UNITED STATES 2010 - First SkateChurch Night at Ripzu Skate Park

First SkateChurch Night at Ripzu Skatepark

Last night we had our first ever FacePlant SkateChurch at the new Ripzu Skatepark in Vancouver, Washington. It went really well and we had a good turnout of over 20 youth...many new faces since we;ve been gone overseas for the last couple of years, but some familiar faces of young people who we have led to Christ in the years past.

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Pam, Leanne, Chad, Lyndse and I all helped check the kids in as we added a step in the process by the youth having to have a Ripzu waiver completed and signed by a parent. Tonight, seeing as it was the first night in the new facility, we handed out raffle tickets to all the skaters who paid at the front and raffled off sticker packs, t-shirts and a snowboarding DVD. James, Ricky and Curtis who are other staff members all hung out with the youth as well. Even Brett, senior pastor of Whipple Creek Church brought his two sons to skate. Brett (as well as the rest of us) are stoked that Whipple Creek Church has now officially gone multi-campus.

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Ripzu Skatepark has two sections. The bigger section has a sweet mini-ramp/partial bowl with a vert-wall with banks, stairs, hubba and step-up. The smaller section has a spine, quarter pipes on both sides, a small picnic bench section in the middle as well as a box and rail that we let them use from FacePlant Ministries. We all skated for the first hour and a half or so, then gathered together in the smaller section for the Bible teaching. I taught about the sacrifice that God the Father made for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for us by using an illustration:

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A father who was a draw bridge operator had brought his only son to work with him one day. The father showed his son around the place and then just let him run around wherever he wanted to while he operated the draw bridge. The father got the call to lower the draw bridge as a passenger train was on it's way, so he began to close the draw bridge. As the draw bridge began to close, he heard the sound of his son screaming as he had gotten his body caught in the huge gears that opens and closes the draw bridge. The father had to make a decision on the spot as to whether he would stop the draw bridge, save his own son, and allow the train to de-rail, killing all the passengers on board OR to sacrifice his own son, allowing the gears to crush him to death while the train with its' passengers crossed safely to the other side. The father let the draw bridge close as he heard the gears literally crush his son to death and and he looked into the windows of the train that was crossing with tears in his eyes, he saw some different scenarios. In one window he saw a heroin junky shooting up. In another window he saw an employer committing adultery with on of his employees. In another window he saw a middle school skater talking back to his parents. In another window he saw a high school student losing her virginity. The sacrifice the father had made by giving up his only son was for people who had no clue what they were being saved from and who were living lives quite different from the young, innocent boy who had lost his life in exchange for theirs.

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The Scriptures say that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We are like the folks on that train who have been provided a way of salvation through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross...His life in exchange for ours. All we must do is believe in Him, confess our sins to Him, and ask Him into our lives. ONE YOUNG PERSON last night did just that. He raised his hand and asked Jesus Christ into his heart. What a wonderful way to start off this new era of FacePlant SkateChurch! We will be continuing to teach the young people about who Jesus is by teaching through the gospel of Mark on Monday nights. And the cool thing is, it won't just be me teaching, as was the case for the most part during the first three years of SkateChurch. Our other staff members and interns (who gave their lives to Christ through SkateChurch and are now adults being raised up to lead SkateChurch into the future) will be on a rotation every week. AND we will be having small groups and small group qustions again every week, which makes it more of an intimate setting where the youth can be free to dialogue and ask questions. We are super-excited as FacePlant SkateChurch continues to be a vital ministry to the youth skateboarding community of Vancouver, Washington.

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A huge shout-out to Chris for opening up Ripzu Skatepark to us at FacePlant Ministries and partnering with us. Only good things to come from this partnership.

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Christian Young

FP SkateChurch Pastor

UNITED STATES 2010 - Skate Church Moving to Ripzu Skate Park

FacePlant Sk8Church is MOVING to Ripzu Skatepark

Thats right! Beginning September 20th FacePlant SkateChurch will be meeting at Ripzu Skatepark. Check out the flier below for details:

UNITED STATES 2010 - FP Skate Church RE-CAP, Jan 2009-Aug 2010

FP SkateChurch RE-CAP, January 2009-August 2010

Aiden Franklin took the reins of FacePlant Ministries in January 2009 as Chris Chin Chung, founder, and his family moved overseas as missionaries. Aiden served as SkateChurch pastor until he and his wife moved to Texas in April 2010 where he has family. During that time SkateChurch went through some transition. This always happens as ministries take on the flavor of those who lead the ministry. During this time SkateChurch changed from meeting on Thursday nights to meeting on Tuesday nights. The structure stayed similar, where there was always skating and Bible teaching, in fact, during those 15 months more than 10 young people gave their lives to Christ. The sponsored team transitioned more into a group who hung out with Aiden, going to many skateparks together and doing a second California skate tour for one week during Summer 2009. Small groups at SkateChurch began to happen every other week and then tapering off altogether to where it was more of a verse by verse Bible teaching. Aiden was super-pastoral with the youth who came out to SkateChurch and was, and still is a friend to everyone. The numbers of youth at SkateChurch have always fluxuated over the years. Many new kids came out and numbers leveled out to around 30 kids every Tuesday night.

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After Aiden moved, Joe Popi and Steve Miller ran SkateChurch for the next couple of months with a rotation of speakers including Ricky and Curtis. Chad Stevens took the reins at SkateChurch and has been overseeing it until now. Another skater named Zach Barazowski also helped out from the days when Aiden was SkateChurch pastor through when Chad was running SkateChurch. Some new ramps were given to FacePlant Ministries by Bad Monkey Skate Shop recently. Neither Joe, Steve or Chad are skaters themselves and have done a great job to help SkateChurch keep running.

