It all began in 2004 with two visionaries who had a desire to give youth a place to belong and grow in their faith. Jonny Nelson, a 16 year old skater with a passion for evangelism and discipleship and Randy Monroe, a business man who wanted to invest in the community’s youth, partnered with the Louis Palau Association. One year later a massive indoor skate park was opened in Chanhassen, MN. The park served as a positive place for some 3000 youth before funding ran out and JSAW was forced to move in 2007. The skate park was split up and donated to outfit two summer camps in northern Minnesota. For three years JSAW toured the US with groups like the Billy Graham Association doing demonstrations, sharing the gospel and building skate ministries. During this time partnerships were built launching each of our current programs. Since its inception JSAW has shared the gospel with over 130,000 youth and built 13 action sports ministries including projects in Guatemala and Egypt.
Mission:
JSAW is an action sports ministry providing youth a safe, positive environment where they can belong, be introduced to Jesus Christ and be engaged in discipleship; integrating action sports with mentoring, small group Bible studies, camps, trips and contests both locally and worldwide.
Vision:
To see youth in action sports culture become authentic, motivated disciples of Jesus Christ.
Values:
Discipleship, Evangelism, Collaborative Relationships, Generosity, Sustainability, Excellence, Authenticity, Ingenuity
JSAW is a 501c3 non-profit organization and our tax ID # is 35-2231614. For more information, view our Non-profit Report on GuideStar.
The JSAW Team
Jonny Nelson 952-452-1283
Jon Lord 612-237-4164
Ian Wheat 612-825-2580
Worldwide Leadership Team
Toni and Ulises Frallicciardi, Dean Plumlee, Joshua Stock, Randal Schroeder and Jonny Nelson
Board of Directors
Dennis Gallaher, Randy Monroe, Julie Martz, Jonny Nelson, Brittany Nelson, Ron Stebenne, Kelly Burns, and Tony Larson
JSAW Worldwide is a partnership between Christian Skaters, Snowboarders for Christ and Christian Surfers to obtain funding for action sports ministries. Together we have local chapters in more than 60 U.S. cities, impacting over 250,000 youth each year.
In the Minneapolis area JSAW operates three local programs integrating skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding with one-on-one mentoring, small group Bible studies, road trips, camps, contests and more for both inner city and suburban youth ages 13-18.
