Crossroads Podcast: Starting a Ministry

You know, my advice for anyone listening is where do you go?

And what do you like to do?

And is that a fishing pond where you can go spend time, build relationships, get to know people, and just let your light shine?

And the Holy Spirit does it does it through you.

She's like, I I went I went to SoulScan and being here, oh, it makes me want to choke up.

Um the Holy Spirit met me there.

And I was finally able to forgive after so many years of caring, such a burden.

Hello there, everybody.

Welcome to the Crossroads Podcast.

My name is Jake Christie.

I'm our discipleship pastor here at Crossroads Church, and I have the awesome blessing to get to host the Crossroads Podcast.

Here were some pretty cool people today.

Thank you guys for joining me.

Let's go around really quick, as we always do, and just introduce ourselves.

BJ, I'm gonna start with you.

Tell us tell us a little a little bit about you.

Usually I have like a fun icebreaker question just ready for us to go, but I just want you to tell me a random fact about yourself.

So tell us who you are, what you do, and then a random fact.

I'm BJ Price.

I'm the dude who fixes stuff at Crossroads.

Um and uh I'm also the president of Skate Ohio, a skateboarding nonprofit here in the Richland County area.

And um a little more about myself.

Uh married 20 years to my high school sweetheart who dumped me in eighth grade, but then realized the error of her ways.

That's a cathartial uh my uh senior year.

I always like to remind her of that, but uh no, been married a long time, have three boys, and uh yeah, fun fact our our wedding was a Muppet themed wedding.

Okay.

Yeah, do you have a favorite Muppet?

Oh, uh man, that's tough.

Pepe or Joe from Legal is as creeped up as the best, is like one of my favorites.

He's a recent one, but if you watch any of the recent uh Muppet stuff, Joe from Legal is pretty much.

Uh yeah, the one that they've done, there they've ordered more, so I'm excited.

And they just they just turned the Aerosmith rock and roller coaster into the uh Muppets Mayhem ride.

Nice.

I haven't been down there yet.

I'm excited to go see that.

So you're a big Muppets.

Nice.

Please tell me that your officiant was a Muppet.

No, sadly, no.

It was Tim Armstrong.

Oh, well, there you go.

One of the last weddings he did.

So yeah, no, but uh definitely had Muppet theme.

But the the band we hired did learn the Muppet theme for when we came into the reception.

So did the drummer dress up as animal?

No, no, none of that.

It was just a lot of it was like subtle.

Everything was subtle because subtly Muppets.

Everything was pink and green, and then we had Kermit and Miss Piggy on all the party favorite cookies, yeah.

Buckeye Bakery cookies, shall have bakery.

Give me some cookies.

Um, but uh we will take your cookies, we will take your cookies for sure.

Awesome.

Thanks, PJ.

I don't know how you do anything Muppets subtly, but if anybody's gonna do it, I believe that you could.

Thank you.

Yeah, we did.

Awesome.

Cool.

Doug, let's hear from you, man.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Uh, what do you do?

And uh a random fact.

Sure.

Uh Doug Taylor, Pastor Doug.

Uh, I work with uh ministry with men, marketplace ministry, um, connections in the community, outward facing things from Crossroads Church in the community.

And on Sundays I get to be the campus pastor at Waterford campus.

It's out there near Fredericktown.

It's it's a rural campus, but we're growing.

I've been out there for about five weeks, and I'm just like excited to be the campus pastor down there with uh with that campus.

Um, fun fact about me um I don't know how interesting it is, but but I love football, basketball, golf, anything sports related, I just love.

Um so I don't know how interesting that is, but my new favorite thing is being a grandfather.

Oh yes, yeah.

Hilde Sue is two, yeah, and Russell Douglas is about six weeks old.

So yeah.

My whole world revolves right now in my mind about those two little ones.

Yeah, it's a fun new chapter.

That's great.

Which uh which grandkid's your favorite?

No, I'm kidding.

I wouldn't do that together.

Um, what sport was your favorite that you played?

Um, to play was for sure basketball.

What about coach?

Basketball is basketball.

Yeah, it's the best sport in the world, man.

So good.

It's the best sports.

Maybe by the time this podcast comes out, LeBron made his decision.

Who knows?

Who knows?

Some people think I like the Waterford campus because there's an amazing gym down there.

There is a great gym down there.

It's great.

There's a workout space and a basketball gym.

Yeah, it's great.

It's like half the building.

It's awesome.

Really cool.

Awesome.

