Walk through the Peninsula Town Center in Hampton and you'll find Mekos Surf, Skate and More. Inside the establishment, you can shop for skate gear, shoes and apparel, and skate in the skating facility. If you're lucky enough to be a kid, you can even attend skate church.
During Skate Church, it is common to encounter a large number of youth making a loud noise as they skillfully maneuver ramps in the skate park portion of the 11,000 square foot facility.
During one particular evening, board member Michael Berkley quiets the group and gathers the youth for a time of devotion before the skating time officially begins. After spending some time talking to the youth about Christ, Berkley, with his camera in tow, dismisses them with a prayer, and the noise begins.
Berkley, the music director of Woodlake United Methodist Church in Midlothian, Virginia, draws a parallel between skateboarders and Christ's disciples.
- They live and breathe skating, they cannot imagine a day without it.
- They fall, but they keep getting back up.
- They accept newcomers with open arms.
- Although the community may see them as different, they are not ashamed.
So where did it all being?
Maybe it all started in Portland, Oregon.
In 1987, Central Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon, became the unsuspecting home of the nation's first skatechurch. The founders of the skatechurch, Paul Anderson and Clint Bidleman, had been involved in the skateboard culture for nearly a decade, half of which included drugs, alcohol and stealing supplies to make ramps. At 17, the young men accepted Christ and they were transformed. When they were 23 and enrolled in Portland Oregon Bible College, they founded the skatechurch in the parking lot of Central Baptist Church with the encouragement of the Youth Pastor, and support of the church.
Fast-forward 20-some years and the skate church dream has become a reality for skaters in Hampton Roads. In 2008, Greenbrier Church in Chesapeake built a skate park offering half-pipes, pipes, rails and ramps.
That same year, Brent Staul felt called to provide a new ministry for the youth of Hampton Roads. A year later, Staul purchased Mike's Surf Shop, attracted to it because one of its components was an indoor skate ministry.
In October 2009, Staul's prayer to develop a more comprehensive ministry around a surf and skate shop came to fruition when the door was opened to join the Peninsula Town Center business plan. Staul credits the development and organization of the business to God, confirming that the opportunity to build a skate park and provide a Skate Church was indeed an answer to prayers.
Staul and his family created the non-profit 501(c)(3) Invert Ministries through which Skate Church is conducted for youth. Skate church is a safe place for youth to skate, worship and fellowhip with others.
"The staff here generally run the devotion with the youth, but sometimes the youth are asked to take lead the devotion time under staff guidance," Berkley explains.
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m., youth can skate free at sk8 church. Tuesday nights are for skaters 13 and older; Thursdays are for 12 and younger. Skating takes place after a 10 to 20 minute devotion and liability forms are required. A viewing area is available in the shop where parents can watch through large windows, and forms and more information are available online at http://www.mekosskate.com/
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