Off we go!

Well, Canada time has come around again. This is the seminal Sk8church event of the summer where we take the top crop of Bible study kids across the boarder and encourage them to be Godly while we all suffer under the heavy burden of sleeping on the floor, skateboarding too much, and showering too little.

Please pray for us!!!!!!!!!
1. Safety- We are driving very far in old vans with a lot of skateboarders (a situation that strikes fear into the hearts of cops, parents, and pastors alike).
2. fellowship- What an opportunity!! Kids that I usually only see one day a week at the most will be stuck with me for hours at a time. Lets bear some fruit people!!
3. Word- Daily Bible teaching will be done by the leadership. Pray for wisdom, clarity, & conviction.

Please give!!!!!!!
My family relys soley on the giving of our supporters and the grace of GOD in order to do this trip.
If you can, kick down a few bucks to help us in this endevour to minister to Sk8church kids for a whole week.
If you can't pay, pray!!
Laurel will be posting updates all next week so you can keep up with the chaos that is the Canada trip.
God bless you real good,
-Joel

The Canada Trip is coming!

Well, next Monday Joel leaves for Canada for a week. The kids that have been consistent in coming to Bible study over the last year are being rewarded with 5 days of Canadian Skateparks. It is such a great time. So much discipleship gets to happen!
But we need your prayers! Please pray:
- For safety for everybody on the trip as they travel hundreds of miles in old vans.
-that the vehicles would hold together and work well the whole time
-that on this trip, everybody (even the staff) would be encouraged in the LORD and grow closer to Him
-for me and the kids, that we would be safe and I would be patient and strong as the single parent for the week. (this week has tended in the past to be one of big accidents for the kids- please pray that this year none of us has to go to the emergency room)
-for finances. Joel is missing a week of work and we cannot afford it. Please pray that we can pay our bills at the end of the month. And if you would like to help us financially as well as in prayer- you can make an online tax-deductible donation at Skatechurch.net.Just be sure to specify for Joel Coombs.

Thank you.

The continual need

Hello all,
Since my last post the fellow that I wrote about and gave scripture to has not yet returned to sk8church. I spoke to the staff about him at one of our regular meetings and we are continuing to pray for him.
These last few weeks have been quite a strain on my family as I have been working two jobs while trying to fulfill my duties at Sk8church. Needless to say, I let everyone down. My family suffered as I was gone all day working, my work suffered as I was over occupied and couldn't concentrate, and my ministry suffered as I was to brain dead to do much besides sit around and gawk.
Thank God, I have finished the second job, a side job (as of saturday night at about 11pm) , and will not be accepting any new side work as long as my current job holds out and my supporters don't quit.
For those of you who don't know my new job, I have been promoted to a building superintendent with the company I got hired on to about 7 months ago. I have been in the construction field for about 12 years, with 7 of those years involved in property management/maintainence. This job is the first job I have ever had that required me to sit at a desk in front of a computer and answer the phone for most of the day. The rest of my day is filled up with walking around and making sure that my buildings are up to snuff.
This job has been an answer to prayer as my body continued to degenerate under the load of heavy construction and skateboarding. Praise be to God!!
In other news, last week I was at a local Fred Meyer shopping for my family on my way home from work when a fellow shouted my name and stopped me. It was an old Skatechurch kid who I hadn't seen in a few years. We were able to catch up a bit, chat about his job at that same Fred Meyer store, and I was able to invite him to church!
I love running into these fellows around town. So many times on the various ministry nights I am unable to talk with them so it is great to see them out and about and talk with them one on one away from their skateboards.
Last night, me and my kids went outside to play on my mini ramp and soon noted that it had passed away without us noting it! Oh well, now I need to tear it down and throw it away so my kids don't get hurt on its various parts of decomposition.
Oh dear, it's 8am and I need to work now.

Pray for Canada trip,
pray for fruitful ministry night this tues.,
Thank you!
-Joel

Have a look at this!

I thought you all might enjoy this. It is a compilation done by Dave Smith from Skatechurch.
It is pictures from a variety of the annual Skatechurch Canada Trip. This August is the "last" one they will be taking. I say "last" because it is the third "last" trip; as the border regulations have been supposed to change to require passports and they keep changing when that will happen. When it does, Skatechurch will not be able to take the kids that have been faithful to come to weekly Bible studies up there. So we are thankful for this opportunity for discipleship for one more year!

Lobug

BTW, I am very proud of myself for learning how to post this for you! It is the first time I've been able to do this. :-)

Answer to Prayer!