Vanessa, tell us about you.

What do you do?

Who are you?

And a fun fact.

Yeah, so my name is Vanessa Alcantara, and I am a mom of three beautiful children, wife to Ernesto Alcantara.

And I lead a ministry called SoulScan.

It's uh a ministry that helps women who feel stuck in their spiritual growth and are looking for more for inner healing, and I help them face those hard realities so that they can heal what's kind of needs adjusting.

And so that's what I do.

I I love to say that I love to do that anywhere from conferences and you know, platforms to living rooms and private spaces.

And so that that's the heart behind that.

Awesome.

And a fun fact about me is that mosquitoes for some reason uh love me.

And so if you're the same, it is terrible.

Oh my goodness, they're like, it's a buffet! They're just these mosquitoers.

We have the most delicious blood.

It tastes like Dr.

Pepper.

Fun fact.

Oh man, that's it, right?

I'm horribly sorry.

That doesn't sound like a fun fact, that sounds like a curse.

It's yeah, it's bad.

So if you see me straight up.

That is that's no fun.

Where do they get you the most?

I'm just curious.

Is it like arms, legs?

Okay, me, it's yeah, ankles.

Ankles, socks, yes.

I don't get it.

Yeah, they get me in the ankles a lot too.

It's brutal.

Bugs are the worst.

God did not have to create those.

No, he didn't.

That's but what we'll we're gonna have a conversation about that one day.

Yeah, but cool.

Well, hey, the reason why I called you guys here today is because each of you have either started a ministry or you are heavily involved in a ministry that is outside of the church you're a part of.

Now, we we've done partnerships in the past where Crossroads is partnered with your ministries or actively is, or uh, you know, we were involved in what you're doing.

We've encouraged you in what you're doing and all of those things.

Uh, but this this these ministries started out of a dream.

It started out of something that you felt like the Lord laid on your heart.

Again, whether it was an opportunity to get involved with something or to start something from the ground up.

And what I know is that that we have lots of people that are watching today that are that go to crossroads or go to any church really, that they're they're in that space where they feel like maybe the Lord's tugging on them to do something, where he's trying to push them into maybe an uncomfortable space to start a ministry or to be involved in a ministry, or maybe they don't feel super equipped to do that, or maybe they aren't finding the right opportunity, and maybe that means they have to start something from the ground up.

Yeah.

Um, but but what I want to do is encourage those people today to help them take those first steps at the very least and to see, okay, maybe my church doesn't offer this kind of ministry.

Maybe they're they haven't started something within that church as an organization to be involved with, but I see this need, and the Lord is the Lord is putting this burden on my heart and I want to address it.

Uh, because the reality is if it's if the if the bird has been put on your heart, then it probably might have been on someone else's heart as well.

And that means there's a need that needs to be addressed.

So I just want to, I kind of got a little bit of a snapshot from from you guys from Vanessa and BJ about the ministries you guys started with Skid Ohio and Soul Scan.

I want to get a little bit deeper into that.

Uh, but we haven't heard from you yet, Doug.

And you you're you're involved in in a litany of different ministries across the board.

Uh, but I'd love to so I'd love to start with you.

Sure.

Where what are some ministries that you're involved with with today that maybe are some ministries that are outside of crossroads?

Yeah.

Um I'm heading into the third season, but I'm with an organization called Hockey Ministries International.

Yeah.

And that's a chaplain to to hockey teams.

Okay.

They do it at all levels from from the from kids to juniors to college to professional.

Yeah.

So the uh the one the one that I'm assigned to is Ohio State men's hockey team.

That's cool.

So yeah, it's so much fun.

And though people that know me know that generational transference is what I get excited about, passing the faith down to the next generation, whether that's in youth ministry, to college students, to people in skating, you know, to put that next generation.

So being involved in Hockey Ministries International at the collegiate level allows me to do weekly chapels with uh student with student athletes and to talk about Jesus.

Yeah.

Help them encounter Jesus and for those that know Jesus to do discipleship and Bible study on a weekly basis.

So Hockey Ministries International is just a neat organization that that that takes something like hockey.

I didn't play hockey, I didn't coach hockey, you know, and so it's it's kind of been a good thing because I'm there for the discipleship, I'm there for the generational transference of the faith.

So it's been a neat thing that I get to go down, go down to Columbus once a week and and do a chapel program.

Yeah, that that that's so cool.

And were were you a hockey fan before you got started?

No, no.

But I I watch all the Ohio State games, I go to the games, I go to the way of games.

