A New Way To Ride

From the Front line

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From the Ground Up: As construction commenced on Shore Fellowship Church’s bike and skate park in 2005, excitement ran high—foreshadowing the impact the park has today on local youth who find Christ as they ride.

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It’s why Doyle stopped smoking weed and found a new purpose in life. “I came to Christ through Patmos,” he says. “Guy Richards was a big influence—he loved me like Christ would have.”

The Patmos Experience

Today, more than 2,000 people have ridden Patmos. It regularly draws skaters and bikers ages 9 and up from around the country to try its famous “rhythm section” and to ride the “Clam Shell.” Patmos’ annual skate and bike contests, called Jamfests, are advertised on MTV and ESPN and attended by thousands of people, including top bike and skate pros from around the country. The secret behind the park’s success, Richards likes to say, is food. “Burgers are done!” is the cattle call on a hot Thursday night, as 20 to 40 sweaty, shirtless kids in helmets navigate the graffiti-covered concrete hills on skateboards and soar over the dirt jumps on BMX bikes. Mortal Treason blasts from someone’s iPod. The kids eagerly grab hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill, plus some fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies, and settle on the steps of a mini-amphitheater modeled after Philadelphia’s Love Park, an internationally known skateboarding locale. Now it’s Richards’ turn. “Hey you guys, I just want to pray for your food. And if you don’t know what this is, on Thursday nights I get to talk to you guys, and I want to tell you a little bit about Jesus and why we do what we do.” During the barbecue each Thursday at “The Pad,” Richards shares a 10minute gospel message, usually based on his life story. He describes how in his early 20s, he realized he needed Christ’s forgiveness after his little brother went to jail for selling drugs—due to the bad example Richards left him. But Christ changed Richards, he says, into a person who wanted to do right. “Jesus never smoked a blunt, never had sex with a girl, never jaywalked, and He’s the only One that could take your sin,” he tells the group. “Guy was hugely passionate about a segment of kids that a lot of us could never touch,” Shore Fellowship Lead Pastor Tim Chambers says, explaining why he approached Richards with the idea of a skate park. “I started a conversation with him about putting a place here to attract kids that wouldn’t show up for church.”

Building and Believing

Congregants were skeptical, but with Chambers’ support, Richards started clearing trees from a portion of the church’s 33-acre lot. He recruited Doyle and other locals from the BMX track who were eager to help. To raise money, the team planned the first Jamfest competitions to rally the community around the project; the kids built jumps, and local businesses donated food, bike parts and gift cards. Red Bull, Chick-Fil-A and other companies signed on as sponsors. “I was stoked to hear that there was going to be a cement park that

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FAST FACTS Shore Fellowship Church Pastor: Tim Chambers Launch Date: 2003 Attendance: 1,200 Web site: ShoreFellowship.com

would let bikes in, and it was going to have dirt jumps,” Doyle recalls. “I didn’t care that it was at a church. I was on board to help no matter what.” Local teen Ricci Branca was especially passionate about the project—and was the first to accept Christ during the park’s planning stages. A month later, when he was killed by a drunken driver while riding his bike, the community catalyzed its efforts to provide a safe place for the kids to ride. Donations began to flow, people donated a tractor and a fence, and a mason and a skate park consultant offered free services, keeping the park’s cost to about $90,000, a fraction of the cost normally associated with a high-caliber skate park. On June 16, 2006, Patmos Park opened to the public, providing a drug-and-alcohol-free setting where kids could hear the Gospel. Bikers and skaters are greeted by a volunteer and asked to sign an insurance waiver. Then they get an overview of the park: Helmets are required, and there is no swearing, smoking or throwing your boards and bikes. What’s more, there is constant supervision. Doyle, now on the church’s paid staff as park administrator, supervises and disciples park-goers daily. “The culture of the skating industry is very dark—you have to break the rules at everything!” Richards says. “But with this park, we’re offering an environment that’s so different, that’s free, where we’re loving on the kids.” John Smith, 21, is a regular at the park. “We come here because it’s busting a ride, and we’re not getting hassled by the cops or paying a fine.” Though Richards says it hasn’t been easy to integrate kids from the park with the more conservative kids at the church youth or singles group—and he’s still trying to get church members more involved at the park—church attendance has soared from 200 to 1,200 people, thanks to the skate park’s impact on the community. “We’ve seen people come to know the Lord in a very short time,” Chambers says. “It was just about looking at our community, identifying our opportunity with skating and biking. Our church has developed a good name because of what we’ve done here.” Still growing, Patmos Park plans to expand its “street section” for skaters, now offers a clothing line, sells food and drinks and recently held its first graffiti contest. But beyond Egg Harbor Township and the state of New Jersey, Richards sees a future of even greater influence in the skating industry. “We’ve become relevant to the industry, not just relevant to Christians who like to skate,” he says. “I really believe there is going to be a revival in the industry through this park.”

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PASTOR’S NOTES Principles for skate park ministry Understand the time and resources required. “I don’t know if we understood the depth of what it would take. We were in the midst of a building campaign while the skate park was being built, and it was hard to focus on the skate park. Even though it was open that first year, we weren’t using it to its full ministry capacity and could have had a better plan.” Set the standards high. “The people who work at the skate park must go through the same background check to work with kids as the people in the church. Follow the same principles as if you’re hiring an employee.” Raise awareness. “A lot of people in our church didn’t get it. Before we built the skate park, we had two or three events on the property where we set up jumps to raise awareness. I urged the church to come out and help, and it changed their minds. I told the church, ‘When you come out here, there might be some people smoking. Don’t worry about it.’ ” Expect a learning curve. “There’s not a lot of church models. We’re still in that process of creating a model and design. We’re working on the next step—how do we then bridge the gap, walking the kids the next 100 feet into the building? It’s one thing to get them here; it’s another to get them involved in the church.” After 15 years in youth ministry, Tim Chambers became lead pastor at Shore Fellowship Church in 1999. He is passionate about people, his family and Wolverines football.