God Skates
October 27th, 2006 by Kilwag
God Skates! Not to be confused with the seminal skate rock band McWilson’s tune of the same name. Skate churches are nothing new. Here’s a roundup of Christians and skatebording in the news.
From the Herald Today in Manatee, Bradenton and Sarasota Florida: Christians hit the half-pipe in newest wave of evangelization
Just one thing is missing from Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church: A skateboard ramp.
If plans in the works come to be, that void will soon be filled and the church will join hundreds of others bringing the Bible to boarders in what some describe as one of Christianity’s newest, hippest and largest means of evangelization.
“We’re reaching people who’ve never heard about religion or God before,” said Mike Pechonis, president of Christian Skaters International Ministry, which is based in Pompano Beach. “So we’re telling them about how cool Jesus is. Uh yeah, Never heard of religion or God? Is this a church on the planet Mars?
From the Rolla Daily News in Rolla Missouri: RHS grad uses skateboard to spread religious message
One of the top pro freestyle flatland skateboarders around is bringing his skills and his message about Jesus Christ to his hometown of Rolla with a performance at the Bandshell tonight. …Tim Byrne, 26, is a one-man ministry who has been touring the world for the past six years.
“The one thing I want people to know is that my heart is sold out for Jesus Christ. That’s the message I’m out to spread,†Byrne said. “I want people to get one thing about me — I’m out to lift up the name of Jesus. He saved my own life and changed my life forever. That’s what I’m excited about and that’s my motive behind anything I do with skateboarding.†He saved your life by making you a top freestyle flatland pro? Is there even a circuit for that anymore? Heck, maybe I could be a top freestyle pro. I can do a pogo. This guy lives in Portland. Maybe he’ll get in touch with us.
From the OC Register: Stoked on life
Christian Hosoi was a 1980s skateboarding god, then he crashed and burned. Now the legend skates for a higher purpose. …The gold crucifix around Hosoi’s neck - a gift from born-again Christian Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the acting Baldwin clan - gleams.Christian Hosoi: good. Alec Baldwin: god. Stephen Baldwin: bad. I think the OC register is the name of the paper at Marissa’s high school
From the Christian News Wire: Jesus in Skateboarding? New DVD Weaves Faith and Extreme Sports to Spread Gospel
“Skateboarding is one of the fastest growing and most popular sports among youth,†said Ben Cerullo, President and Founder of Steelroots. “Our goal was to capitalize on this popularity by producing a ministry tool that would not only entertain, but present the Gospel in a real, tangible way. We believe that we accomplished this with the release of ‘Kaleidoscope’.â€Marketing is marketing is marketing. Not notable except for the fact that they even have an online Christian Skate shop
October 27th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Using skateboarding to get kids into Christianity is the worst sin one could ever commit. This is the most annoying shit ever and Steven Baldwin should be fucking crucified.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
i saw eddie elguera do a miniramp demo inside a church in illinois once, it was wierd and they wouldnt let us skate the ramp
October 28th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I agree with Peter and will even say that indoctrination of children is a form of child abuse. Religious indoctrination is usually sucessful because it highjacks the natural tendancy of the child’s mind to believe what it’s parents say (which certainly is a product of natural selection, ie. parents say these berries are bad, child listens and avoids bad berries, child lives to reproduce and spread the gene for listening to parents…). Add in an unhealthy dose of fear, “you will burn in hell if you don’t believe this”, and the next generation is very likely going to be the same religion as the parents. I personally will teach children to be independent critical thinkers and be very dubious of concepts of faith and belief.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
you guys are over reacting.
Sure they are slightly misguided, and over zealous, thinking that they will reach some because they built a ramp. Whatever. At worst kids might start to respect others and possibly learn about what others believe.
That’s a lot better than the influences of gangster rap.
October 29th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Dan, you can respect others and learn what others believe without belief in the supernatural. Also, evangelicals like this have a lot more on their agenda than that, as I’m sure you know.
October 29th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Not saying that belief in the supernatural is required at all (to learn respect).
Simply saying you guys are over reacting.
As for the evangelicals agenda, that’s never been a secret, and is still far less noxious than many other messages to our kids out there.
October 29th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
‘nough said for me, we can agree to disagree on that last one…I do feel that the “message” of christian evangelicals is one of the most noxious out there for kids and adults alike, but like I said that’s were you and I will differ. Just so you don’t think “i just hate going to church”, its much deeper than that. I feel that christian instituions don’t encourage people to think and to really explore the world…it seems very limiting…I don’t want kids to get “ripped off” and think that “oh God created me, end of story, no need to look any deeper into the Cosmos”. I do think that most religious leaders do prefer this mindset. To each his own though my friend!
October 30th, 2006 at 2:37 am
I can agree with your assessment that people are too shallow, and want to “not think” about things. People in a church aren’t much different.
Just look watch the Jerry Springer show a couple times. Shallow people all around.
October 30th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Please don’t tell me I’m over reacting Dan. My statement is just my opinion, obviously you have a different one and that’s fine. To you it may be over reacting to a situation, but to me it’s not. Don’t tell me how I feel and I wont tell you how you feel.
October 31st, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Very sorry Peter, that’s not my intention at all. I’m not trying to tell you how you feel, nor do I think I could ever do that, even if I wanted.
I was commenting on this statement, where you said, “Using skateboarding to get kids into Christianity is the worst sin one could ever commit.â€
Your statement (taken at face value) says this action on their part, is worse than murder, worse than the most heinous crimes imaginable. Not only do I disagree.
I think it’s overreacting.
Now if you’re simply trying to be over dramatic to draw attention to you point (or feeling), I suppose that’s different.
October 31st, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Exactly. I was just trying to put emphasis on my point. I don’t really think it’s worse than murder, I just don’t agree with skateboarding being used in that way. Saying that it was a sin and that Stephen Baldwin should be crucified was just in keeping with the theme of the topic. I didn’t mean for it to be taken literaly.
October 31st, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Ok kids. There are plenty of other places to argue about this. I hope Skate and Annoy does not get bogged down with this type of thing.
October 31st, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Yeah, there’s already enough of it and I usually stay far, far away…just let myself get sucked in this time.
October 31st, 2006 at 5:19 pm
I dunno. Just seeing more than Randy and myself posting makes me happy. Keep at it Peter and Dan! Round 2!!
October 31st, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Cheers Neil, the most popular entry to the Skate and Annoy blog? I think so! Peter, I recommend the-brights.net and the recent book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins if you are as serious as I am.
December 4th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
why can’t people just leave skating alone. i’m sure it says in the bible somewhere that “thou shalt not use skateboarding as a marketing ploy as our religion is not supposed to force our beliefs to thine skating children”
from what i know about god, he seems like a pretty chill guy until you anger him (then he’ll smite you) because he gave us “freewill” means that hes cool with whatever we want to believe. so religious groups can say what they want but if they were keeping it real they would not cash in on “what the kids think is cool”.
by the way as part of my archaeology degree im taking some history courses that deal with religion, really interesting stuff.