Yeah.

So I'm really, really excited um to be able to do that, to build those relationships.

And and even with the boys that have um graduated from from Ohio State, they're now playing in the pros, being able to text and do phone calls.

Oh, yeah.

Um, I just got a text a little bit before the the podcast.

One one of the players' grandmother's been ill, and I've been praying for him, and he was giving me an update on how his grandmother's doing.

So those relationships continue.

Yeah.

Yeah, that that that's so cool.

Uh and the fact that you do have the history of of being you're a college athlete, correct?

Yeah, it's so I'm probably the worst player to ever play baseball at Cedarville University, but but I did play.

You did play.

And I was a good experience.

Yeah, yeah, and um, I love athletics.

I was an athletic director for a long time.

So this kind of scratches that itch being being around a team.

Uh so it's it's been good for me and and hopefully good for the boys as well.

Right.

How did you get started with it?

Yeah, it's crazy story, and I don't know what God's doing, but the Blue Jackets are the NHL team here in uh in Columbus, and their chaplain is Micah, the lead pastor at Story Side.

Okay, and the Cleveland Monsters, uh, that's a pro team in Cleveland, and the chaplain there is Dan, Pastor Dan, the lead pastor at Berean.

Yeah.

So Ohio State was looking for a chaplain.

So they asked those guys, and they're like, hey, we'll ask somebody, and so they asked me at Crossroads.

So Mansfield has the market on hockey chaplains for some reason.

I don't know why.

God's got a plan.

God's got a plan.

Yeah, he's bringing hockey to Mansfield.

Oh, I'd be dumb for that.

I'm not a hockey fan, but I could I I've been I've always wanted to pick an NHL team.

I just can't pick one.

Yeah, I don't know.

But yeah, I don't know.

But so so this is a situation that you were asked.

You weren't necessarily seeking it out, but someone came to you and said, Hey, we need someone to step up into this.

Would you be willing to do that?

Yes.

But but I will say, yes, um, uh Pastor Dan from Berean asked me what I consider.

Um, but I had a space in my life when I felt like I was so busy that I that I needed to make the decision to not do anything outside of the church, just do everything in the church.

Um but then I've had lots of seasons when I've said, Lord, I want something that's not in the church.

I'm here sometimes seven days a week.

Yeah.

So I prayed for that in times past.

Like I want to be, I was on the board of a great mission organization.

I'm global lead for a season because it was just something outside of of the day-to-day to to go meet people.

And sometimes as Christians, we get in to everything revolves around the church and it becomes church focused rather than Christ-focused.

Yeah.

So I want I want my ministry in and through Crossroads to be Christ-focused and not just on one of our campuses, right?

Outside our campus and other organizations like what you guys are doing.

They're so special with SoulScan and Skate Ohio and doing things with um Ohio the the the children's home in Ohio, CCHO, yeah, other things that we get involved with that that are partnering with the church, but might not be a ministry of the church.

Sure.

Sure.

So good, awesome.

Well, thank you, Pastor Doug.

I'd love to hear from you guys too.

Vanessa, let's hear from you first.

Tell us a little bit about SoulScan.

I know you you kind of gave us the elevator pitch here, um, but how how did this get started?

Um, you know, when when did this dream come to you?

You know, and how's it going?

Yeah, so how I got started, it's it's kind of funny because what people don't know is that it it I started a ministry, I don't know, back in 2018 and it was called Broken and Fierce.

Okay.

Don't look it up.

Oh man.

I'm Googling it right now and I'm pulling my phone out.

Uh no, but it it was something that I saw the need.

I saw the need.

I can I can um I was drawn to people, had many conversations with women who had the longing to go deeper and were tired of surface.

Sure.

They're tired of surface um biblical, you know, teaching, tired of surface conversations.

And they had a need for just a deeper intimacy with the Lord and didn't know how.

Yeah.

And I had countless conversations with women, even before this is before moving to Ohio.

Um, my husband and I were campus pastors at a church, and we got the opportunity to walk, um, walk with several people.

And I had, you know, it's funny because there were women that were way older than me, you know, that were seeking that guidance.

They were wanting to have conversations with me, even young, younger girls, my peers, and older.

Um, I've I've had this since I was in like fifth grade.

I could remember having conversations with other fifth graders.

They're like Vanessa telling me their problems.

And I'm like, well, you know, I just felt I I knew in my spirit at that young age that I had a calling over my life um to shepherd other people, to walk alongside other people and lead them to the cross, lead them to Jesus so that they can have a connection with their father.

