Clubs Blog : information

Summer Camp Ministry

marrena — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:55:00 GMT

Each summer our staff spends time at Christian Camps around the country preaching, serving, and/or being camp sponsors. Churches often ask when we will be at a camp in their area so that they can either bring a group of children that week of camp, meet with a Kids 4 Truth representative for one on one training/set up, or find out more about Kids 4 Truth.

Below is a copy of our schedule for the next couple years. We are more than happy to meet with you while we are at camps. To make sure the week does not go by without meeting with us, please contact me (marrena@kids4truth.com or 866-754-4272) and set up an appointment.

Summer 2009

Bob Roberts - Executive Director/Founder

Wilds Christian Camp - Asheville, NC

June 8-13
June 15-20 - Junior Camp Speaker
June 22-27
July 13-18 - Junior Camp Speaker
July 26-August 1
August 3-8
August 10-15 - Family Camp Speaker for children
August 17-22

Wilds Christian Camp - Northeast

June 29-July 4 - Junior Camp Speaker

Northland Pioneer Camp - Dunbar, WI

July 6-11 - Junior Camp Speaker
July 20-25 - Junior Camp Speaker

Marrena Ralph - Clubs Program Administrator

Southland Christian Camp

June 1-5

Wilds Christian Camp - Asheville, NC

June 22-26

Sarah Roberts - Administrative Assistant

Wilds Christian Camp - Asheville, NC

June 8-13
June 15-20
June 22-27
June 29-July 4
July 6-11
July 13-18
July 20-25
July 26-August 1
August 3-8
August 10-15
August 17-22

Summer 2010:

Bob Roberts

Wilds Christian Camp - Asheville, NC

June 7-12 - Junior Camp Speaker
June 14-19
June 21-26 - Junior Camp Speaker
July 12-17 - Junior Camp Speaker
July 19-24
July 26-31 - Junior Camp Speaker
August 2-7
August 9-14 - Junior Camp Speaker
August 16-21 - Family Camp Speaker for children

Southland Christian Camp

July 6-10 - Junior Camp Speaker

Marrena Ralph

Southland Christian Camp

July 6-10

Sarah Roberts - Administrative Assistant

Wilds Christian Camp - Asheville, NC

June 7-12
June 14-19
June 21-26
June 28-July 3
July 6-10
July 12-17
July 19-24
July 26-31
August 2-7
August 9-14
August 16-21

We look forward to seeing you and the children from your church at camp during the summers.

Return Policies

jgillen — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:46:00 GMT

Several questions have come in recently regarding our return policies - we are working to get these posted to the on-line store, but until we can get those up, we wanted to go ahead and post them here to the Clubs Blog where you can refer back to them as often as you need.

- Refunds are not available for download purchases. If there is a problem with the download purchased, a store credit will be issued. Problems must be reported no later than 30 days from purchase date.
- Any shipping discrepancies or damages must be reported within 30 days. Defective and damaged materials should be returned within 30 days after notifying Kids 4 Truth.
- Unused merchandise returned in clean, salable condition with no signs of use within 90 days of invoice date will be credited to your account, or refunded. No credit will be issued for materials returned after 90 days. Books will only be accepted if they are unopened. The customer is responsible for shipping charges on returns, as well as any new merchandise being shipped as an exchange.
- There is a 15% restocking fee on all items returned.
- Please allow 2 weeks for credit to be issued for returned merchandise.

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to contact us at clubs@kids4truth.com.

Curriculum Explanation Flyers

marrena — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 05:30:39 GMT

Curriculum Explanation Flyers are now available to explain the TruthBooks to workers, parents, or churches. These one-page flyers show where to find the memory components and required work that must be completed in each unit. Sample units are included on the flyer for easy reference. Photos of the patches and/or stickers are shown with an explanation of how the child earns each patch. Six flyers are available one for each book in level 1 and one for each of levels 2-4.

