Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Christian Skaters Conference 2008


Just got back from a great weekend in Scotland and thought I'd tell you guys all about it. We set off for Dundee at 9am on Thursday and headed to Bristol to pick up Sarah. After a quick coffee break we were back on the road. The drive to Dumbarton was pretty smooth and uneventful. In Dumbarton we stopped at Unit 23 skatepark for 'skate church'.

Every Thursday evening kids show up for a free skate session and a 15min gospel talk. We went on our way to Dundee last year and I was amazed by what is going on there. The team just share their love for Jesus in a simple and honest way - no multi media presentation, nothing flashy, just simply share their heart. And the kids there really respect that. For more info have a look at http://www.deepercall.co.uk/ Please pray for the owner of Unit 23. He's not a Christian yet but is very supportive of skate church. He's having financial struggles which has led to him having to charge more for church to happen there. This meant that church had to stop for a while and now numbers have dropped from 120 to 20. Please pray that things will pick up again and the team won't get too discouraged.
After our stop in Dumbarton we continued on to Dundee and very welcome nights sleep.
The conference ran from Friday til Sunday. There were about 35 of us from around the UK and even some from USA too. It was great to see old friends from last year and meet some new people too. I love that the conference is so small -it creates a beautiful intimacy and a real sense of family. It was a really good few days of worship, prayer, seminars and of course skating!!! The seminars where on subjects like fundraising, project development, discipling skaters and running successful events and competitions.

On the Saturday night we ran a skate comp at the park and one of the guys gave his testimony at the end. As far as I know no-one made a commitment to follow Jesus that night but we did have a couple of people come and ask questions after. Please pray for the seeds that have been sown there.
On Sunday morning we joined with a local church to hold a church service on the skate park. Was great to be able to worship God together. Sunday lunchtime was the end of the conference and time to begin the looooooong drive home. It was wet and windy and seemed to take forever. And it didn't help when the sat nav took us round and round and all over the place looking for a petrol station!!
We stopped off at Overtoun house on the way home. It's a castle in Dumbarton that a church is converting into games rooms, dorm rooms, bed and breakfast, sheltered housing for women in crisis and so much more. To see more details about this amazing project look at http://www.overtounhouse.com/ Perhaps you or someone you know would be interested in going up there for a week or two to volunteer your skills to help with the renovations?
Well, we finally got home at 2am on Monday morning. I'm still very tired and feel like I have a lot to process.
For more about Christian Skaters UK go to http://www.christianskaters.co.uk/ a little later this week to see the brand new website!!!

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