Um because sometimes they're placed in places where maybe it's not clicking for them.

Sure.

You know, maybe they do attend the church and in and it's great and we all should, but for some reason it's not clicking, and this is why it's so important for if you feel like the Lord is calling you to do something, even if it's outside of the four walls, do it because there's a group of people that he wants you to reach.

Yeah, you know, and so I've seen that more throughout my life.

And so from fifth grade to you know, in my adult years, seeing God's goodness in that, um, and being so clear on the fact that it has nothing to do with me.

Sure.

Because how can uh back then a 25-year-old speaking to the life of a 55-year-old?

You know, how how can that happen?

It's only by God's grace, his vehicles, you know, and he wants to use us in that way.

And so that that is how I got started.

Then I moved out of New Jersey or New York and realized, man, I felt saddened that there was a list of women that I still had a heart for, and they wanted to meet with me, and I wasn't gonna have that proximity anymore.

So I'm like, you know what?

I think I need to start like an online community and start an online channel and where we can do some biblical studies and go deeper.

And so I started that, and then I honestly got crippled by fear.

I got crippled by fear and disappointment, which also comes with the package, right?

Sure.

And I I think I got sidetracked just by people's misunderstanding of what I was doing or or what I was stepping into, and I got I allowed that to silence me and discourage me.

And so I stopped.

And then years later, Soul Scan was birthed in 2018.

You know, he put that stirring again.

He's like, Hey, it's time.

And I saw the need.

I I saw the need and I knew that I could be part of a solution.

Sure.

And this is when I decided, you know what?

I think I'm going to create a space and create an event where women can come and go deeper with the Lord.

And I was ready to do it at a hotel somewhere.

Yeah.

You know, downtown Mainsfield.

And I had a conversation with with Doug, actually.

There you go.

Oh, yes, yeah, all those years ago.

And, you know, we came together and he said, you know what, why don't you do it here?

And I said, you know, that's a great idea because I can see the need even within the church.

And so they graciously allowed me to host Soul Scan here for several several years, and then the rest is history.

And like I said before, it's like from platforms to living rooms and then all in between.

And so I've seen God's hand all throughout the years in that.

It's been it's been so cool because our family's really close.

I remember gearing up for that first conference that we did here, or that you guys did here.

And like I remember when uh we were over at your guys' house one night for dinner, and the the logo for soul scan for that first uh conference was done, and you were jazzed about it.

It was like the it was almost like an x-ray and it said soul scan across.

It was so cool.

And I remember like I remember talking with you guys and just seeing the the passion come out of you in that season and just being so excited for you and to like see over time how it's evolved and how you've grown it and all the ups and downs of it.

And so um tell us a little bit more, you know, as tight as things have developed over time.

What are some things uh we you've done big conferences, what are some other things that you've that you've done through it?

Yeah, I've been able to do smaller scale events and in different churches and in different places where I do bring the message of Soul Scan to these churches.

Excuse me.

And yeah, I'm I've I've been able to have conversations even through podcasts and all of that, just getting the word out there that there's more, yeah, and that you don't have to try to figure it out on your own on how to go deeper um and how to grow in your intimacy with the Lord and more than that, how to face those hard realities that feel hard to face, yeah, that are scary.

Yeah.

We live in a in a society in a time where sometimes we don't have time for it and we don't want to face the things that are ugly in here.

And so it's better to avoid it so that we can keep the trucking.

And I'm not about that.

And and you know what?

Neither is the Lord.

He wants us, he wants to be in it with us.

He's graciously wanting to love us in that space, and yeah, I'm happy to walk alongside women so that they can do that.

So, yeah, those are other things that I do.

Was there a was there a book?

There was a book too, yeah.

But there was about it.

Yes, there was a book.

Uh Soul Scan Hard Realities, um facing hard realities to heal what's broken.

Yeah.

And it's it's a manual, it's like a blueprint.

Um, there are some personal stories in there, but these are all blueprints that I've felt the Lord give me to help women walk through their pain and heal from their past so that they can, you know, deal and heal and grow.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh I um I have more I want to ask you.

I want to hear from BJ as well, really quick, though.

But like I I'm gonna ask as soon as BJ is done, how have you guys grown through these through the experience?

And I'm really, really excited to to dive more deeply into that.

But BJ, I'd love to, I'd love to hear from you, man.

Uh, tell us about Skate Ohio.