There are several recommended uses for these flyers:

At a glance training for your workers
In training manuals or worker notebooks
Parental Informational Packets
Given to a child when he/she earns the TruthBook
Explanation of how the children earn award patches
Those reviewing the Kids 4 Truth Materials

Live Support: Another Communication-Solution

BobRoberts — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:34:41 GMT

A few weeks ago we introduced you to the new “Live Support” feature. I’d like to take a few moments to further explain it and encourage you to use it. It’s a free service that allows you to instantly “chat” with one of the Kids 4 Truth team without installing software or jumping through other time-consuming hoops. Please take a moment to locate the Live Support button at the top of this webpage.

Here’s how it works…

1. You click the green and gray Live Support button: or

2. An entry screen window will automatically appear that looks like this:

3. Once you fill in the fields and click “Request Chat,” the window will become a chat session with a Kids 4 Truth team member:

It’s that easy! Feel free to give it a try right now and say “hello” to one of us!

We want to offer many communication-channels to our users in order to facilitate your wants and needs. Please remember that you can always call us at our toll-free number. E-mails to us are usually answered within an hour or two. Live Support is now another convenient option to help us help you. We have been adding the Live Support feature to several portions of our website, including all the Clubs pages (http://clubs.kids4truth.com). We’ll continue to add it in more pertinent places. I suggest that you encourage parents of clubbers to take advantage of this new feature as they surf and inquire about the Kids 4 Truth program.

Your Servant,

Two Things To Know - Please Do (At Least) One Now!

BobRoberts — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 02:19:23 GMT

Recently, we revamped the EquipU website to help you find what you need more easily. One of the new communication tools that we launched with the new EquipU is a “Clubs Blog.” If you’re reading this right now, you’ve found the Clubs Blog! Please spend a few moments here and see how this special website might benefit you. We will be adding pertinent information here, weekly. We believe that this new blog is one of several “communication-solutions” that will help disseminate vital information to you.

Friend, let me highly encourage and even exhort you to do at least one of the things detailed below. As our ministry grows and matures, churches continue to provide helpful feedback about the program. We’re listening, evaluating, and taking action to try and make Kids 4 Truth the best tool available to help Christians ground boys and girls in essential Bible truth!

By God’s grace, we’re continually sharpening the Kids 4 Truth Clubs and we desperately desire this “sharpening” to trickle down to you—the people serving on the fronline of battle! We exist to serve you but effective serving only happens through effective communication! We’ll be using this blog to help you be “in-the-know” about the latest helpful “club” resources we release.

Here are two ways to take full advantage of the new Clubs Blog…

#1 – E-mail Alerts

If you sign up for this free service, every time one of the Kids 4 Truth staff adds a post to the Clubs Blog, you will be alerted via e-mail. I recommend selecting the second option: “Send me emails for new posts and articles only” and then hit the “Update Blog Settings” button. Since you need to be “signed in” to view the Blog Email Subscription web page, you don’t need to provide your e-mail address. You’ll begin receiving alerts to the same e-mail address you used to sign up for the EquipU site. The e-mail alert will contain the entire content of every blog post so there is no need for you to login or click a link in order to read the post (click HERE to see a sample alert of this post). Convenient? You bet!

Once you hit “Update Blog Settings” the page will refresh and you will automatically be added to the e-mail list. You will recieve your first e-mail alert as soon as we add a new post. Don’t worry if it still says: “You do not have any post subscriptions” under “Individual Post & Article Subscriptions.” This is a feature for advanced users and will not concern most people.

Click HERE to sign up for e-mail alerts for the Kids 4 Truth Clubs Blog.

You can cancel this subscription at any time via the email alerts.

Additionally, you can sign up for e-mail alerts for the EquipU Forum posts.

#2 – RSS Feeds

Have you ever heard of RSS? It stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and it is the wave of the future when it comes to modes by which we as humans receive information. The new Clubs Blog has an RSS feature whereby you can automatically receive any new posts. One of the advantages of RSS is that it literally “slurps” all the data from a blog or news website into an RSS “reader” where you can quickly and easily organize and assimilate all the data. Think of it this way: you use an e-mail program like Outlook to receive and organize all your e-mail. An RSS reader is to RSS feeds what Outlook is to e-mail. When I want to scan the news, surf devotional thoughts, learn a new “word of the day,” or discover the latest buzz or controversy—I can do so with minimal time outlay because of my RSS reader.

