King’s Kids Junior Team, available to ages 9–13, has a different purpose and approach to ministry than youth groups in the local church. An effective youth group will draw young people in every stage of spiritual development, from the unsaved and searching to dedicated teenage disciples. It will have a variety of programs designed to meet the needs of youth at these different levels of spiritual maturity, and has the benefit of the broad resources of a local congregation to draw on. King’s Kids has a more specific focus. We see our calling as helping young people who already have a heart for God move forward in areas of spiritual growth and discipleship that most youth groups cannot provide. These areas include more advanced training in leadership, learning to share their faith effectively, and opportunities for evangelism and missions work ranging from the local to the international level.

Our desire is not to infringe on the ministry of the local church youth program, but rather supplement and support it. We want to avoid competing with the local church for their teenager’s time, talents, and loyalty. When a young person has received the benefits of youth group involvement and has a desire to go further with the Lord, we hope that the pastors and youth leaders will see King’s Kids as an ideal next step in their walk with the Lord.

We are looking for young people that know and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They do not have to be talented or “super spiritual,” but just have a heart and desire to know Him more and make Him known to others.

We pray over each application. It is important that we have God’s timing for a young person’s participation in Kings’ Kids. A “normal” team is composed of an equal number of males and females. We would like a balanced team of 40–50 young people of different ethnic backgrounds and a mixture of personalities. There is a strong witness when the unifying factor of a group is the Lord.

The older teenagers must be willing to be role models for the younger ones. They will be in leadership roles over the Action Groups. We also offer a second team of 9–13 year olds, which we call Junior Team. Each young person must submit an application which includes parental permission for participation.

In order to concentrate on the mandate God has given us, King’s Kids does not take unsaved young people on our local teams. We also do not accept teenagers who are marginal in their Christian faith or unsure of their commitment to the Lordship of Jesus and their desire to serve Him. Youth who are involved in drugs, alcohol or tobacco use, pornography, premarital sex, gender identity confusion or rebellion against authority are not ready for King’s Kids. Those with deep personal needs and problems should be referred to the ministry of the local church, since their needs would not be met by involvement on a King’s Kids team or foreign missions outreach.

The Junior team will meet all day one Saturday per month. Participants are required to attend all weekends, but may be excused for one to several hours during that time for sports or other extracurricular activities. October is training month and will require extra Saturdays of commitment.

The annual fee for Junior Team is $250.

At times parents have asked why there is a fee, since churches do not charge fees for youth group participation or Sunday School. We are different from a church youth group in many ways. Financially, a church group is supported by tithes and offerings from members of the congregation. We don't have this base of financial support. King’s Kids charges fees to meet the substantial expenses of our ministry programs, transportation, meals and supplies during team weekends, fees for events and retreats, T-shirts, etc. Fees cover about half of our annual operating budget and do not go toward paying any salaries for our staff, who are supported by donations.

The actual expense of our property, office costs, vehicles, meals and ministry expenses is over $500 per youth involved. We don't want families to miss out on the benefits King's Kids brings to their families and the spiritual growth of their kids due to this actual cost, so we ask families to make up part and general donations and extra income make up the rest.

Spring Break, which is an optional week long outreach in El Paso for those 12 and older, is an additional cost of approximately $225.

Summer outreach costs vary from year to year based on the destination and will be published in the future.