Yeah, so we we're a 501c3 nonprofit that's skateboarding based, that's in the Richland County area, but willing to travel and do whatever we need to do.

Uh, but we build skate parks um and and do it uh for you know for relatively uh what I would call cheap, but but we'd we're more resourceful and uh better stewards of what what's been given to us to to be able to reuse or uh build from scratch or get the community together, be like, come help us build, come do this.

So building skate parks in the area, because Mansfield had nothing.

Every everything we wanted to do, any skateboarder in this area, if you wanted to go skate somewhere nice, you had to travel an hour.

Yeah.

And we were just sick of it.

And so um, anyway, so we build skate parks.

Um, we also give skateboards away to people who can't afford it.

Uh a nice uh skateboard that you would get from a shop or something like that, you're probably gonna spend around$200.

And most people just don't have that kind of cash to shell out.

So they'll end up with like a Walmart style board or something.

And it's honestly it's so discouraging because they don't roll right.

And plastic wheels, they you can't learn on it, and you get discouraged really quickly.

And a lot of people will just walk away from it because you know this thing this isn't for me, I guess.

But if you give them like a nice quality something, that then it's something that's easier for them, but it's actually safer for them to learn on.

So we we source, we we partner with local businesses and get boards made with their with their logo on it, so they have a skateboard, but they're ones that we give away to people.

So we do that, and then um ultimately one of our our our biggest initiatives, we've got like short, mid and long-term goals are our biggest most passionate about long-term goal is to get skateboarding in schools and and make it accredited by the OHSAA.

Oh wow, and that'd be awesome.

But yes, that and that's the thing that most people light up about when we talk about our initiatives and everything.

But if I don't have skate parks, then what's the point?

Sure.

I'd we don't we if we don't have anywhere to teach the kids, then what are we gonna do?

So um eventually we would like to get to that part, but we've had just like so many good opportunities.

And I and I think the to to your question about uh being discouraged or having you know this this tug on your heart, uh you're you're also allowed to like have that tug, and it and you could get into it for all the wrong reasons and then it not be blessed.

Sure.

When I was in my 20s, I was determined that I was gonna open a skate park actually, like right next to the church here where odd uh well it used to be odd lots, but the U-Haul down there, I had the building secured, I had uh insurance ready, I had everything ready to go.

A name, uh an idea.

I was going to pull in all these famous skate spots from around the world and completely replicate them and be like, this is gonna be like there was a great idea and everything, but it was all very selfish, sure.

Uh that that I wanted it, and ultimately I would have had to like move everything out of my name and into my wife's name, house, cars, everything, practically legally divorce just to be able to pursue this.

And it's just like, man, that ain't right.

Yeah.

And and you could walk away from that.

And like I genuinely thought, like, well, my dream's over.

There, there's no dreams.

Dreams, dreams are dead.

Like it's why you you have these weird seasons that you go through.

Like, I had no idea the path that God had set out for me where 20 years later we would start a non-profit.

And honestly, it was just a prayer in my basement when I I met up with uh the guy that I do this with, my vice president Adam McElroy, who's awesome.

We sat in the basement and we were kind of arguing over like, what are we gonna how are we gonna do this?

And he was very much the no, no, no, we have to be core skateboarding and it core skateboarding is this.

And it's like, because I told him, I'm like, I want it to be for everyone, and I want it to be family friendly, and I want it to be this.

And he's like, No, that's not core skateboarding.

We have to do this, this, and this.

And I'm like, I've just we just kind of went back and forth forever, and I'm like, look, man, I I guess I have to be out if it's not going to be this way.

I I just don't I don't think I can pursue it like this.

And it went and more discussions, great discussions were had, and we finally came to that point where it's like, okay, yeah, I think I think that is the way to go is to be family friendly and do these types of things.

And I just said a prayer in my basement.

I'm like, God, this is yours.

Like you, if whatever door you any door you open, I am going to walk through with confidence and and and pursue this as long.

And if the door's closed, then it is what it is.

I'm I'm it's you are holding the whole thing with every I I always imagine it literally holding it with open hands.

Yeah, it's just like, listen, I'm here, I'll follow this wherever it goes, but if it just starts to fall through and doors close, then it's like, all right, man, then look what we do.

I'm I'm I'm you know, praise God for what we got done.

And like from then on, it was just like doors were flying open to the point now that we're just like we've this is the first year we've had to like tell people we can't, like you know, like we were jumping at everything, and also in the beginning, like when you start something like this, it's okay to hear no and no, and then no again, and then no a 10,000 more times, and that doesn't mean your dream is wrong or bad, or that you're not pursuing it in the right way.

