UNITED STATES 2007 - New Skate Church Times, Fees and Sponsored Skaters

New SkateChurch Times and Fees
Alright guys. We're adjusting our SkateChurch times. Starting Thursday, March 15th, 2007 these new times will be in effect for every Thursday:

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: High School and older SKATERS
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Middle School and younger SKATERS
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm: All ages BMX BIKERS

By having these new times and age groups we will eliminate many of the glitches we've been running in to (most of them due to having SO MANY SKATERS and BMX BIKERS coming out to FacePlant SkateChurch on Thursdays, which is a good problem to have). Also we are adding a modest fee to each session. For each two hour session, the following fees will apply:

$2.00 for all UNSPONSORED SKATERS and BMX BIKERS
$1.00 for all SPONSORED SKATERS and BMX BIKERS

These fees will help us to pay for staff and bills that are needed to keep FacePlant SkateChurch going. These times and fees will change over the months and years to come as we build our new indoor skate park and add many new obstacles. These fees do not apply to spectators.

New Sponsored Skaters
And now the time you've been waiting for. It is finally time to announce the new list of sponsored skaters. First off, I want to explain the requirements as they have changed slightly. For a skater to be sponsored by FacePlant Ministries he or she must (1) Be in the process of having a hand-holding relationship with Jesus Christ, (2) Attend Thursday night FacePlant SkateChurch on a regular basis, (3) Attend Tuesday night Faceplant Middle School or High School youth ministry on a regular basis, (4) Meet the trick-list requirements to my satisfaction.

I stopped requiring you to turn in your Real Life Journals on a weekly basis, but I still want you to read through the Bible passages and write in your journals at home. Also, I am raising the bar for you guys that are sponsored. I will be asking you to serve at FacePlant Ministries and Whipple Creek Church in various capacities, like picking up trash after SkateChurch and helping out at other Whipple Creek Ministries like we did at Electric Avenue last year. You will also be asked to mentor younger, less experienced skaters by helping them learn how to skate. I will explain other ways you will be asked to serve as time goes by.

Well, those are the requirements. Now for the perks. Each sponsored skater will receive a free FacePlant deck at the beginning of April. You get more free stuff as you progress spiritually and in skill level. For instance, the A-Team will receive more free stuff than the B-Team. And even within the A-Team I have chosen to create a Top-Three group of our top three sponsored skaters that will get more free stuff than the rest of the A-Team. Hopefully, this encourages you to excel. So here it goes. The following is the new list of FacePlant sponsored skaters:

A-TEAM
Top-Three
Josh Newton, John Mason, Kyle McClellan

A-TEAM

Codie Cardon, Curtis Christensen, Boomer Gasaway, Wayne Purdy,Travis Reeder, Blaine Strachan, Lauren Swift, Brian Worcester, Collin Whalen, Austin Young

B-TEAM

Travis Anson, Cole Brace, Brandon Clymer, Taylor Current, Michael Flores, Caleb Griffin, Danny Hamilton, Tom Kaczmarek, Jake Misener,Austin Oury, Kyle Ponciano, Mick Reeder, Jakoda Taylor, Dakota Wawrzyniak

CONGRATULATIONS YOU GUYS!!! Some of you are new additions, some of you progressed from B-Team to A-Team, some of you I let slide a tiny bit with the qualifications (Danny - get your trick list finished, Caleb - make it out to Tuesday nights more often) and unfortunately, some of you I had to cut because you have failed to show interest in meeting the qualifications. Don't worry, every six months I will be adjusting our sponsored skater list. And due to the lack of being able to go up as a group like I wanted to, I am post-poning our sponsorship for snowboarding until next season. As far as sponsorships for BMX Bikers, I am handing off that area to Shawn Hoffarth who is leading our FacePlant BMX BikeChurch.

I am truly excited as this summer, Lord willing, we will be on our FacePlant Oregon and Washington skate park tour. As long as we have enough vehicles and room, all sponsored skaters will be invited to go with us to two different skate parks a week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday. More to come on that. ALSO, our next skate competition will be on Thursday, March 29th, 2007 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This time sponsored and unsponsored skaters will have two runs as we have a lot more time (4 hours) for the competition. Trophies will be awarded for 1st Place to 3rd Place in the categories of A-Team, B-Team, Unsponsored, Best Trick and Biggest Air. Sign up for the competition the week before. Keep planting your faces before God.

Christian Young
Youth Pastor

UNITED STATES 2007 - New Wine, New Wineskins

We started off the year at SkateChurch talking about the new things that God wants to do in our lives in 2007. Jesus says in Matthew 9:17, "Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, for the skins will burst, the wine will pour out, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins, and both will keep in good condition." (TEV) We learned that back in the day, they didn't use wine bottles, they used wineskins. When new wine fermented it would give off gas causing the wineskin to expand. Old wineskins were cracked and dried because the old wine that they held had finished fermenting. If you would try to put new wine into the old wineskins, the old wineskins couldn't handle the fermentation process of the new wine and they would break and be good for nothing. That means that new wine needed to be poured into new wineskins.

THE OLD WINE AND OLD WINESKINS AT FACEPLANT MINISTRIES
Let's say that all of the amazing things that took place last year at FacePlant ministries is like old wine and old wineskins. The old wine is synonymous with the things that God accomplished. The old wineskins are synonymous with how we at FacePlant ministries housed what God was accomplishing. For instance, from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006 at FacePlant Ministries we saw 80 young people say for the first time in their life that they wanted a hand-holding relationship with Jesus Christ - old wine. We saw our Tuesday and Thursday night youth ministries grow from a handful of people to hundreds or people - old wine. We started the year off holding youth programs at Alki Middle School and at the house of one of our church families and ended the year with youth group meeting at our new Whipple Creek church campus and even turning our main sanctuary into a make-shift skate park - old wineskins. Obviuosly, much more took place last year at FacePlant Ministries that could fall into the category of old wine and old wineskins. The old wine and old wineskins are GREAT THINGS! We should look back and celebrate what God has done in our midst. But I think that they will pale in comparison to the new wine and new wineskins that are in our future for the year 2007 at FacePlant Ministries.

THE NEW WINE AND NEW WINESKINS AT FACEPLANT MINISTRIES
God's part is the new wine. Our part is the new wineskins. I believe that this year God's desire is to do new things at FacePlant Ministries that we could never have imagined - new wine. What that exactly looks like, I don't know. But I know that it is what I desire for FacePlant Ministries. I do have some ideas of how we can house these new things that God would want to accomplish this year. For instance, I have quit my full-time job doing hardwood floors so that I can work full-time as youth pastor of Whipple Creek church, which will free me up to focus my time and energy on FacePlant Ministries - new wineskins. We will be seeking after grants and help from the community to fund the building of our very own indoor skatepark and youth facility right next to the church - new wineskins. Something important that we must realize is that A LOT of having new wineskins to contain the new wine means that we take our plans and agendas, place them in God's hands and be ready for those things to be adjusted or even changed by Him. This is called being open to the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have to have an open handed mentality. If we clench our fists so tightly around something we thought to be a new wineskin, and God tries to pour out His new wine into what we are so desperately and mistakingly taking ownership of and calling ours, we will realize that what we thought could contain His new wine has burst in our grip and His blessing has spilled onto the ground. Having an attitude of surrender and openness to change - new wineskins. May FacePlant Ministries be a place that seeks new wine and new wineskins in the year 2007.

Christian Young
Youth Pastor

UNITED STATES 2006 - Skate Church Promo VIDEO

UNITED STATES 2006 - FacePlant Skate Church Montage VIDEO