To kick off the new year, we have some exciting news to share! Last fall, as part of their Multi-disciplinary Leadership Captstone Project, students from the University of Arizona conducted a study of the educational impact of KiDs Beach Club®. Their findings bring validation from an academic institution that the work being done in Beach Club® makes a difference! Of course, we have known this to be true, but now that knowledge has been independently validated.
Study of the Educational Impact of KiDs Beach Club® on Elementary Schools
The KiDs Beach Club® (KBC) after-school program plays an important role in the academic life of public elementary schools by meeting student social-emotional needs, improving student behaviors, and developing leadership among students, according to a study conducted by the University of Arizona.
The study found that, “KBC serves a valuable role as the supplemental support system that can act as an extension of school efforts to support their students and...fill the gap in the school’s ability to support their students and meet their needs.”
University of Arizona researchers studied elementary schools that have a KiDs Beach Club® program. Principals at these schools noted several challenges that their schools faced and how KBC assisted in meeting those challenges. Student social, emotional, and behavioral issues were all concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic was seen as causing deterioration in student interpersonal skills and reducing their ability to empathize and demonstrate kindness toward others. Principals noted the lack of time and resources available within the school day to address the needs for emotional and behavioral maturity, making the KBC after-school program especially important. Schools, especially those designated as Title I, also faced a lack of parental support at home.
Principals noted that an integral part of the supplemental support KBC provides schools are KBC’s adult volunteers and the “benefit of having adults other than their school’s faculty contribute toward instilling positive behavior in students.” One principal was quoted as saying “KBC taught students how to be a friend, what it is like to stand up for someone, and how to become leaders.” The study found that KBC’s use of Biblical stories, parables, and lessons were uniquely valuable in instilling values in ways the school could not because of their religious basis. Students responded with excitement about religion.
The study found a correlation between KiDs Beach Club® attendance and student behavior improvement. One principal noted that there are not behavior concerns for students who attend KiDs Beach Club®. This principal stated that if more students were involved with KBC, the school would see a greater increase in positive behavior. Another principal noted an increase in students participating in school-wide community projects because of KiDs Beach Club®.
All principals who participated in the research rated the program highly. “KBC was able to support the schools in their goals to help students with improving soft skills and character development,” the study concluded. The program provided additional opportunity for students to “learn, grow, and be supported beyond the classroom.” KiDs Beach Club® helps “students develop their behavioral and emotional maturity by teaching students good values and how to be better people.”
The study found that the primary educational benefit of KiDs Beach Club® was the development of student soft skills and character, which contributed to overall learning.
Methodology
Researchers used qualitative methodology to conduct four case studies of public elementary schools. Schools were randomly selected from a pool of 44 schools that had the KiDs Beach Club® program for at least three years and that had the same principal during that period. Researchers conducted phone interviews with principals during fall of 2022. The principal’s responses were recorded and turned into data for analysis.
Published on Jan 23 @ 4:21 PM CDT
At KiDs Beach Club®, our mission is to give every preteen boy and girl a Jesus experience. When we come across like-minded individuals whose heart beats for the same thing, we want to share them with you.
Meet Kassy Cooper, a 22 year old college senior from Plano, TX. Kassy fell in love with Jesus as a preteen and has a heart for reaching the next generation. She is on a mission to empower and equip young people with the what, why, and how to wholeheartedly follow Jesus Now, Not Later.
Kassy stopped by our KBC Corporate office a few weeks ago to share why God called her to write this book and what she hopes young people will learn by reading it. Grab your preteen and listen to the podcast together. Money-back guarantee: you will both be challenged and encouraged! Keep reading for a few profound quotes from this young adult who is on fire for Jesus. She is a living example of why we are so passionate about reaching preteens.
"I believe one of satan's favorite words is later. I don't think he goes around telling unbelievers or believers to never follow Jesus. He doesn't whisper in a Christian's ear, 'Never go to church. Never read your Bible.' Instead, he just says, 'Read your Bible later. Pray later. Trust Jesus later. Keep Christ at the center later. Start sharing the Gospel later.' It's always later."
"Later really means never. It's just disguised as something more innocent."
