After graduating college, I worked for 2 different design firms just outside of Washington D.C. I really felt that the Lord had started something unique for my life back in college when I began to discover the artistic talents I had basically ignored up until that point. See MY STORY (Part 1). Working hard to brand companies wasn’t cutting it for me at the time. I really felt the Lord had called me to do something within the church setting.

A full time Graphic Designer was relatively new within the church at that time… or at least in our circle of churches it was quite rare. This was almost 8 years ago or so. Eventually, I found myself working in “full time ministry” and realizing I did not interact with anyone outside the church walls anymore. My coworkers were church people and my friends were church people as well. That was unusual for me… and it bothered me quite a bit. The Lord was stirring up a new plan that would take place very soon.

We did a lot experimenting in the youth group and tried hard to come up with creative ways to draw in new people. Two of the kids in our youth group kept bringing their boards to the concerts we were holding and they would skate around in the gym. If you recall from Part 1 of MY STORY, I was no longer skating during this stretch of my life. Skateboarding had become a distraction and needed to be set aside while I focused more on what God wanted to do in my life. The 2 teens who were skating in our gym were in my small group but had no idea I used to skate. I had tried to move past skating and leave it behind at this point in my life. It had been almost 5 years since I had injured my knee. They began joking that we should have a small group and let them skate afterwards in the gym. Alas, the vision for a skate church was born.

The youth pastor and I got permission to spend $200 and build 2 small ramps in the gym. We made flyers and passed it out at all the skate shops. Within the first 3 weeks we had 60 kids showing up and skating two small ramps and some trash cans we emptied out and were doing tricks over in the gym. These #s were incredibly overwhelming to us because we had a youth group of about 30 kids and had been spending thousands of dollars to throw concerts just to have a handful of visitors and all our regulars attend them. The next thing you know, we had support from the local skate shop. Built more ramps. And wildly, I got sponsored after not being on a board for 5 years. This time around though, it really felt like the Lord was doing this and not me. My goal was to reach lost kids with the gospel and that was my pursuit. The skate church was beginning to take off and do some incredible things.

A few months into running the skate church, things took a sudden change for the worse. I blew out my other knee! I could not figure out why! I was angry at the Lord and didn’t get it. Here I was serving him and he was using my skills on the board to help influence and grow this ministry. And now it was gone (again). I found myself disconnected from the ministry and was searching for a way to keep things going. No longer could I ride around and relate to the kids. I needed something to keep me involved and be able to relate.

Shooting and editing videos is a big thing in skateboarding. I had a friend that had all the right gear: camera, fisheye lense, and editing system. He was also amazing on a board. I used to open the gym for him to skate with some of my other friends that also rode for the board shop that sponsored us. While opening the gym for these “private sessions,” I began to film them rather than just sit there and get fatter! I got hooked on filming and editing thru that experience. I spent the next 3-4 years documenting pretty much every trick that went down at that skate church. We used the videos to raise funds to build more ramps; Print custom gospel tracts geared towards skaters in the DC area; and brought in christian demo teams as well as big name secular teams.

The legacy of the skate church was surreal. Over 3,500 kids had come, filled out waivers, and had the gospel presented to them. We also ran camps and brought in special speakers, held demos and hosted nation wide tours! Tons of decisions were made for the Lord over several years. It’s unbelievable to me that something I gave up (skateboarding) in pursuit of the Lord, was given back to me 10 fold or more several years later! I had the opportunity to host some of my favorite professional skateboarders of all time and share the gospel with them as well.

Here is a video of some of the skateboarding that went down at Skate Night: