Caleb, Couch, and our interns Ethan and Will decided to make a serviceable couch out of skate decks. And it's actually quite comfortable.
Materials: check.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
SkateChurch Recap: Back To The Basics
Basics of the Bible
“... you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...” --2
Timothy 3:15-16.
The aim of tonight is to learn the basics of our Bible so we are able to grow in our
relationship with Christ. We will look at three topics: how the Bible came to us, the
structure of the Bible, and how to study the Bible.
1. How the Bible came to us-- It is important to know where the Bible came from in
order to defend our faith. We find the answer in 2 Timothy 3:16 (above), all scripture is
written by men who were inspired by God. None of the forty authors take credit for the
Bible, all give the glory to God. God specifically chose each one of them to tell a unique
part of His tale. We have the Bible today because God uses people who desire His will
above their own to deliver His message. The Bible came to us from believers who were
called to tell of His great love, as well as those things that are pleasing and displeasing
to Him.
2 . The structure of the Bible-- The Bible is divided into parts: the old testament, and the
new testament, which is a total of 66 books. Those books are broken into chapters,
and each chapter is divided further into verses. Over forty men wrote the Bible over
a period of 1600 years. It is no accident that the Bible opens with the creation of the
world. The story begins with the beginning of our physical existence and proceeds
gradually to the emergence of our spiritual awareness. The message of the Bible,
simply stated, is that the spiritual is real, and Jesus Christ came to this earth to pay
the price for our sins.
3 . How to study the Bible-- The Bible touches on every aspect of life. Most people find
it difficult to understand the Bible. Following are ten suggestions to help make the
most of your Bible study:
1) Get a bible of your own!!!
2) Pray before you start any Bible study or reading. Ask God to clear your
mind and to show you things in His word before you begin reading.
3) When you begin your study of your Bible ask the Holy Spirit for help.
4 ) Make a promise to yourself. Get up a little earlier in the morning for your
reading. The deal is: "No Bible, No Breakfast, No Exceptions."
5 ) Set a time and a place aside, It should be the same time everyday. You
may want to read in the mornings, or the afternoons, or evenings which
ever time you are most alert. The important thing is that your spending
time with your Heavenly Father.
6 ) Get rid of all distractions. Turn off the television, Xbox or radio. Try to to
find a quiet place where you have a table to read and take notes. This is
alone time between you and God.
7 ) Always have a pen & paper handy to take notes, if something sticks out
or touches your heart, write it down.
8 ) Use a dictionary if you don’t know what a word means.
9 ) Highlight important stuff or things you really like in your own bible. But
don't do this if it belongs to someone else.
10 ) Last and not least, have a teachable heart.
If you have not ever read the Bible before, the book of John is an excellent
place to start. The Bible is God’s living Word written to His people so that
they might know Him more.
We challenge you to start reading your Bible daily!
Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on
it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Jeremiah leading worship.
SkateChurch in worship.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
SkateChurch Recap: Back To The Basics
Well it's been quite a while since our last post, but with the new year we're off to a fresh start. SkateChurch kicked it off to a great start in 2011. Here's a recap:
January 4, 2011
Back to the Basics
The Basics of Becoming a Christian
Message Recap
God sent His only Son to die on the cross as sacrifice to pay for our sins....
Remember the first time you got on a skateboard?
It might have been frustrating to learn to balance and push, but with a little practice, desire, and determination before long you were probably able to do your first trick. The same is true with your spiritual growth. If you have the desire and determination to grow closer to God, here are a few basic steps to help cultivate your relationship:
Read your Bible daily. If you don’t have a Bible, you can get one at The MIX for FREE. Simply talk to one of the employees. The Bible is one of ways the Lord speaks to us; it is important to listen to what He has to say to you. We suggest that you find a daily devotional plan to follow. Devotionals are available all over the internet and at bookstores. They help you to decide what to read out of the Bible each day.
Attend church regularly. We constantly need to be reminded of the good news of God’s grace and we need to encourage and be encouraged by other believers. Besides SkateChurch, there are several other opportunities to attend church here at Calvary throughout the week. Velocity is for middle school aged students, Vertical is for high school, and Renovate for college students. We challenge you, to check out one of these services this week, if you don’t already.
Get involved in ministry. Good news! If you attend SkateChurch regularly, you are already in a ministry. It helps to grow spiritually if you are serving others. Look for ways to serve at SkateChurch, another ministry, or just throughout the week.