Wholehearted devotion to God Now, Not Later is the calling God has placed on all of us, yet so few really understand what that means. Kassy somehow understands what so many of us struggle to grasp. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We aren't promised later. Later may never come, and if it does, it may be filled with missed opportunities of living for what matters: Loving God, making Him known, and loving others.
Now Not Later is available on Amazon and is 300 pages full of golden nuggets for preteens and young adults. Go get your copy today. Join Kassy and KiDs Beach Club® in being sold out for God Now, Not Later!
Grab your preteen and listen to the full podcast together.
As an Amazon Associate, KBC earns from qualifying purchases made from links on this page.
Published on Jan 23 @ 4:21 PM CDT
Hats off to Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, TN for catching the vision on how to reach their community! It's not just about doing a club once a week. It's about authentically loving on the school staff, children, and community so that they know you care. It's about asking God to show you innovative ways to reach beyond families outside of your club. Yes, Beach Club® is your ticket into the schools. It opens the doors, but it's up to the church to decide how to minister beyond the 1-hour each week in Club.
Last year, Judson Baptist Church partnered with KiDs Beach Club® to sponsor their very first Beach Club® at Norman Binkley Elementary School in Nashville, TN. Averaging 11 children in their first year, they asked God to open the doors to reach more children and families in their second year at Norman Binkley Elementary. God opened the doors in incredible ways, and they are now averaging 26 children each week - more than double from their first year!
Children's pastor Richard Smith recently shared with us that not only has Beach Club® attendance more than doubled this year, but the church has been able to build relationships
with the school staff, just by loving on them. They sponsored a Chick Fil-A lunch for a teacher
work-day at the beginning of school, and they've sponsored coffee and donut bars for other teacher work days.
The staff has been so appreciative of the love the church has shown them that they even posted an appreciation picture on their public facebook. Judson Baptist Church was also able to adopt two needy Beach Club® families at Christmastime, and two new families have started attending the church because of their work with KiDs Beach Club®.
Thank you, Pastor Rich and Judson Baptist Church for representing KiDs Beach Club® so well and making the name of Jesus famous in your community!
Keep up the great work!
To share your church's story and be featured in future Surf Reports, send the details along with some pictures to stories@kbcmail.org.
Published on Jan 23 @ 4:21 PM CDT
KiDs Beach Club® TV - Season 2 goes GLOBAL!
In 2022, the only way to see KiDs Beach Club® Season 2 was through Pure Flix, but that all changed with the new year! Thanks to our distribution partner BMG Global, you can now see KBC-TV Season 2 on a global scale!
If you liked KiDs Beach Club® Season 1, you will definitely want to see Season 2. It's packed full of new games, original music, and an expanded cast of talented kids! Danni, Alex, and Oliver are back from Season 1, joined by newcomers Grey, Eli, Vee, Kinley, and Rylie. Pastor Mark is back again, too, but this time he is "on location" in each episode sharing our Bible Connection. Of course, your favorite TV club leaders Jason and Jordan are back leading the Beach Club® kids in learning biblical character.
Check your local listings for KiDs Beach Club® Season 1 and Season 2! You won't want to miss an episode. Individual episodes or the entire season of KBC-TV Season 2 are also available for purchase on Amazon Prime!
As an Amazon Associate, KBC earns from qualifying purchases made from links on this page.
Published on Jan 23 @ 4:21 PM CDT
Beach Clubbers Make Jesus Their Forever Friend
At KiDs Beach Club®, our vision is to provide every preteen boy and girl with a Jesus experience. That means in everything we do, we want to provide opportunities for kids to not only know about Jesus but to experience His love for themselves. Ultimately, we pray that the “Jesus experience” will lead that preteen to decide to make Jesus their Forever Friend, giving them complete peace knowing that they’re never alone in this life. That’s why we partner with churches to provide after-school Beach Clubs® in public schools around the country. It’s why we partner with broadcasters around the world to air the KiDs Beach Club® television show on their stations, networks, and streaming channels.
Historically, we see about 10% of kids enrolled in Beach Club® experience Jesus and make Him their forever friend. And that’s just the ones that have been recorded! We also know that there are likely many more professions of faith as a result of Beach Club® that are not recorded. This fall alone, 147 kids in Beach Club® have decided to make Jesus their Forever Friend! That is 147 preteens who have had a Jesus experience and invited Him to come into and be a part of their lives.