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Chris Chin Chung has moved back to Vancouver from Africa on furlough from missions in August 2010 and will return to the foreign mission field again. He will be taking the riens once again in hopes to take FacePlant Ministries and SkateChurch to the next level, while getting back to the roots of the early FacePlant days where hundreds of kids would come, skate, and give their lives to Christ. Through all of the transitions, God has continued to use FacePlant Ministries to His glory. Thank you all, who have been a part of this great movement.

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Ricky Brewer, Brian Worcester, Curtis Christensen and Christian Young

MOZAMBIQUE 2010 - Indigenous Yao Music Videos

Assumane, Mozambique

Friday, September 10, 2010

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Indigeneous Yao Music Videos

While we were still in Mozambique we were able to record two original, indigenous worship albums with the choir from the church in Assumane. These two albums will be played at various radio stations in the Niassa province of Mozambique, and will reach the ears and hearts of many Yao people in villages that we have never been. We also shot some video of these recording sessions and have turned them into music videos. Enjoy these Yao music videos.

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Christian Young

QATAR 2010 - Five Flights and Two Days of Travel

Doha, Qatar

Friday, August 13, 2010

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Five Flights and Two Days of Travel

We boarded five airplanes and were in the air for nearly two whole days as we travel back to the United States. We traveled through Qatar which is in the Middle East, which was a first for us. The hot, sticky air hit us like a thick cloud as we had a short layover in Qatar. We were told that we weren't allowed to eat or drink in public because it was the month of Ramadan, a Muslim holiday. So we stuck it out until we could board the plane. And as we were boarding the plane, our family was segregated into two long lines, one for men, the other for women. It is a strange feeling to adhere to the strict rules of an Islaamic government, even when just passing through. An interesting experience to be sure. Our hearts broke for the people of the Middle East, and we all interceded for them while we were there.

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Christian Young

MOZAMBIQUE 2010 - Jesse Gets Chased By Elephants VIDEO

MOZAMBIQUE 2010 - Outreach in Mecula - The Final Frontier

Mecula, Mozambique
Saturday, August 7, 2010
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Outreach in Mecula – The Final Frontier
In the northern Niassa province, there exists an extremely isolated area called the Niassa National Reserve. We had heard that in the Reserve there were many isolated villages with over 25,000 Yao people, spread out over hundreds and hundreds of kilometers who had never heard the gospel. We also saw on our map at the Bible School that there was a village called Mecula that was the furthest village in the northern Niassa province. A while back, we had said in our hearts, that the gospel must be brought to Mecula.

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Months ago, we discovered that the YWAM DTS outreach phase would be in Mecula. At that point in time, we decided that we would accompany the YWAM team and assist them in outreach in Mecula and the surrounding villages. This past week, that which the Lord had placed in our hearts came to pass. We traveled in Freedom all the way to Mecula. We showed the “Dreams” film on Wednesday night and the Jesus film on Thursday night. We preached the word of God, led many in a personal, hand-holding relationship with Jesus, prayed for many sick and saw them healed, and even found ourselves interpreting dreams. The people were a mixture of Yao, Portuguese, Makhua and Swahili-speaking. On Thursday morning, we had a Spirit-led time of intercession in the one small Assemblies of God church in Mecula with the YWAM staff and students as well as local leaders of the church. God really revealed through prophetic words how key our time together there was, and how from Mecula, that all the surrounding villages would come to hear the gospel of Christ.

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The Yao people of Mozambique are spread out throughout the Niassa province all the way to the Tanzania border. There have been prophetic words over our team concerning the Lord giving us the Road to Tanzania, and that the once unreached Yao people would be reached by the gospel of Christ. Through our travels, scouting trips, evangelism outreaches and studies of our Mozambique maps, we learned that there are four main roads to Tanzania. ROAD #1: Last year we traveled the main road to Matchadje at the Tanzania border. ROAD #2: Earlier this year we took a motorbike trip past Mavago on the road to Milepa. ROAD #3: Just a couple of weeks ago we traveled as far up the road to Tanzania as can be traveled by 4X4 along Lake Malawi to Cobue. ROAD #4: THE FINAL FRONTIER. This trip to Mecula was last remaining area of the Niassa province we were able to travel to and further the Kingdom of God. Thousands of Yao people have turned from Islam mixed with animism to Jesus in the hundreds of villages spread throughout the province. And to know that God has used us to fulfill His great commission in such a way is amazing. We feel honored and privileged to have been positioned as such in these last days. Miracles, signs and wonders have followed us, as He promised they would. We haven’t just evangelized. We have just planted churches. We have seen a movement begun that is continuing to extend the kingdom of God to the places we haven’t been able to travel to make disciples ourselves, and all through indigenous Mozambicans. WOW! Some missionaries work for twenty years in one place and have seen no converts. We have been here for one year and seen so much acceleration that it is almost unbelievable. Why? I really don’t know. One thing I do know, is that we have had the faith to see this happen. It was something God spoke to our hearts and, in faith, we walked out this plan, purpose and vision to reach the Yao people with the gospel. I believe that we are seeing just the beginning of the thousands of unreached people groups of the world being harvested, and how God wants to continue to use us, His servants, to reach the nations. I look forward to seeing how God continues to move among the Yao people of Mozambique and how God will position us in the future to continue to follow His heart for the lost, broken and hurting of this world.
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We also got to see some elephants, monkeys, impalas and other wildlife, which was nice as we have seen these animals in abundance in the other countries we traveled through in Africa, but not yet in Mozambique. (We were actually hoping to be able to hunt and kill an impala for our team to have for dinner, but it wasn't as easy as showing up on their doorstep) Jesse even pushed the envelope and got chased be an elephant..

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Christian Young