Summer Program Wrap-up
Jonny As summer comes to a close and riders head back to school, we reflect back on all God has done in the past three months. We served 148 individual riders over 350 times through 2 weekly Bible studies, 3 weekly outreach sessions at skateparks, a weekly wakesurf session, mentoring and other events. Here are a few stories from our program staff about how they saw God move over the summer:
Andrew
In August we said goodbye to one of our riders, Lucas. He and his family moved to Dubai because of job opportunities. Lucas is a kid everyone wants to be around and hangout with. I enjoyed having him in my weekly bible study group. Every week this summer, Lucas came with us on park tour and on his last day we celebrated. We got him a cake from Dairy Queen and made an edit of just his skateboarding from that day. Because of JSAW’s involvement in global skate ministry, JSAW has some Christian friends/riders in Dubai who he will be able to connect with. For two years he will be gone and we, and all his friends, will be ecstatic to have him back.
Phill
My highlight of the summer was getting to know riders outside of Help. Whether that was on a park tour or a conversation on Instagram or Facebook it was cool to get to know people outside of the shop. One story in particular was when I was talking to a rider who was having trouble asking out a girl he liked. His friends were telling him not to and I told him to go for it. Through these conversations with him, I was able to share some of my story of having low self-confidence almost to the point of fear, especially around girls I liked. All of this lead to how Christ changed my life and could also change his. He was very open to listening because he knows I care and the conversation continues to this day.
Josiah
This summer I had the opportunity to serve and ride with the skaters and scooter riders at the skatepark in Chanhassen. Being that this was my first summer of outreach, I was a little nervous and not quite sure how to go about serving them. But, every time I went to the park, I would pray that God would work through me and be a light in me. As I continued to show up and bring water and food, the community there got to know me and relationships began to form. I met several new riders and also ran into some old ones from Help. One rider in particular got super excited when I would come by and I would teach him different tricks, pump him up and encourage him to push harder. By the end of the summer, he had learned 180s and kickflips pretty consistently. On top of that, we talked about Jesus and the church and I encouraged him to ask questions or to go deeper on certain topics. To my knowledge he isn’t saved, but seems down to talk about church and I hope to teach him more as I keep going to Chan. Despite what I had to offer and my fears, God was moving the entire time I was there and will continue to move as we ask him to. I invited this rider to events, prayed over him and his friends and saw joy and excitement grow inside of him. As summer comes to a close, I pray God would continue to further that relationship and use me to share the joy I’ve found in Christ with him. I also pray God continues to use me at every park and everywhere else I go with JSAW. To God be the Glory! It is incredible to see God at work transforming action sports culture as we make riders into disciples. Thank you for all your prayers, support and partnership to serve riders over the summer and share the love and truth of Christ with them!
Jonny As we move into fall, please be praying as riders get back into a regular routine with school that our Bible studies will be a part of that routine. Be praying for funds and giving as we head into fundraising season. We are currently about $12k short of our budgeted needs. Also be praying for a few events that we are preparing for before snow season:
Fall: Internship Recruiting
Sept 18: NGA Summit in Portland
Oct 6: Night of Action Family Fun Night and Fundraiser
Oct 17: Prayer Session
Oct 19: Rail Jam
Oct 24 ACTs North America Summit
Oct 26: Wooddale Church Mission Fest
Nov 8: All-Nighter