King's Kids International began in 1976 in Hawaii under the leadership of Dale and Carol Kauffman. Since then, hundreds of teams have ministered throughout Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. King's Kids teams have reached out to serve the poor and have impacted the wealthy. They have proclaimed God's love at a wide variety of national and international outreaches and events.  

 

To understand the humble beginnings of  Kings Kids International please read the "Story of the Green Frogs"  (Below)

 

The Story of the Green Frogs

…as told by Dale Kauffman, founder of King’s Kids International

 

On a Saturday afternoon at the YWAM-Kona, Hawaii base, I invited a group of 11 children to wait on God with me. Previously I had taken time to share with them who God really is. I chose specific children who appeared to have an open heart and a hunger towards God. It wasn’t all children, but those who were interested in waiting on God to find out what would bring joy to him. They didn’t overrun me with enthusiasm, but as I mentioned, they said, “OK”.

 

And so we sat in a very hot room, and the children were thinking, “I could just as well be outside surfing.” I could have said that they were torturing themselves with me to sit in this room. I didn’t feel comfortable and I was very nervous. I nearly said, “OK, let’s all just go home.” But I didn’t want to miss God’s plan for my life. So, I took a black board and said, “So kids, we want to wait on God, and I believe that he would like to speak to us because he loves us.” So, I shared with them the same things that I am telling you here. Some children gave the impression that they were not listening at all. Then came the moment when I said, “We want to bow our heads and wait on God.” And I waited. After a while, we wanted to share the impressions that we had received. I had taught them to trust God as their father and given them guidelines how to listen to the right voice.

 

Then came the moment when I said, “OK, what did God say to you?” I took a piece of chalk and asked 8-year old Erick, “What did God say to you?” He looked at me a little strange and said, “I saw a green frog.” I drew up on the inside, but I wrote on the black board, ‘green frog’. Then I asked a very energetic 4-year old girl what she had received. “I think I saw a rainbow,” she answered. My thought was, “Oh well, little girls always see rainbows – that’s just her imagination. I don’t want to make myself a fool.” But I wrote, ‘rainbow’ on the black board.

 

Another child opened the Bible and asked, “What does this verse mean?” The verse was from Isaiah and concerned a group of people that had gathered. I didn’t know what God wanted to say through it, but I wrote the chapter and verse on the black board and noted to the side: A gathering of people. I don’t want to share all the impressions, but there were 9 various ones.

 

On the black board, I saw: green frog, rainbow, and some scripture references. The children were insecure. “Dale, did we do it?” I asked myself, “What’s going on?” Did these children only have some ideas in their heads and appeared that they had heard God’s voice?

 

“Now,” I said, “what we are going to do now is….” Have you ever said that without knowing what you really should do? And then you say, “God, I’m going to open my mouth so that you can fill it.” And just as I mentioned, the idea came to me that I could ask God for the meaning. So I said, “God, if this is your idea, then it’s also your problem.” Disappointment started to weigh heavily on my back. As we prayed more details became clear – specifically, the date, 4th of July. Some children understood that we should prepare a program. Others had no idea what it meant and just wanted to go swimming because they had had enough. So, I had to find out, “God, what it this?” With my whole heart I pressed into him. Then I realized that I stood ‘at the shores of the Jordan river’ and expected either to drown or to see God do a miracle.

 

Finally, we were convinced that we should present a program on 4th of July where a lot of people would gather for a special celebration. One of the kids said, “I wonder if it shouldn’t be at the runway of the old airport?” So, I asked, “God, is this right?” We received peace about it. So I said, “Good, we will prepare a program on 4th of July at the old airport with green frogs and rainbows.” We wrote a small story about 2 fishermen families, prepared some music pieces, and planned a program with green frogs that would lead the program. We painted a backdrop with a big rainbow. I noticed something different about this project from other events I had done in my church as a youth pastor. If something didn’t go well – for example, the paint ran – the children didn’t give up. If we didn’t have any more money, they didn’t say, “Dale, where’s the money?” It was their project. God had spoken to them, and they believed that God would do something special through it.

 

At last, the day came. The rain was pouring. Our frogs were made of papier-mâché and our backdrop was made from big pieces of paper. We have another time of prayer during which two children received some fearful scriptures. One of the scriptures stated that God would save some people, and people would turn from their sins and believe God. I cannot remember the exact verse, but the second verse spoke of a group of people who had gathered. Both these scriptures were a problem for me.

 

In Hawaii, where we live, it rains very rarely. Throughout the whole year we have about 21 C. Sometimes it rains a little in the afternoons. But if it rains heavily, no one goes outside. Hawaiians don’t know what an umbrella is – they don’t have any. Therefore, it’s not possible that there would be anyone there. But here were the children and they were believing for a big group of people. As I looked at the program, I said to myself, “No one will get saved through this. Who would turn from their sins based on what a green frog would say?” I almost said, “Let’s be cautious.” But the Lord stopped me, “You be careful. Don’t stand in the way!” So, I repented and asked, “Lord, is this really from you?”

 

I got in the truck with the kids and felt peaceful despite my insecurities. I said to the children, “If you believe that the father has spoken to you, then continue to trust him. However, I don’t have the faith.” As we drove, it rained harder. The children said, “Dale, let’s pray that the rain will stop.” I asked if someone had received something from the Lord that would confirm that the Lord would stop the rain. They prayed again, but no one received anything concerning this.

 

When we arrived at the old airport, we didn’t unload the frogs or the rainbow backdrop from the vehicles.  Since it was already dark outside, we took a piece of wood and attached a light bulbs to it to have a little light. However, as we plugged it in, the bulbs broke because of the rain. Then a man from the airport came and told us that we couldn’t use our sound system because of the danger of electrical shock. One of the children had a small battery operated cassette player which you could hardly hear. However, I forgot to say that when we arrived at the old airport, all the chairs were occupied with people. I was shocked that they sat there with umbrellas!

 

Now, the children were standing with only two remaining light bulbs. And when I saw it, I wasn’t encouraged. They stood in the rain and looked like a row of wet cats. And because they couldn’t hear the music fully, their voices were horribly off. They were a full two beats behind the rhythm of the music that had already began to play. I tried to step away from the stage so that people wouldn’t notice that I belonged to the group. I said, “Oh God, I gave up trying to do an international outreach at the summer Olympics in Montreal. Did I study four years at Bible College to do this? Lord, why me? What’s wrong?” But for the kids, it was their program – they sang as loud as they could. The little ones wiped the rain from their faces and did their best. I expected that the audience would laugh and embarrass the children.

 

Then, I heard a loud cry and said, “Oh no, here’s a demon possessed person as the highlight of this situation.” And it became worse as I recognized that it was a large, fat woman. “Oh Lord, I don’t want to get punched by a fat woman. I just want to protect the children,” I said. I went to the woman as she came out of the audience to lead her away from the group. As she came to the light, I saw that her eyes were red with tears and her lips were shaking. I will never forget what she said, “The children are so pure and I am so dirty. Please help me.” One child came and said, “Dale, this is the first one.” I answered, “What?!” I still hadn’t understood what God was doing. Three people gave their lives to God that evening. “Oh God, you are amazing,” I said. “Forgive me of my unbelief.” The children were even more excited about God. One of the children was Cherill Jones. In their hearts, a movement was established based on how wonderful their heavenly father was. Many of these are still serving the Lord, and I see then from time to time. That was the beginning of King’s Kids.