Our Core Values

Take a look at what we believe and what motivates every decision here at The Judah Kids Project

Our Values

Creativity

Every person on this earth is capable of being creative, even if it may not look the same. We teach all Judah Kids students how they can use their passions to solve problems on a fundamental level (educationally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually).

Sensitivity

Life can be overstimulating at times and children can get the worst of it! We pay attention to the details of our lessons to make sure we aren't contributing to the problem. Of course, music is difficult to soften at times, but community development is a growing changing system, and we strive to continue altering things that don't seem to fit this model!

Diversity

We are within a community of multiculturalism. Judah Kids is a place that not only encourages children to celebrate each other's differences, but invites them to share the unique traditions and dynamics of their own cultures!

Responsibility

From the youngest of us to the oldest of us, all people have responsibilities. Whether it is returning something back to its home or picking up trash (even if its not yours), we can always take ownership of our job. Our students are walked through their responsibilities and taught how to manage them.

Sustainability

Our first order of business after being created was to work and keep the garden. That is, to take care of the rest of God's creation. We practice recycling and conservation every day, because we believe to create more waste of things that could be reused isn't being good stewards of the gifts we have!

Godliness

Last, but certainly not least, we ask that students treat others as Jesus would treat them, a gift beyond what we deserve or desire. When we strive to be like Christ, our lives will be a testimony of the character of God, and our labor will be blessed beyond measure.

Our Biblical Theology

The Judah Kids Project is centralized around biblical principles. Our program has a diversity of denominations represented within our house, but we want to stay concise and consistent with our theology across the board!

  • There is only one God, but He exists in 3 persons. It’s easiest understood using the human body. Let’s say the body represents the overarching concept of God. In a body you have a brain, heart, and lungs:

    • Brain | God the Father - The Father is an invisible character who interacts with the visible world and weighs final decisions for angels, demons, humanity and strictly material creation.

    • Heart | God the Son - The Son is the embodiment of God. Like the heart coordinates blood in the body, the Son coordinates relationship between us and God. At the beginning of time, the Son was described as the Word of God, the center of all truth and the essence of God’s love. All history was designed to reveal and glorify this Word of God, eventually resulting in His (the Word) physical manifestation as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

    • Lungs | God the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit, also present before time began, existed as the empowerment of God. As God was establishing Israel, the Spirit would fill appointed men and women to conduct specific tasks; usually regarding leadership or prophesy. This Spirit is with us today!

    All 3 are working at the same time. All 3 are indispensable. And none have the same function. Their collective purpose is to sustain the body. One cannot exist without the others as they wholly make up YHWH.

  • We believe Genesis 1 does a great job at not only identifying key roles of this story we live in, but also revealing how carefully and intentionally The Creator was in designing this story. Whether literally or figuratively, creation is laid out over a series of 6 days, each event consisting of the The Creator speaking life into existence. Once He made the strictly material world, God specializes His creation of humanity, stating that He desires Himself to be represented in physical form. So as He creates “man”, and soon after “woman”, He puts in them attributes of the Trinity; the eternal breathe of the Spirit filling their lungs and the task of ruler/keeper is placed on their shoulders.

    Man is given the responsibility to care for and tend to Eden, a garden where the Lord would spend time with His creation.

    There, man and woman were able to enjoy the elements of creation including various fruits, sites, and animals. They were, however, given direct instructions pertaining to the trees that stood in the center of the Garden; the Tree of Life which was permissible to eat, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which was not permissible to eat.

  • The fall of humanity started in the garden with the first couple, but this outcome was inevitable. We were designed for curiosity, so when Satan (an enemy of God) disguised as a serpent and planted seeds of doubt in the couple’s mind, they took it upon themselves to disobey God’s command. In their story it was eating from the forbidden tree, but we do this daily through lying, stealing, cursing, manipulating, cheating, abusing, and killing.