Get God might not be blessing it right away.

That I think I think there's a um a certain amount of grit you have to have in that, in the determination of also not only like just understanding that the blessing may not look like what you think it looks like.

In the beginning, when we had no money, no nothing, and and and it was literally all money out of my pocket, and just trying to buy some boards for kids and having I had friends come together and cobble together old boards just so we could give kids boards and then get them together.

It it started honestly with a phone call when I saw when I wasn't working here yet to Jesse, and I just said, I'd I I have this tug on my heart, Jesse.

I gotta do something with skateboarding.

And and he's like, Well, we had that was back when we had I don't know what it was, the the camps or no, the something on Wednesday nights at Ontario, they were doing cooking cooking classes and all these other things.

And he's like, I could fit you in there.

I'm like, Great, let's go.

And we had like four kids there for the first time.

I had no idea what it was doing, but I was just there and I'm like, let's skate.

And one one night I taught them how to build something, but anyway, all that to say it's like some of those kids are still doing this today and come to our events, yeah.

And it's an amazing thing to see that progression and everything, but it may not start how you think, uh, it may not go through how you think.

And the people who come alongside you may not be the ones you think are the ones who are seeing you or hearing.

Or I mean, we had uh I got to meet uh Dave and Judy Hedrick from B Dry.

B Dry Systems gave us a bunch of money to get boards made to give to kids, and and just like more money because they're like we believe in what you're doing.

Don't stop, and it's like, okay, be sis B Dry Systems of Ohio.

Well, that's either and it it's just they spent waterproofing, yes, exactly.

And it's like you don't this video is not sponsored by B Dry, it's not, but it uh skate Ohio is um but it was just really cool to start seeing you you don't know where that support will come from.

It you can't stop.

And with us, it was a lot of online, everything we do is a lot of social media, online, podcasting, things like that.

The these all these people came from just happening to see it's it's okay to just keep pushing forward with your dream, even if everything's not falling into place.

I think I think a lot of us will get discouraged immediately because it's like, okay, God, uh you put this on my heart, boom, I'm in, let's go.

And then it's just nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.

For for the longest time, and you're not I mean, there there were several times where we thought about packing it in, because I'm like, okay, we've had no's long enough, and we and you know what?

We got stuff done.

Maybe this is where we where we get it done.

And then the phone rings and literally, here's twelve thousand dollars, build a park, please.

And I'm like, All right, I'm back in.

So it I mean, Lori showed up in some pretty amazing ways, yes, and it and in those moments it's just even it's even sweeter uh in those moments to be like, man, God, you you knew like it was literally like I'll never forget, it was like the night before we had this phone call.

We're like, okay, this is it.

We we got as far as we could go, we did what we did, and it was just a lot of tears, and like, man, I guess, I guess we're done.

That's it.

And then then a phone call the next day, and yeah, and it's just like okay, well, it's again, it's still not, it's not like it doesn't mean it's done.

It didn't mean that we had to walk away from everything.

There was still probably programming we could do and and partnering in stuff, but it it it you you have to be ready for it to be ups and downs and peaks and valleys and all that.

So why why skateboarding?

Oh, I don't know.

It's uh it's uh it's a hobby of yours, obviously.

It's life, but it's good here, you get it.

But what about this community made you super interested in in connecting with them?

And bro, it's it it's so unique.

Um I I could tell you right now, like I I had 10 text messages yesterday because they just announced that someone switched all the the Costco gap.

None of you know what that means, nope, but the skateboarding community exploded.

Uh it's just such a unique path.

And there's um, I do uh I've I've done some things for Leadership Unlimited where we we did Leader Richland, where you went and talked to seventh and eighth grade.

It it it switches.

So this year was boys, next year will be girls.

And uh I talked to them about Skate Ohio and kind of like, hey, this yeah, you you're able to do stuff with your passion.

You don't have to do like what's scripted for you that uh do this, go to college, get a job, do that.

You can still do stuff with what you're passionate about, and there's there's avenues and just kind of told them how skate Ohio came to be and all that stuff.

But um, a big part of that was explaining why skateboarding's different.

I'm I don't really care for team sports and things like that.

I play, I've played them, I do stuff like that, but but it's so unique with skateboarding.

I showed them a um uh a video of uh the it's like the highest level of skateboarding, it's uh a street league skateboarding.

Um, and the this was the finals.

It's called the Super Crown, and there was a a rookie from from Inc.

