KBC-TV made the shortlist and is a finalist in the Best TV Show category! 

Additionally, KBC's own Club Leader Jason Earls is up for "Best TV Show Host." Winners will be announced in Orlando at this year's event the first week of May.

Winners will be announced May 6th at the ICFF annual festival. 

Last month, KiDs Beach Club^®, in partnership with KCHF TV 11, hosted an informational lunch for pastors and church leaders in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. The end-goal of this marketing endeavor was to ultimately land NEW MEXICO on our Beach Club^® map.  

We are thrilled to share that this effort was a huge success!

Our new church partner Elevate Ministries will launch New Mexico's first ever Beach Club^® at EG Ross Elementary on April 13th. New Mexico brings our state count up to 9, with one more exciting state nearly finalized! (Stay tuned next month for that update!)

If your church doesn't actively sponsor a Beach Club^®, please encourage your pastor or church leader to schedule a Discovery Call. They will learn about KBC's proven model to grow their church, reach more families, and mobilize more volunteers.

Events like the one in Albuquerque are available in the DFW area as well! Church leaders can join us in-person at any of our upcoming Community Connect lunches.

In this month's podcast, Dr. Frank Banfill sits down with KBC's Volunteers Director Steve Brines to candidly talk about volunteering, including many of the common mistakes that we make when recruiting volunteers for church work. 

If you are involved in volunteering, recruiting volunteers, or feeling burned out in your role, this podcast is a must-watch. Keep reading for highlights from their conversation, or hop on over to our podcast page to watch the full episode.

"If you're in a church leadership position, and you're good at making things look like there's nothing wrong in your ministry, the best thing you can do to grow your ministry long-term might mean to let things fall apart. ...We do such a good job at covering up our deficiencies, and we make it look like we've got it all together." -- Steve Brines, KBC's Volunteers Director

Tips for cultivating and matching people with volunteer opportunities:

• Encourage the volunteer to lean into who they are and their natural giftset.
• Align personalities with the role, but don't make assumptions either.
• Equip your volunteers. Don't just throw them into the deep end.
• Follow the model: I do, you watch. You do, I watch. You do.
• Don't lower the bar for expectation and requirement for volunteers.
• Raise the expectation for what it means to be part of a team!
• Involve your volunteers! The more involved they are, the more committed.

We can serve where we're needed or we can serve where we're called. Sometimes filling in where we're needed is more short-term or seasonal, but if we're serving where we're called and gifted, that will be more long-term.

Wherever you are in life, we encourage you to get involved! Don't be a spectator - Christianity is not a spectator sport!

Join KBC's Beach Patrol Volunteer in a local Beach Club^® Help start a Beach Club^® in your local school Donate

Since 2015, Ellendale Baptist Church has sponsored a Beach Club^® at Ellendale Elementary School in Bartlett, TN. One student, Jaden, attended Beach Club^® each of those first three years. Despite learning about Jesus week after week, Jaden finished out her time in Beach Club^® without ever taking the step to personally make Jesus her Forever Friend.

Beach Club^® may have ended for Jaden five years ago, but its impact continued.

Pictured above, the first Great Treasure Day (2015) at Ellendale Elementary School in Bartlett, TN, where Jaden first attended Beach Club^® and heard about Jesus. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Lynn Butler, Minister of Education and Outreach from Ellendale Baptist Church shares this incredible story. While visiting his son's church (First Baptist Church Covington TN) to witness his grandchild being dedicated, he saw a familiar face.

You guessed it: that face was Jaden's.

At the end of the service, when the pastor gave the invitation for people to respond, Jaden came forward. Now a 10th grader, Jaden chose to make that decision she had contemplated so often years before. She chose to make Jesus her Forever Friend, once and for all! 

As the church celebrated her decision, Jaden whispered something in the pastor's ear. The pastor then shared what Jaden had whispered: "KiDs Beach Club^® was a big influence on her life. It helped Jaden come to the point of asking Jesus to be her Lord and Savior!"

"We may never know the influence that we have on the children that we minister to, whether today or years down the road."
--Lynn Butler

Thank you, Lynn, for sharing this incredible story! Sometimes we never know the impact, and then there are God-stories like this, where we get to see the impact years later.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who serve so faithfully each week. We pray Jaden's story encourages you to not give up or get discouraged! 

To share an impact story and possibly be featured in future Surf Reports, send the details along with some pictures to stories@kbcmail.org.

Meet Danny and Suzanne Davis, vital members of a non-profit organization called Cuurio.

Cuurio partners with organizations like KiDs Beach Club^® to leverage technology, specifically the internet, to present Biblical answers to people searching for felt needs. Every single day there are at least 500 million Google searches for things like "Why am I depressed?" and "Is there any hope for me?" Felt-need themes in common searches include suicide, hope, purpose, family, marriage, divorce, and the list goes on.

KiDs Beach Club^® is partnering with Cuurio to equip families and educators with resources to shape the character of today's preteens and give them an answer to life's questions.

"As it turns out in these last 10 or 15 years, the internet has actually flipped everything upside-down.
The world's biggest taxi company owns no vehicles.The world's biggest hotel company owns no buildings.
We live in a digital economy that has exploded and engulfed everything."
                                              -- Danny Davis, Cuurio

Questions people used to bring to friends or their pastor are now being brought to Google. People are empty and searching for hope. As Christians, we have the answer, and it's found in Jesus!

How does Cuurio help people find Jesus in their darkest hour?

They create content that answers questions, and then they use their proprietary software to make sure it shows up well in search. When people Google "Is there any hope for me?" they can click through and find Cuurio. People who are searching for answers find Cuurio's page...and Jesus! Those searching can watch a video that presents the plan of salvation, connect to a local church, and even connect with a counselor at no charge. Cuurio's prayer is that God will let them be a part of building the body of Christ online, working together with other ministries to fulfill the Great Commission, just as God intended.

Here's some additional notable quotes from the podcast, just in case you don't have time to watch it for yourself!

This is the first time in history that millions and millions of people all come to the same place every day and they stand there and say, "Hey can someone help us?"

"When you reach the children, you reach the whole family. So, when you reach the children, you reach the older generation, but you also reach the future generations." 

Be sure to check out Cuurio online and click the button below to watch the full podcast! 

   WATCH THE CUURIO PODCAST!

We are excited to welcome Beth Banfill and Holli McLendon to the People Engagement Team here at KiDs Beach Club^®! 

Beth has been working with us in a temporary role as Special Projects Director since last August. In January, she assumed the permanent role of People Engagement Director. She comes to us with nearly 30 years' People Operations management experience, most recently serving in prominent roles for global organizations. In her new role, Beth will lead the team at KBC that engages with others outside the organization. This includes overseeing all marketing, communications, and sales components of the organization.

Holli came to KBC after more than a decade serving in the public school system in Keller, TX. If you've noticed some changes with our social media lately, you're not the only one! This is all thanks to Holli! She leads the charge internally with our new social media strategy and brings to us mad skills in video production! She is an answer to prayer and fills the gaps we needed within the People Engagement Team. 
You can read Beth and Holli's full bios here. Join us in welcoming them to the team!