Pray daily. Make prayer a part of your daily routine. Just like you read your Bible in order to hear God, you communicate to God through prayer. Lift up daily struggles, requests for others, and admiration towards God. In fact, you can speak to Him about anything. He wants a personal relationship with you. Pray that the Lord will fill you with the Holy Spirit.
Just like you might have attended Skate Lessons to learn to skate, it is important to learn these basic steps to grow spiritually.
The legendary Grigsby, in his element.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Featured Skater: Alexander Coles
Alex is one of those rare kids you meet who is from the very beginning utterly different. Perhaps because his persona is a throwback to the old school skaters, or maybe it's because at fifteen, he has a deeper understanding of life than most his age. Always welcoming you with a big hug, and a oozing with talent, we present to you Alexander Coles.
Calvary Skate Park: How old are you and how long have you been skating?
Alexander Coles: I’m three years old. And I’ve been skating for 5 years.
CSP: Right on. Wow that’s interesting.
AC: (Laughter) I’m 15 years old and I’ve been skating for 3 years.
CSP: What got you into skating?
AC: Calvary. I’d been like playing Tony Hawk’s Underground with my friend all the time, so I got one. And I liked Calvary’s skate park so I started coming here because my friend went to service every Wednesday night for Velocity, so I started going to that. So that got me into skating.
Switch wallie.
CSP: Tell me about your worst fall.
AC: My least favorite one was probably like a year ago. I was over at Oasis trying to front three and in the landing I didn’t catch it right and I spun out and I kicked out, but I kicked out like straight down. And I landed like on the back of my board. I cracked a piece of my foot, and I sprained my ankle really bad. (Laughter) My friends freaked out because I never get hurt that bad. And right when I hit the ground I yelped so high.
CSP: That’s funny. Who’s your favorite skater and why?
AC: Mark Gonzales because he’s been out there so long.
CSP: Tell us about your style of skating and where it came from.
AC: I got my style from when I first started skating, I’d tried to go as fast as I could and I couldn’t really control myself. So I’d get used to going as fast as I could and I’d look all goofy but I kind of figured out how to keep it under control. Now, some of my favorite dudes to watch, like Omar Salazar, and he skates like that. I just try to go really fast and keep it under control but keep my body moving. I just think it looks cool. I don’t know. Kids can hate on me, but whateva’. I don’t give a hoot.
CSP: What kind of temptations do you face every day in the secular skate culture?
AC: I deal with probably just getting angry. And just saying things I should not say. Like, um, not like real curse words but just like words that aren’t really that uplifting. Hanging out at Los Altos, it’s really hard to be a good christian skater because I’m like the only one there most of the time. Most of the dudes there are really sketch and they curse all the time.
Boneless.
CSP: How do you stay faithful to God in the skate community when there are temptations like the ones you mentioned?
AC: When I’m just chillin, I try to think about what I say before I say it. When I’m trying a trick and I’m getting frustrated I just sit down and just close my eyes and calm down. And you know, just watch my mouth.
CSP: If you could change anything about the skate culture what would it be and why?
AC: I’d take out how people get stoked on people doing a lot of drugs. How people think it’s really cool to smoke pot and do other drugs and curse all the time. It’s a real big bummer to see stuff like that. I’ve seen some of the best skaters do stuff like that, and it really sucks.
CSP: Where do you see skating going in the next decade?
AC: I don’t know, off like 40 stairs maybe? It’s getting too crazy (laughter). The biggest set is a 23, how are you supposed to get past that? Skateboarding has become so progressed like how you have to land everything super clean. I don’t know how people can keep progressing when the standards are set so high before they can even do the basics. I just think it’s gotten to a point where I don’t know how people can get sponsored anymore because the dudes out there right now are so far ahead that new dudes that come in, I don’t know how they can actually get to a certain level or sponsorship, even just a skateshop sponsorship because the standards are getting set so high. I don’t see how it can just keep going. I think it will still be around, but, just new skate stoppers. Like floating ones or something (laughter.)
Disaster.
CSP: Any closing comments?
AC: Well I’d like to thank God, just for blessing me with the life I have. Being blessed in a great country with a real healthy body, and being able to take slams and get right back up skating. And I’d like to thank Daniella, my mom, my older brother Stuart, my little friend Stuart, and all the L.A. homies because they know who they are.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
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