California, this young kid who is in the finals, right?

And he does a trick, he's in first place.

It's it's amazing.

And then this other guy has one last chance, it goes through the whole thing.

He has one last chance, he lands this trick and he gets uh a point higher than him, he wins, right?

So everybody's like kind of tense.

Here we go.

He lands the trick, rolls away.

But I always tell the kids, I'm like, look, like they're showing uh the kid Braden Hoban, who's that I'm like, watch him, and when he lands it and rolls away, Braden is just as excited as everybody in the building.

Now, Braden Hoban just lost$13,000 because he landed that trick, but none of that matters.

Not at this, I I try to explain to the kids, I'm like they're just in the the rivalry of like Ohio State versus Michigan and these things like that.

When you go to the game, your team wins, you're happy.

Your team loses, you're sad.

When skateboarding something ends, Braden Hoban lost, but everybody was happy because cool skateboarding happened.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

And so like nobody's it's we're just excited to see these new things.

It's it's not it's not who it I mean, it is kind of who just swish ollieed the the Costco gap, right?

Because it's just this famous thing from skateboarding from years back, and the the great thing about that was the guy who made it famous, Ryan Scheckler, who kickflipped it for the first time, he was there while he was trying to attack, and then they have this whole like mini documentary to kind of show they showed what why it was important and Ryan Scheckler and the fact that he was there and just the emotion around all that.

And uh, I was honestly thinking last night, this is random, but uh is is there another magazine?

Is there a sports magazine out there where it's super important if you get the cover anymore?

Or is it not as important?

I mean, Sports Illustrated was a thing, but yeah, or the magazine's even a thing at all.

That's the thing is Thrasher Magazine, which is a core skateboarding magazine.

Like that was the end of this video, is that he got the cover, and it's a celebration.

Like they like they show up, they surprise him, show him the cover, and it's a huge celebration.

Yeah, and this this kid is just like completely broken down, crying on a sidewalk right because he's got the cover of uh but it just made me think.

I was like, I'm wondering if if that's even important in sports anymore.

And the skateboarding world is still important, that is such an accomplishment.

Yeah.

Actually, Skate Ohio is in Thrasher.

Oh, and one we gotta mention in one of the I don't know, the man on the street stuff they talked about, Skate Ohio once.

So nice that I have that I have that issue.

I'll never let it so after hearing all of this, like I hope everyone that's watching could could see people's each of your faces light up when I ask you about the ministry you're involved with.

And that that doesn't come from nowhere, it comes from a deep passion for what you're doing, but also each of you had a story about the process of getting into it and a little bit of the struggle, a little bit of the is this for me, you know, like Doug, you never played hockey, you know.

It's like you gotta learn a new sport, man.

Like you gotta learn a whole new a whole new uh system.

My wife knows all about it, so she was tutoring me.

And she grew up with hockey.

There we go.

Um, but but all of you now, regardless of what you've gone through with in through this process, have have have gotten to a point to where when you're asked about it, your faces light up.

And this is something the Lord has given you to steward that that gets you excited, that gives you energy.

Even in the stressful times, it gives you energy because you know that the Lord has built you for this.

And so, so with that, I'd love to I'd love to ask, I'll let you guys and Doug, I'd love to start with you.

We haven't heard from you in a minute, so I'd love to start with you.

Um, what have you learned about yourself and how has your relationship with the Lord grown through your process of being involved uh with uh with hockey?

Yeah, it's certainly another avenue to to share to share my faith.

And and uh nobody nobody on on the hockey team when you're in hockey ministry and as international as a chaplain, um they don't care who you are.

They don't care that you're Pastor Doug or that you're from Crossroads Church, or you're just an adult coming in and spending time with them.

Yeah.

So and there's nothing for me to gain, only only what I can give.

And there's something beautiful about that for me.

I don't have to pretend to be anybody, it's just you know, learning about myself.

I just get to share about Jesus and I get to teach.

And there's something special about teaching people that don't know much about the Bible.

Sure.

So it there's a freshness and a newness there.

So and doing something um just because you want to do it.

Yeah.

You know, for me, expecting nothing in return.

There's I'm not building um anything, right?

Right.

So it's just going, building relationships, sharing the gospel, and teaching God's word.

Um, and and that's a passion to be able to do that.

It it is exciting.

Yeah, that's so cool.

And so the being able to be involved with something that that you just are excited to be at and there there's no obligation.

That's right.

And that's that's that's really cool.