These moments are special not only for the kids but also for the leaders. You see, when a child in Beach Club® expresses an interest in accepting Jesus as Savior, a club volunteer will sit down with that child to talk through all that is involved with that decision. Though it’s a simple process, we want the kids to understand the significance of what they are doing. Once the child makes that decision, the news is shared with the rest of the club so everyone can express joy for their friend’s decision. Our partner churches have the ability to follow-up with each child who has made Jesus their Forever Friend at Beach Club®. This follow-up often includes giving the rest of the family a Jesus experience as they talk with the parents about the decision their child has made.
We celebrate these decisions at KiDs Beach Club®! The reach of one club, one volunteer, one partner church, one child is limitless. A child deciding to make Jesus their Forever Friend is not only going to make a difference in that child’s life today, but it will also make a difference in everyone that child impacts going forward. Families often start coming to church as a result. Friends hear about it and join Beach Club®. The extended reach of KiDs Beach Club is truly unknown today—but one day in Heaven we will see the impact that these precious lives have had.
So today and every day, we celebrate how God is using us to provide preteens with a Jesus experience. We celebrate the 147 precious children who this fall have already made Jesus their Forever Friend, and we celebrate the 9,538 who have done that since KiDs Beach Club® started. We pray that you, our partners, volunteers, parents, and donors will celebrate as well because you are helping make all of this possible. By God’s grace, together we will continue to make an even greater impact around the world—an impact that can last for generations.
Each week at KiDs Beach Club® we are moving a little closer to giving every preteen a Jesus experience!
Published on Nov 09 @ 2:37 PM CDT
A 14-Year Volunteer Looks Back
KiDs Beach Club® has been blessed with so many wonderful volunteers over the years. These volunteers impact young lives in ways that we at the corporate office rarely hear about. That’s why it was a special treat to sit down recently with Karen May and her husband, Mike. Karen and Mike have been supporters of KiDs Beach Club® since its inception and continue to support the ministry today. As a 14-year Bible Connection leader in Beach Club®, Karen shared some stories that have stuck with her over the years.
She couldn’t help but lead off with her greatest joy from serving in Beach Club®. “There’s no greater joy than leading kids to Christ. And it’s a soul joy. It’s something that doesn’t leave you. It’s the greatest joy that anyone, any human could know is someone coming to faith in Jesus Christ.”
“I was reminded of a story this morning,” she continued. “I can still see the little boy’s face. But he was waiting to receive a Bible. And he had been attending faithfully weekly, and the day that his name was called, he scurried up to the stage, and I handed him the Bible. Well, he grabbed the Bible, and he clutched it to his chest. And he kissed it. That says it all. That this little guy knew instinctively, ‘I love this. This is a treasure.’ It’s a privilege and joy to help them understand who Jesus is and how much he loves them.”
When the topic of how KiDs Beach Club® can have an impact not only on the child attending but their family as well, Karen remembered one particular mother who would occasionally stay at club to see what was being done and said. “She was just trying to take it in. And then she was hearing everything that her daughter was hearing. And she wanted to be a part of it. That’s just one example of the spillage, the overflow. He came to give life, and he came to give it abundantly, bubbling over, for all of us. That hope was translating to their family which was a beautiful thing.”
We all have this core need deep inside that causes us to look for Christ, and Karen shared how it is no different for kids in Beach Club®. “Think of their core need, which is our core need, which is, ‘am I loved?’ They just want to know. That’s the deep question, the deep pondering. They may not be able to articulate that, but if they know, if they learn ‘I am loved by the Creator of the universe. He actually made me. He likes me. He wants me.’ That’s life changing.”
KBC volunteers are the boots on the ground for the generational impact that is happening through KiDs Beach Club®. That’s why we’re thankful for all of the volunteers, like Karen May, who have served over the years and for the 1065 volunteers serving this year alone in our nearly 100 clubs in 8 states around the United States.
To learn more about volunteering at KiDs BeachClub®, please visit our volunteering page.
Published on Nov 09 @ 2:37 PM CDT
