Friday, April 23, CJ and I met at Keopuolani park to do One Love Skate Outreach. We met at the parking lot next to the skatepark and had a cool prayer time and time of challenging each other w/some truths we've been learning lately in God's Word. My friend Brad had called me earlier to pray w/me before we went, and he'd given me the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:5-6-"Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our confidence comes from God..." CJ and I meditated on that and after praying, started skating and then doing some interviews w/kids using the flip video camera. Trevor and Kenny Komatsu came later on in the day, too.
It was a hot day in town, but it was a furlough day and there were a lot of people to talk to at the Skatepark. The heat actually worked out really well because everyone gathered under the one part of the park with shelter up on top of the ramp in the street course (You can see the roof and people sitting underneath it behind the guy doing the noseslide in the picture at the top of this blog).
A lot of the people I invited to come out and share the Gospel alongside us were busy w/other Furlough Friday ministries, and my wife was on Oahu; but CJ, Trevor, Kenny, and I had an awesome time hanging out at the skatepark, skating w/kids, and sharing the Gospel.
I find that most of the time skateboarders don't mind being interviewed. Especially with our little Flip video camera. It's a great conversation starter, and it also forces people to really articulate what they believe since they are on camera. Friday, a lot of the kids we interviewed were under 18, and I don't want to mess with putting up videos of interviews with minors and possibly getting in trouble. So, I manuscripted some of the answers from Friday and changed their names. Here are exact answers from a few of the interviews:
Interviews
Remember, the 5 questions we go through are:
1.) What come to your mind when you think of One Love?
2.) Who is God?
3.) What's the Purpose of Life?
4.) What do you believe will happen to you when you die?
5.) Who is Jesus Christ?
Alex:
1.) I'm not sure. Everyone getting along or something.
2.) Someone who helps us feel more easy. More at ease knowing we're not just gonna rot in the dirt when we die. He's someone who helps us feel better about out lives.
3.) No one knows that. That's one of those undefined answers in life that everyone wants to know. There's no real answer to that.
4.) I'm not sure. That's why I'm gonna just have as much fun as I can while I'm alive. I'm gonna make good with what I have now.
5.) God's Son. He paid for our sins. That's why we celebrate Easter and stuff.
Tom:
1.) Bob Marley
2.) Some gnarly guy, up in the sky... I guess. Some hectic guy...
3.) Ummm... I don't know. Just to chill... Chill. Get barrelled.
4.) I don't know. I've been kinda wandering that. Like I've been wondering about that for a while now.
5.) God's Son. I guess. Died on the cross for us.
Charlie:
1.) Bob Marley
2.) Jesus' Father
3.) To live life as gnarly as possible and to please God
4.) Jesus will come and judge me. Wait for Jesus to come and judge me.
5.) God's Son.
Above are pictures of Trevor and CJ talking to some kids... After interviewing each of these kids, the opportunity came up to present the Gospel. It was awesome to have a team of people talking to people at the skatepark and doing follow-up. The skaters were really receptive to listen to what we had to say after having shared with us what they believe. It was beautiful after interviewing "Tom" because CJ started sharing his testimony with him about how growing up on Molokai he felt like the whole purpose of life was to get barreled before Jesus transformed him. I'm thankful to see God using different testimonies for His Glory.
This is Trevor's Gospel presentation that I recorded right at the end of the day.
We talked and shared the gospel with at least ten people, and we also got to give away a couple of ESV New Testament Bible's to some people who wanted/needed them. We didn't video everyone we interviewed, but the interview is a great way to get conversations going. Another cool part of the day was when a younger skater who was probably 11 years old followed us around to see what we were doing. When he found out that we were sharing the Gospel, he showed me his phone that said: "Skate For Jesus." So he stuck with us, and hopefully we encouraged him to be a light. The skatepark is an awesome but intense mission field. There's pornographic graffiti on some of the ramps, and kids smoke pot a lot while they're skating; but, as John 17:14-16 calls Christians, it's a great place to go be in the world and not of it!
Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray as God develops One Love Skate Outreach. I hope you're encouraged as you've been reading about some of the ways God is using this ministry. I'm encouraged that Christians are simply called to "sow the seed" of the Gospel (Mark 4:26-29). It's God who brings people to Himself, and I'm thankful He chooses to use us despite our many flaws (1 Cor 3:6-7).
-We're going to try to develop a "Trick of the Month" section that will include a board give-away, and I'm trying to learn more about making this website more visually appealing.
I want to close this blog with one of the ways God challenged me in devotions this morning. This was also my Twitter today, and we can all do this: "Use your position today. Whoever and wherever you are: 'Defend the cause of the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor & oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked' (Ps 82:3-4)." God bless!
In Him (Gal 2:20),
Josh
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