RSS readers come in both stand-alone and web-based versions. There are several good and completely free versions avaiable online. I use two RSS feed “readers.” If you don’t have an RSS reader, please let me suggest the two that I use.

FeedReader

I have used several different readers and this one has been my favorite by far. I love the ability to have a standalone program dedicated to RSS feeds only. This program is as simple to use as Outlook. Please click on the graphic at right for a screenshot of FeedReader. It will give you a better idea of what it can do.

FeedReader Website (includes link to free download)

Google Reader

Google Reader is a free web-based RSS reader. The main advantage of this service is you can still read all your RSS feeds even if you’re away from your own computer.

Google Reader Website

So how do I subscribe to your RSS feed? Great question! First of all, it’s very easy. For anyone. Trust me. Just look for the part on the right sidebar that has links to RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0. Either one of these links will take you to a subscription address that you can copy and paste into your RSS reader. Once you click the subscribe button within your RSS reader program—you’re all set! Whenever you refresh your RSS feeds, any new posts from the Clubs Blog will automatically be slurped into your reader.

Find out more about RSS

NOTE: If you’re not signed up for EquipU yet, please register to use this free website right away!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Thank you and may God bless you and yours this Christmas season!

Your Servant,

Getting A Handle On The Scope And Sequence Of Kids 4 Truth

BobRoberts — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:45:19 GMT

Here is a short and helpful PowerPoint presentation that will help anyone evaluating the Kids 4 Truth Club understand the scope and sequence of the curriculum.

Also, for those of you using Kids 4 Truth, I recommend sending a link to this blog post to your fellow workers and parents of clubbers. Please let me also encourage you to use this presentation with a projector in order to explain how the children’s Truthbooks work. I trust that if you’re already using our materials you will find this a helpful tool for all who are involved in your local Kids 4 Truth Club.

You will need either PowerPoint or the PowerPoint Viewer to view this file. If you have neither, don’t fret! Microsoft has the FREE PowerPoint Viewer available on their website for immediate downloading. I recommend downloading the 2007 version.

Here’s the scope and sequence of the Kids 4 Truth Curriculum in a nutshell:

4 Age Levels
2 Truthbooks (curriculum workbooks) per Level
6 Doctrinal Themes per Truthbook
10 “Top” Questions and Answers per Doctrinal Theme
120 Total Top Q&A is reviewed every two years. Answers gradually “get tougher” as a child’s mental capacity grows. We desire to systematically build upon the rich doctrinal knowledge that the children have learned in previous Levels.

Download “Understanding The Scope And Sequence Of The Kids 4 Truth Curriculum” Presentation (19 slides, about 8MB)

Download PowerPoint 2007 Viewer (Free)

I hope this will be a blessing to you. Thank you, and may God richly bless you and yours this Christmas season.

Your Servant,

Recordkeeping Revelations

BobRoberts — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:29:07 GMT

Q: What record keeping tools do you provide?

A: We offer two primary record keeping tools: 1. An Attendance record sheet that keeps track of a child’s attendance, Bible, Truthbook, and Standard (award sash) and 2. An Award record sheet that details a child’s progress through his/her Truthbook.

General Attendance Sheets: http://equipu.kids4truth.com/files/folders/generaldocuments/entry96.aspx
Award Record Sheets: http://equipu.kids4truth.com/files/folders/awards/entry156.aspx

Q: Why aren’t your Award record sheets more detailed?

A: Because we want to encourage the workers to spend less time with records and more time with the children. We’d rather have people investing time into relationships instead of record keeping. Also, we want the record keeping to be as simple and easy as possible.

Q: What if children lose their books? Are the records detailed enough to know exactly where a child left off?

