Neglected By The Church

As we try to reach the youth of our community with the gospel, it seems to us that one of the roughest group of kids out there are those who would label themselves skaters. These kids are foul mouthed, rude, rebellious, flirting with drugs, and the worst thing of all - neglected by the church. It seems that every church wants to grab the star athletes, the smart kids, the pretty girls, the doctor's kids, and the rest of those who look like they have something to offer the church, but no one wants to mess with the kids who look like they are gonna take a lot of energy. In many people's opinions skaters are just the dregs of the youth of our society. I hear adults in and out of the church talking about how these kids are so bad, and so destructive. Business owners and city officials run them off from everywhere if they see them skating because they are so "destructive." It is no wonder they are so bad, they are just being everything we have told them they already are.

However God has done a wonderful thing in Larry's heart as he changes him to want to reach out to these kids. Money has been spent to build a place for them to come and skate, time has been invested, and lives are being changed. This past Thursday we loaded up on the church bus and headed to a skate park in Nashville. It was a sight to see this church bus heading down the road with 41 teens and young adults, and another four "old people" heading to a place called Concrete Wave. It didn't look much like "church." Kids with piercings, dirty clothes, torn up shoes (it seems every skater in the world needs new shoes), I can't tell you how many times one of these kids cussed, and on the way back one of them even tried to smoke a cigarette on the bus. It was a REALLY REALLY GOOD day. You probably wouldn't even believe how respectfully they sat and listened to the presentation of the Gospel we made. We are going to do our best to make sure these kids, who need Jesus the most, aren't neglected anymore. And the fact that one of them tried to smoke on the bus just means we are going to love that one more, not less. I know - I know he tried to smoke on the bus we should have kicked him off and told him if he ever did it again he couldn't ride with us, but hey I don't think Jesus would have done that, I mean he is a lost kid acting lost - go figure.