Saturday, May 23, 2009

Mid-May SK8 Church



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Subject: Number 4
To: LYNNE BABER <lynnebaber@gmail.com>


Hello Friends!
Well a lot has happened since the last activity summary for 180 sk8 Church and I bet a lot has happened in your lives as well. First off...I am happy to announce that I have completed my studies at Montana State University. My education there allowed me to complete the requirements for my Bachelor Degree from Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon (where I earned my Associates Degree).  Halellujah!!

Here, in as brief a form as possible, is about 2 months of ministry and personal update!

March/April--we saw the numbers of youth coming to skate grow so much that we made the decision to split into middle school/high school sessions. Middle school is from 4-6 and high school is from 6-9. I knew that this would eventually be the structure of sk8 church, I was just surprised how fast it happened. We are jam-packed in the building in the first session and pray for a larger facility to house the ministry. Please place this near the top of sk8 church prayer needs.

Easter weekend was a great celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection. What a joy to have this victory in our lives! Keeping our mind on that is important! Easter weekend was also when we had to deal with the damage done to our pick-up truck.  It is the truck we've used for about 9 years to tow the skate ramps for ministry. Somebody (youths, judging by the  size of the foot-prints left on the truck hood) had a busy weekend. Late at night or early morning on Friday or Saturday they visited the sk8 "Yurt" where I had the truck parked and smashed out the windshield and the rear window of the topper. It could have been much worse! We were thankful to have this limited repair to take care of. This act helped us see that we really don't need the truck since we have the building and because we have the maxi-van (with towing capabilities as well as  room for 12 people).  The truck spends most of the year parked anyway with a couple of trips in October/November for hunting. We are glad to be able to move in this direction.

I have been able to share at a coupe of churches about the vision for the skateboard ministry and people are coming on board to help. We made the decision to provide a meal for the kids every Friday and the kids have really liked that addition to the ministry. It means a lot to the middle-school kids because they walk to the skate session from school and I think we can hear their stomachs growling!! Praise God for those who are excited about this outreach ministry and are giving their time and resources to help with this part of the ministry.

One of the needs we have is to get more skateboard-type people who are older than the skaters and are mature in their faith. Pray for a revival among the believers in the Gallatin Valley so that they would hear the voice of the Shepherd saying, "Feed my sheep." I really want to see a miracle in this area. So many know that we are out here in Belgrade doing this work of God. Now if they would only see the call of God in their lives to put their talents to work to further HIS kingdom. We do not want to glorify men at sk8 Church. We want Jesus Christ lifted up and to see young people turn their lives over to the Savior!

We have seen between 50 to 70 kids pass through our doors since January and sometimes they are brought their by their parents and while here there is often a chance to tell them about God's love for them and they see the love of Jesus Christ being demonstrated by the volunteers helping out with the ministry. They see workers cooking the dinner, they see staff helping out the skaters on the mini-ramp. Often they even get to hear the lesson taught during the session. They ask lots of questions about why we are their and who we are. What a blessing to be able to share the reason for being there caring for their kids!

Please keep up in your prayers and pray for us as we open our mouths to speak God's truth and always reflect those truths in our actions around these who don't know Christ yet.

Love in Christ,
Mike Baber

180 sk8 Church
303 9th Street
Belgrade, MT  59714
406-388-9180


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