A: No, they’re not quite that detailed. The Award record sheet does not detail curriculum units or pages completed; rather, it records the date on which a child earns each award patch. There are five patch awards per doctrinal theme for the Developers, Detectives, and Defenders. Here are the 5 awards per doctrinal theme the Award record sheet details:

Award 1 — first five Top Q&A recited one-at-a-time (each curriculum unit is built around one of the Top Q&A and is always the “Memorize It!” component of the curriculum. Also, boys and girls are usually required only to memorize and recite the ANSWER portion of the Top Q&A. Please check with your local club to make sure.)
Award 2 — second five Top Q&A recited one-at-a-time
Award 3 — first five Top Q&A recited simultaneously (we want boys and girls to learn the material well enough to say the answers 5 at a time!)
Award 4 — second five Top Q&A recited simultaneously
Bonus Award — varies

Q: What if a child “remembers” exactly where they were?

A: That’s wonderful! But defer to the Award record sheet, please. Point out to the child his/her last completed award and have him begin work on achieving the next award. So, if he has completed Award 1, he should begin work on the 6th curriculum unit. If he has completed Award 2, he should study to say the first 5 Q&A for that doctrinal theme at one time.

Remember:

Award 1 — first five Q&A staggered
Award 2 — second five Q&A staggered
Award 3 — first five Q&A simultaneously
Award 4 — second five Q&A simultaneously

But what if the child has earned Award 1 and remembers that he has already completed 4 out of the 5 Q&A necessary to earn his next award? Well, that’s tough. They shouldn’t have lost their book! Our recommended award system discourages children from losing their Truthbooks. So, the “worst” case scenario if a child loses his/her book is that they would have to go back and repeat 4 curriculum units by re-reciting the Top Q&A from each unit. Now really, is that too tough?

Q: How can I tell what Award record sheet I need?

A: There are 9 different Award record sheets. The award record sheets correspond to each one of the 9 Truthbooks. At the top of each Award record sheet is a small image of the Truthbook to which it corresponds as well as a description of that particular Truthbook. All 9 sheets are included in the one Award record sheet PDF: http://equipu.kids4truth.com/files/folders/awards/entry156.aspx

Q: Who should keep the records?

A: We recommend that the small group leaders keep the records. We recommend this because we’d rather have leaders that are closer to the children than an aloof secretary. Also, this record keeping strategy may encourage the small group leaders to have more interaction with moms and dads about the progress/behavior/etc. of their child. In the club I direct, we have set up the small group leaders with notebooks that include both Attendance and Award record sheets. At the end of the year, we utilize the Award record sheets to help us determine which year-end award each child should receive.

Q: How do I know which year-end award each child has won?

A: You can refer to the right side of each Award record sheet where it details precisely what a child must accomplish for the different year-end awards.

Q: I don’t care for your record keeping philsophy very much! I still want very detailed records—what should I do?

A: That’s fine. You don’t need to “buy into” everything we say. These are all recommendations. If you want to keep more detailed records, please allow me to direct you to some designed by the very talented Mike Betancourt.

http://equipu.kids4truth.com/files/folders/generalcontributions/entry215.aspx

(this is one of the blessings of having the collaborative ability of the EquipU website. Thanks, Mike!)

K4T Update Letter

marrena — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:16:00 GMT

Dear Friend,

“Mr. Bob, I got saved by God today.”

These were the words seven-year-old Anna Carter said to me recently. Anna’s father, Mike, told me that he and Anna were looking through the Kids 4 Truth website when Anna started asking questions about God and eternity. Mike said that he was able to use the website as a teaching tool to help her “connect the dots” and understand important eternal truths. He had the opportunity to lead his daughter to the Lord. Praise God for His marvelous truth! Praise God that He saw fit to use our ministry to help Anna understand her need for the Savior. There are millions of children all over the world who need the truth, just like Anna.

This is what Kids 4 Truth is all about. We want to inspire and equip God’s people to teach boys and girls the most important truths about God. And by God’s grace, we’ve made some pretty big strides toward that goal over the last year. Please allow me to update you.

The number of churches either using or Kids 4 Truth Clubs or shortly planning to begin using them has increased significantly this year. We have over 100 churches using our clubs this fall. Praise the Lord!