  • After the fall of mankind, the Lord doles out a series of punishments on His creation, summarized in our language as “the curse”. This was a God-given ordinance of suffering to be passed on from generation to generation. While in Genesis 3:15, God eludes to a Savior, the following 4,000 years (approximately) would demand a works-based covenant or agreement between man and God.

  • Now under this works-based covenant, God gives mankind 613 commandments for how to navigate their relationship with Him, each other, and any outsiders they encounter who are not in covenant with God. These included a mix of moral principles and ritualistic practice that act as a placeholder for the ultimate fulfillment of prophesy through Jesus the Christ.

    The rest of the Old Testament recounts the stories of God’s people failing time and time again. This collection of non-fiction stories gather evidence for the great trial of man, and prove their incapability to complete the perfect will of God which only happens by following all His commands. The Old Testament comes to a close with the Judeans (another name for God’s people) in this fallen state. Though they still practiced tradition, they were outside of God’s desire for them. The book of Malachi ends with a promise and warning that the Son of God was coming to destroy the wicked and collect the remnant of House of Judah; that is those who still feared the Lord. Then…He went silent.

  • 400 years went by without a single word from the Lord, but nonetheless, the people of Judea continues the practice of their laws as though it was still in God’s presence.

    The silence was broken with a handful of prophesies about a Deliverer who was on His way to bring redemption to the fallen systems. Soon after, Jesus (identified by angels as the Son of God) was born out of immaculate conception to a virgin girl named Mary. A few flashes here and there of his development are noted, but we pickup on Jesus’ story when he is about 30 years old, as He prepares to start His ministry.

    He would go to spend the next 3 years teaching, healing, prophesying, correcting, and blessings His community, giving specific attention to 12 men who He asked to leave everything they knew to follow Him. They are called His disciples.

  • Knowing His time on earth was limited, Jesus equipped His disciples with economic, social, and spiritual tools to help them accomplish the mission of bringing His kingdom to earth. As He left, Jesus left His disciples with one final command…

    Matthew 28:19 says, “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

  • When Jesus left, His Spirit was sent down to empower, convict, and guide us. Those of us who profess faith in Jesus are baptized in the gifts of the Spirit and are called to participate in this Great Commission. Like the disciples, we don’t do this alone, but with our spiritual family who gather in churches across the world to exalt the Name of Jesus and learn how better to carry out the Lord’s will in our lives.

  • The Lord gives a vision to one of Jesus’ disciples that showed him a day where all will be made new. On this day, the remaining children of the House of Judah gather for a marriage feast. This feast is symbolism for the final and complete reunion of God and His children. If you put your faith in Jesus, and surrender your life to the authority of Scripture, that feast will be for you..and we cannot wait to see you there!

Community Development Plan

  • Relocation is moving somewhere that represents your target community. Some might relocate literally by living in local neighborhoods to understand what their families are dealing with. Your actions may look different.

    How can you put yourself in the shoes of each judah kid?

    Maybe a student talks back because they feel misunderstood. Maybe a student isn't answering questions in front of the whole group because they are being belittled at home. There is a world of possibilities for why behaviors, foreign to us, are happening. Before assuming they don't like you or are "rude little kids", relocate yourself into their situation to see why they might be diverging.

  • Judah Kids is centered around the Gospel because that is the only infallible truth on this planet. We can look like any other program or learn from any other entity, but unless we are grounded in what God says we should be, we are missing out on building communities that continue in the new heavens and earth. We desire to set aside our ideals or world-bound systems to pursue a Holy perspective.

    “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. You can give a man a brain but you can’t make him think. You can smile all day and not be happy…” Coffey Anderson

    We don’t demand anyone in our community to seek God’s love how we do, but we work to curate a space that gives opportunities for others to learn more about this love of God and invite them to exercise gratitude and worship with us!

  • In this focus, you are simply assembling the often complicated puzzle that is your target community. People reveal so much about their circumstances and needs just in the nuances of conversations. Training yourself to listen and notice these things gives you a huge advantage in loving your neighbors well!