For all of you who have been praying for our daughter, Daisy; we have good news to report!Today I took her to the ophthamologist and we got Good News!! For those of you who don't know, we've been dealing with some inflammation in her left eye for about 8 months now--although it was probably there for a lot longer as we only found out about it when she started getting scar tissue in her iris. It affected her vision; but there wasn't anything really visible-no redness, etc. Anyway, today her vision was the same in both eyes (around 20/25, I think), and the retina specialist said there were no actively inflamed cells and it looks really good. We are so happy!! No more eye patches for the rest of the summer. She is thrilled! God is so good! :D :D
Her next appointment to monitor her vision and make sure the inflammation doesn't pop up again is in late September.
Thank you all so very much for praying for her! Your prayers have made a huge difference in our lives!
Laurel

A great night of ministry!

Last night at high school night I was scheduled to share the Gospel. Needless to say I hadn't had much time to prepare but, as usual, I had a great bunch of folks praying for me. When I arrived an old skatechurch friend that I hadn't seen in a while came by and let me know that he was still following the Lord and that he had received my support letter and wanted to begin to support me. BTW, he is 19 years old.

I can't tell you what a blessing it was to catch up with this guy re: his walk with the Lord and his family. I was now ready to share the Gospel!!!!!!!!!!!

My friend left and I went inside to prepare the message (I had a rough idea of what I wanted to share but needed to add some meat to it). As I sat down to prepare another kid came over to me and sat down wanting to talk.

We chatted for about 15 min. about his injuries and his church home and his hopes for the future.

I then got up and skated about for a bit and chatted with about 10 other fellows while skating with them.

Then it was 7:30; talk time!!

The kids were told to sit down, reminded of the rules for the talk, and I went up to speak. I still didn't know what to say!!

In moments like these it always seems best to pray. So I did.

The Lord answered my prayers and I proceeded to share the Gospel through the story of David and Bathsheba.

The main point of the talk was that we, just like David, are guilty of worshipping worldly things rather than God.

I called the fellows to repentance and did an altar call. No one responded so I reminded them that the staff are only here for them and that if they have any questions to come and ask them.

One fellow came up to me and said that he was very confused. He said that thought that he was a Christian but that I had spoken of Davids sin of adultery and its consequences and he was wondering why he didn't feel guilty for recently getting his girlfriend pregnant.

In moments like these it always seems best to pray. So I did.

I explained to him that just because his friends thought it was great that he was going to be a father didn't mean that God agreed with them. I asked him if he read his Bible and he said yes but only the O.T. because the N.T. was too confusing.

I told him to go for a skate and that I would find something in the N.T. that would bring clairity to his situation. I wrote him up a quick note to read the sermon on the mount and to come back next week and tell me what he thought of it.

He took the note and said that he would and was very excited to learn more about his standing with God.

Please pray for this guy that he would get into the Word and that God would bless him with His truth. Pray for me as I need wisdom to speak into this guys life next week.

Thank you,

-Joel

Good Sunday

Hi! This is Joel's wife :-D

I know it's Tuesday, but I haven't had time to get this up-yesterday was crazy. But then, Mondays usually are.

Last Sunday was Potluck Sunday at Eden Bible Church . Our potlucks are held in the Skatechurch warehouse; so there's always some skating involved at some point. Which means it's a great time for Joel to invite some of the guys that haven't been coming to church for a while. And, lo and behold, some came!! Brian and David, two guys that claimed Christ a while back but have since reverted to previous behaviour (See Luke, the parable of the sower--the seeds among the thorns), came to church--and stayed for a while after to skate and talk. Joel was able to give Brian a ride to and from church and so had opportunity to talk to him. He said it went well. (that's all I know) Please be praying for these guys. They are aware of the Truth, but have not allowed it to set them free.

Saturday evening, when Joel invited these guys to church, he had some other guys respond to his text message as well. Some of these guys are in the same situation as Brian and David---they have claimed to know Christ, and followed Him for awhile, but now are blowing it all off--living as they please. This is the saddest thing that happens at Skatechurch. The exciting thing is that these particular guys are still in some contact with Joel. A lot of guys that do this aren't seen or heard from again for many years if ever. Please pray that they will stay in contact and start coming to church on a regular basis.

And if you're wondering---yes, Joel sends invitations to church via text message. He used to call them, but they would rarely answer their phones and even more rarely listen to their voicemail. He tried text messaging, and the majority of them responded. We had to change his cell phone plan to be able to connect with the kids. This computerized, wireless culture means some odd methods of communication!!

And for those of you who are tired of all the text on this blog, here my favorite picture of the littlest skateboarder: (our youngest son)