First SkateChurch Night at Ripzu Skatepark
Last night we had our first ever FacePlant SkateChurch at the new Ripzu Skatepark in Vancouver, Washington. It went really well and we had a good turnout of over 20 youth...many new faces since we;ve been gone overseas for the last couple of years, but some familiar faces of young people who we have led to Christ in the years past.
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Pam, Leanne, Chad, Lyndse and I all helped check the kids in as we added a step in the process by the youth having to have a Ripzu waiver completed and signed by a parent. Tonight, seeing as it was the first night in the new facility, we handed out raffle tickets to all the skaters who paid at the front and raffled off sticker packs, t-shirts and a snowboarding DVD. James, Ricky and Curtis who are other staff members all hung out with the youth as well. Even Brett, senior pastor of Whipple Creek Church brought his two sons to skate. Brett (as well as the rest of us) are stoked that Whipple Creek Church has now officially gone multi-campus.
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Ripzu Skatepark has two sections. The bigger section has a sweet mini-ramp/partial bowl with a vert-wall with banks, stairs, hubba and step-up. The smaller section has a spine, quarter pipes on both sides, a small picnic bench section in the middle as well as a box and rail that we let them use from FacePlant Ministries. We all skated for the first hour and a half or so, then gathered together in the smaller section for the Bible teaching. I taught about the sacrifice that God the Father made for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for us by using an illustration:
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A father who was a draw bridge operator had brought his only son to work with him one day. The father showed his son around the place and then just let him run around wherever he wanted to while he operated the draw bridge. The father got the call to lower the draw bridge as a passenger train was on it's way, so he began to close the draw bridge. As the draw bridge began to close, he heard the sound of his son screaming as he had gotten his body caught in the huge gears that opens and closes the draw bridge. The father had to make a decision on the spot as to whether he would stop the draw bridge, save his own son, and allow the train to de-rail, killing all the passengers on board OR to sacrifice his own son, allowing the gears to crush him to death while the train with its' passengers crossed safely to the other side. The father let the draw bridge close as he heard the gears literally crush his son to death and and he looked into the windows of the train that was crossing with tears in his eyes, he saw some different scenarios. In one window he saw a heroin junky shooting up. In another window he saw an employer committing adultery with on of his employees. In another window he saw a middle school skater talking back to his parents. In another window he saw a high school student losing her virginity. The sacrifice the father had made by giving up his only son was for people who had no clue what they were being saved from and who were living lives quite different from the young, innocent boy who had lost his life in exchange for theirs.
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The Scriptures say that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We are like the folks on that train who have been provided a way of salvation through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross...His life in exchange for ours. All we must do is believe in Him, confess our sins to Him, and ask Him into our lives. ONE YOUNG PERSON last night did just that. He raised his hand and asked Jesus Christ into his heart. What a wonderful way to start off this new era of FacePlant SkateChurch! We will be continuing to teach the young people about who Jesus is by teaching through the gospel of Mark on Monday nights. And the cool thing is, it won't just be me teaching, as was the case for the most part during the first three years of SkateChurch. Our other staff members and interns (who gave their lives to Christ through SkateChurch and are now adults being raised up to lead SkateChurch into the future) will be on a rotation every week. AND we will be having small groups and small group qustions again every week, which makes it more of an intimate setting where the youth can be free to dialogue and ask questions. We are super-excited as FacePlant SkateChurch continues to be a vital ministry to the youth skateboarding community of Vancouver, Washington.
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A huge shout-out to Chris for opening up Ripzu Skatepark to us at FacePlant Ministries and partnering with us. Only good things to come from this partnership.
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Christian Jung
FP SkateChurch Pastor
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