Loud & Clear Skate Jam

Many BOLD witnesses in a dark place. The battle is not amongst ourselves. This rebellion runs deep. But a Savior was present. The sheer numbers boggle my mind. The power of testimony in a few people.....was used. Pride was broken and hearts were called to meet their Heavenly Father. The community among Christ's Church came united to love and serve and there was understanding among them. It wasn't about us, not our church, not our ministry. It was them. God loves these rebels that skate and cuss like sailors and fight for what they think is "freedom" and entitlement. They just don't see. They choose not to hear it. But God was there. He dangled true freedom at their fingertips. Freedom that lives above the bondage of sin we are constantly battling. He lovingly tugged at their hearts and a few listened. Praise God, a few listened. There's hundreds of stories from one night at Memorial Skatepark that can't all be told on this blog; stories of kids hearing the love of Christ, questioning a God bigger than themselves, arguing, mocking, eating ridiculous numbers of hot dogs, skating to impress the pros, and being broken. The battle is God vs Satan; and the world is Satan. Pray for these people, these new creations in Christ Jesus. Their journey does not get easier from here. Knowledge and understanding can be the hardest part. Looking at your sin in the mirror and believing Jesus has overcome it takes practice. This is where our job begins. Pray for us and the many others who will do LIFE with these people. Pray we will do it well. Pray we will be used. Here's just a few pics of the evening from my camera including the prep at the park beforehand. We set up an FCA booth to give out information about Skate Church. Note the new 10 ft promo banner...pretty awesome! Massive quantities of hot dogs! Approximately 1300 hot dogs were eaten!! A skater's fav, Monster Energy Drinks. We had to mark hands with an "x" to ration them. Buns and water stacked. Christian Hosoi brought the message, LOUD & CLEAR. Addie, just because she's precious and she loved the free Jamba Juice (seen all down the front of her shirt)! Derrick and Chad, long-time shredding buddies. Faithful friends & ministry supporters, Mike and Tammy manning the FCA booth (and my sister-in-law, Emily in the chair). Attempting to capture the sheer number of people at the SK8 park. This is only half the park. We estimate 1500-2000 people in attendance throughout the evening. There was about 200 kids who chose to pray with Christian Hosoi when offered the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. I believe lives were changed, including mine. Just by attending, my heart is more burdened for these skaters. I want to love them, the way Christ loves me (especially since I will never be able to influence them using my skateboarding skills). No strings attached. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for video footage, professional pics, and more stories via this blog, Facebook, and our FCA ministry updates. If you want to know more, post a comment and I'll get back to you.