Over the past few months, we’ve been updating and upgrading our entire curriculum. As God allows and provides, we will begin to translate this complete and polished English translation into several different languages. Spanish, Portuguese, and French are languages at the top of our list. Please pray as we look into specifics regarding translation work.

Our website has continued to enjoy high numbers of visitors. About 10,000 people come to our website every day to read devotionals, download resources, view our award-winning Dynamations, and discover concise, child-friendly answers to some of life’s toughest questions. If you have not visited www.kids4truth.com recently, please do come see all that is available.

On August 1, we released The Watchmaker Dynamation. This Dynamation fostered a surge of new visitors of both those who agree and those who disagree with us. With the increase of visitors came an increase in e-mail questions, downloads, and interest in the clubs. We praise the Lord for how He has used this Dynamation to bring Glory to Himself.

We praise the Lord for the launch of a new EquipU site. This site allows us to serve our churches better with online support, more downloadable files, and a new staff blog page to keep our churches in the “know” of what is happening at Kids 4 Truth. Soon we will launch a completely redesigned Kids 4 Truth website which will prove to be our most interactive site yet. We also plan to release a new on line store that will feature new customer-friendly features.

We have moved! Since our early days as an incorporated entity, our humble ministry has leased office space from Tri-City Ministries. Over this past year, we realized an increasing urgency to move into a place of our own. We needed to relocate for 3 key reasons: 1– identity, 2– accessibility, and 3– and (most importantly) space! Thankfully, God has provided a solution. Our new offices are wonderful! The building is on the sidewalk level in a fairly high-profile area of Lee's Summit, a nice suburb in the greater Kansas City area. There are two large windows in front, and I have become reacquainted with sunlight. We are renting from likeminded landlords who have been very gracious to us. Over the past few months, we have been remodeling and preparing the offices. Thanks to the help of many Christ-like servants, the interior work is done. We have successfully moved our “stuff” about 15 miles across town to the new offices. It has been an exciting adventure. People have donated time, talent, and resources. Professional dry-wallers, painters, electricians, etc. gave so much to help complete the project. Our landlords have paid for most of the material cost of renovation, and have now begun renovating the front of the building to make it more “Kids 4 Truth specific.”

We are very thankful to God for His enabling grace. We acknowledge that if anything good has happened through us in the last year; it is because of God’s goodness. Philippians 2:13 – For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Thank you for all that you have done to stand with Kids 4 Truth. You are a tremendous blessing to us. We hope that this update will be an encouragement to you.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to serve you.

Sincerely,

Bob Roberts and the Kids 4 Truth Executive Team

***check out Bob's Blog at: www.kids4truth.com/bobsblog for photos of our new offices.

New Fall Training Sessions

marrena — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:57:00 GMT

The following Kids 4 Truth Training Events have been scheduled. Please contact our office if you would like more information about one of these events.

October 11, 6:30-8:30 pm     Liberty Hills Baptist Church - Liberty, MO
October 14                         Faith Baptist Church - Flosom, CA
October 21, 8:30-11:30 am   Holmes Baptist Church - Clarion, IA
October 28                          Grace Baptist Church - Dacula, GA
November 7                         Calvary Baptist Church - Freemont, NE

You may schedule one of the Kids 4 Truth Staff members to do training at your church. While we do not charge for this service, we ask that you cover travel and living expenses while we are in your area. Many churches who choose to have training at their church open the training up for other churches to attend - we call this Regional Training. While we do not charge people to attend these events, we do allow host churches to charge attendies to help cover expenses.

New Communication Cards help both workers and parents!

marrena — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:16:00 GMT

Getting your parents on board to help their children learn the curriculum is a great benefit to your club. We find that it is often difficult for the younger children to communicate to their parents or K4T worker what they have learned, need to recite, or where they are in the book.

New weekly cards (http://equipu.kids4truth.com/files/folders/communication_cards/default.aspx) are available to encourage communication between the worker and parents.

We want your feedback and ideas on these cards! Are they helpful? Do you want items like this for the older levels? Do they contain too little or much information? Be sure to list your ideas in our forum on the communication cards at: http://equipu.kids4truth.com/forums/378/ShowThread.aspx#378.