    Example: A little girl came to Judah Kids when she was going to Kindergarten with a heavy speech impediment. In her second semester of 1st grade, we noticed little progress had been made. I spoke with her mom and asked if she was in speech therapy. Upon finding out she wasn't, we started working on her consonants in our reading time. By the end of the day, she was glowing about hearing sounds come out of her mouth that she'd not been able to make before!

  • Your stance coming into this focus should be prepared to disappoint. There is absolutely too much need for one group or individual to meet in your community. The assurance you might need to constantly repeat is that the Lord is NOT a God of scarcity, but One of abundance!

    Look at your tangible resources/abilities and pair them with the short-term needs of your community. The long-term goals are most efficiently accomplished in the manner you tackle the short-term needs.

    Example: Our long-term goals are to (1) cultivate a self-sustainable community of young artists and musicians (2) reach entire families with the Hope of the gospel and see lives transformed for Christ.

    In our midst, we had musicians, artists, and a giving church. We saw some need in our community for affordable child care and, after the pandemic, academic support for struggling students. We decided to pair our resources/abilities and the needs of the community to create an after-school program that picks up from multiple schools, teaches art and music, shares the gospel, and provides tutoring all for $3 a week. See the correlation? Where can you assess needs and make a difference?

by Sam Musto, Founder & Executive Director

  • The Judah Kids Project is only a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven. We want families to leave our summer camps or afterschool program wanting more, asking more, and needing more. This is why understanding your limitations as an individual or even as an organization is most important because it offers a natural transition into the church. The church is the community set up by the Lord as a tool to help His people with their needs while preparing them to contribute. The transition from receiving and becoming is called rooting.

    Example: Our church partner, Grace PCA of Dalton, has Wednesday night programs (with dinner) for students of all ages that start right as Judah Kids is ending; Nursery (infants and toddlers), GraceKids (K-5th grade), Graceworx (6th-12th grade). They also have dinner and classes for adults, including young adult and Spanish bible studies! Anyone and everyone in the family can get connected and learn more about God, just by adding a couple hours to your Wednesday. This step alone introduces them to an entire community of people dedicated to helping them find their place!

  • This is an appropriate focus for creating self-sustainable communities. Redistribution is transferring skills and resources from yourself to another individual. This can be anything from training students in organization and structure to teaching them art, music, and design skills to help them become financially or emotionally stable.

  • The most loving thing you can do for someone is introduce them to Jesus. And the most loving thing they can do is introduce others to Jesus.

    Once our families have the tools, the next best thing we can do is give them to space to love others.

    Practically that could look like accepting a meal or even a water after helping a family. Or asking parents to volunteer for events. It’s more likely with underserved families that we reject their offer or hesitate asking for their help because we don’t want to take from a family in need. But that may be robbing them of their opportunity to serve as they have been served.

  • Lastly, we are training ourselves and others that praise shouldn’t be our motivator. We should desire to love simply because we are loved.

    However, reinforcing positive behaviors with praise is one of the most effective ways to promote further momentum.

    Meaning, for the 6th grader running with the wrong crowd, getting suspended from school, and facing criminal charges, every positive academic decision is a spiritual battle won. And the glow on their face when they hear, “I’m proud of you.” is priceless. We have the power to give people of despair a hope for a bright future. Use your words to affirm people.

Our Process

Structured Curriculum

While a lot of art is problem solving that can’t always be planned, we believe having a structure to work off of keeps us clear and succinct with our given time, usually creating more time to work with when things go differently than expected!

Collaboration

Teaching students to work with both like-minds and unlike-minds gives them a toolbox for any team they’ll join occupationally or recreationally. It is important to learn how to adapt to difference collaborative environments, so we create these scenarios within our program.

Peer-to-peer Teaching

This exercise executes 3 ideas at once.

  1. You can’t teach what you don’t know.

  2. Kids know kids best

  3. Investing in investors makes your work exponential!

Creative Development

The greatest family practice doctors thrive when given strict instructions to follow. Neuroscientists thrive when they are given more technology and tools to discover outside the bounds of what they know. We desire to create the opportunity for both in our students’ thought patterns.