Kids Beach Clubs taking gospel to elementary campuses after school

EULESS—Land-locked Euless is about as far removed from the beach as a ground-soaking thunderstorm was from just about any part of Texas this summer. But despite the apparent disconnect, the Kids Beach Club, founded in the north Texas city, gives elementary school students the chance to encounter God’s Word on their school campuses.

Kids Beach Club founder Jack Terrell said the program was created to “get outside the walls of the church” and reach the children of his community for Christ. Terrell, who was on staff at First Baptist Church of Euless at the time, began working in 2003 with the Good News Clubs, a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship. The program connects churches to elementary schools where they host weekly after-school meetings with students on their campuses. Church volunteers use CEF materials that include games, Bible stories, and music.

Terrell called their club “Kids Beach Club.” The name was a spin-off of a popular children’s ministry of FBC Euless called “Treasure Island.” Hundreds of grade-school students met each Sunday “on the island” and the hope, Terrell said, was to draw children from the “beach” at the elementary school to the “treasure” of salvation, and fellowship in a church home for them and their families.

After working with CEF, Terrell wanted to tweak a few elements of the ministry, especially the organization’s prohibition of inviting students to church—a policy Terrell said has since changed. Terrell also wanted to focus the ministry solely to children in third through sixth grade in order to more effectively direct the curriculum and discipline.

The Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District is one of the few Texas school districts that incorporates sixth grade classes into the grade-school campus. Most districts include sixth grade in the intermediate schools.

So in 2006 Terrell, with support from his church, established the Kids Beach Club. The format of the program is similar to the Good News Club but is a high energy introduction into the gospel, he said.

“It’s VBS on steroids,” said Pastor G.J. Walton of North Euless Baptist Church, whose church sponsors a club at a nearby elementary school.

After being in class all day, Terrell said the kids are ready to work off some energy. All of the fast-paced activities are Bible based and designed to draw the students back to Scripture and the treasures found in them.

Five years after establishing the ministry, clubs have opened across Texas and in Georgia and Florida (The Florida club is actually near the beach in Jensen Beach, Fla.).

Linda Colston, part-time pre-school children’s minister at Shady Oaks Baptist Church in Hurst, said the Kids Beach Club provides a tremendous opportunity for churches to incorporate home missions into their overall evangelistic endeavors. Shady Oaks Baptist Church began hosting a Kids Beach Club when the ministry was in its fledgling stage, adding a second school to its outreach two years later. Beginning Sept. 22 the volunteers of Shady Oaks will be on the campuses of Shady Oaks Elementary and Harrison Lane Elementary.

Colston said if it were not for Kids Beach Club, many of the school children would continue to go through their young lives without knowing anything about God because their families do not attend church.

“What I’m seeing there is a good many kids who are not involved in church anywhere. We are spreading the gospel to kids who will not hear it any other way,” said the 20-year children’s ministry veteran.

Many children in the neighborhoods surrounding the schools need love and a sense of stability, Colston added. Kids in their clubs come from broken homes and the message of acceptance and the security of salvation speaks volumes to them, she added.

The influence on the kids was evident to Colston recently on a trip to Wal-Mart. Her shopping was interrupted by shouts of “Miss Linda! Miss Linda! Do you remember me?”
The child, a Kids Beach Club member from the previous year, ran and embraced her.

“We just love on them,” she said.

Once a school board gives approval for a club to meet on the campuses of their district, it is up to the churches to choose which school they will sponsor.

That decision was not at all difficult for the small congregation of North Euless Baptist Church. North Euless Elementary School sits just across the street. Walton said the Kids Beach Club ministry gave his church the opportunity to reach out to families in the working-class neighborhood.

He said his church has built a good working relationship with the school through the ministry.

“The school was very accommodating. They saw us as volunteers who were helping them out,” Walton said.

Upon review of parent registration materials, Walton also saw that there were a good many children without a church home or who attended church on a “regular” basis as defined by the parent. He even noted that two of the students were from Muslim families.

Walton and Colston said students from their respective clubs have attended their Vacation Bible Schools and other outreach ministries. Some of the children’s families receive support from an area para-church organization called 6 Stones, which also began at First Baptist Euless. Shady Oaks and North Euless partner with the ministry, which increases the opportunity for church members to see their Kids Beach Club members outside of club.

But it is in the club where they have the greatest impact. Children have made professions of faith in the clubs, Walton and Colston reported. In a statement posted on the Kids Beach Club website, First Baptist Euless Pastor John Meador said, “Kids Beach Clubs have given us an arm of outreach into the community and a place for people to serve the Lord! This past semester alone, our Beach Clubs saw more than 96 kids accept Christ. We’re working to expand our number of Beach Clubs this year. This is one of the best ministry investments I’ve experienced!”

Taking on the responsibility of hosting a Kids Beach Club does not require a large investment of time and people. Volunteers from both churches have included retirees, stay-at-home moms, and business men. Colston said there is a place for everyone. The 24-week program requires little preparation each week as the Kids Beach Club organization provides lesson plans for each week’s meeting. Time spent on campus, Colston said, is just over an hour. Volunteer training for the ministry is provided by Kids Beach Club.

“Beach Club makes it easy,” Colston added.

Walton said all he needs in volunteers are “people to come in and love on the kids.”