Published: August 28, 2005 09:22 am            

Concert at the Clock

Skateboarders show skills, minister to local youngsters.

The sounds of skateboards and electric guitars could be heard all over downtown Woodward Saturday afternoon as Real Deal Ministries sponsored Concert at the Clock, a Christian youth rally with a twist.

The youth rally had numerous bands play and everyone was invited to bring their skateboard. The highlights of the day were the band Sum 7 and pro skateboarders Tim Byrne and Jared Lee.

“Western Oklahoma is a very cool place but man it is hot here,” said Lee, who is from North Carolina.

Lee said, “We flew into Oklahoma City yesterday and had a nice drive coming up. I have never been to Oklahoma but it seems like a very nice place.”

Lee and Byrne are members of a youth ministry team known as King of King Ministries. This group travels across the nation doing skateboard demonstrations and ministering to youth about becoming a Christian and spreading the gospel.

“We can relate to the kids because we are young guys as well and we love riding skateboards, this helps us to become not just a parent person lecturing to them, they see us as one of them and maybe really take to heart what we have to say about God,” Lee said.

Lee and Byrne dazzled the large crowd with high flying and balancing tricks on skateboards that would have made any person skateboarder or not stare in amazement. After a 30-minute demonstration Byrne asked all the youth present to gather around him as he told his story of being a rebel youth and the long road that brought him to a Christian life.

Byrne said, “ No one ever used to this sort of thing but there is something about skateboarding that no one can explain. It brings a lot of troubled kids just like I was into it, so it gives a great opportunity to help show these kids that there is somewhere else to go other than down a road to prison or even worse, death.”

“We are here to use skate boarding as a tool to bring a message of hope and faith to troubled kids all over the world. I always tell kids that skateboarding has made me rich and somewhat famous but that all means nothing without Christ in my life. I know NBA players, famous actors, and even rock stars who have told me that the material things they have in life are nice but they can’t fill the void that they had before they new Christ as their savior.” Byrne added.

Byrne who is from Portland, Ore., is on a 14-day tour and his next stop is Texas where he will be doing the same kind of program that he did in Woodward.

“I am leaving here around three in the morning and climbing on a plane and heading off again,” Byrne said.

Lee will be traveling back to North Carolina where he will be working on a skateboarding film to be released next year.

        

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