That's really cool.

Yeah, how about you, Vanessa?

What are some things that you've learned about yourself and uh have about your relationship with the Lord, even just learn about God through this process?

Yeah, I think the heart behind soul scan and the call that I feel is to help women face the hard realities to heal, right?

And so I found myself so many times feeling stretched and having to face my hard realities over and over again.

Anytime I wanted to give up, you know, when fear would try to come come in and insecurities, you know.

Throughout school, I I actually struggled a lot.

I was left back in fourth grade.

I've always struggled feeling inadequ inadequate.

Um, in my family, there was a joke growing up.

I have a million cousins, guys.

I have a lot of cousins.

And I'd always be like, you know, the butt of the joke because they'd be like, oh, Vanessa's the slow one.

Like, Vanessa, did you get that?

She didn't get that joke.

She didn't get that.

Vanessa's the slow one, Vanessa, you know.

Um, which is so funny because that is not how I think I've known you for almost 10 years, and that is not my picture of you in my head.

And so those used to be funny, and you even kind of morph into this role when you are put in those um atmospheres.

Sometimes, like, especially with families or with different like pe people groups, you can easily like everybody goes into this role.

For many years, I would fall into that role of like, I'm the stupid one, I'm the slow one, I don't, you know, I don't, I can't speak, I can't do whatever.

And the enemy would use that and weaponize that and to get me to stop.

Sure.

And yeah, through the my years in Cleveland or here, you know, and even growing up, feel anytime I would make a move a movement forward, I would feel feel that the lies coming by.

It's like the the mind is our a playground for the enemy.

Like he just wants to push us in these swings of lies, shove us down these slides of doubt, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

She's like, oh yeah, you're gonna I'm gonna remind you of this, and I want you to be stuck right here.

And um, it would be such a reminder that I need my savior constantly, and that I needed to let him work this message in me first to work out these insecurities and work out my fears and um work out the shame that came with that and lay it at his feet and allow him to heal me so that I can be able to give that forward and and teach other women, you know.

But I needed he needed to do that work in me first, right?

And I was constantly reminded of that.

So that that's how it has it has shaped me and has brought me closer to him, and I've and I've learned more and more about my heavenly father through this whole process and how much he loves me and how he sees me, you know, his daughter.

Yeah, um, it's it's like no other.

Nothing else has taught me.

Well, maybe parenting.

Maybe parenting, yeah.

That that'll teach you more than anything, really.

Yes, parenting in marriage, you know.

Yeah, but for sure, it's like what what kind of level of impact will we have if we don't allow ourselves to go through those things?

Right.

If if if you just kind of skip through life and like, okay, well, let me just drop this.

I'm gonna give up.

Yep, maybe the time has come and passed, we did what we needed to do, and you kept moving.

If we pass those moments, we have we pass on opportunities, rich opportunities where God wants to do a deep work in us.

I want more and more of us to stop in those moments and stay in attention of like, okay, well, maybe I shouldn't give this up.

Maybe I should stay.

And Lord, what are you teaching me about you?

What are you teaching me about you?

What are you teaching me about what you're wanting to do in me and how you want to sanctify me in this process?

And so that's what it's looked like for me.

Yeah, that I resonate so deeply with that because I feel like I've learned the most about how much God loves me and sees me and cares for me in the moments where I felt like I was just ready to give up.

Yes, you know, and it's like, okay, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna continue on this path, Lord, it's gonna have to be you keeping me on it, yeah, you know, and like saying, no, get up, keep walking, you know.

I'm I am with you.

And and those are some of the most intimate spaces that I've ever had with the Lord, and I'm so grateful for them.

Yeah, and it's a revelation of how much he loves his people too.

Because it's like it's a constant reminder, like this is not about you.

I love them so much.

I oh my god, like I want, I I I want to use you as a conduit to to speak to their hearts and to you know, have you cast the net and bring and so that they can come closer to me.

Yeah.

And so will you surrender your life?

Will you give me your yes?

And yeah.

Yeah, and so sometimes you might end up in a Jonah moment where he's like, No, I love these people enough to have this fish eat you.

Yes, yeah, so that you so that they can hear my hope, you know.

Oh, that that's so good.

That's we'll be thinking about that one a lot in the background.

And and that's what all all of you guys have done as as we're talking about using your gifts, your passion, your temperament for the Lord.

I mean, I remember 11 years ago, you were in my office and BJ saying, I want to use skateboarding as a platform for ministry.

Yeah, and we started praying, uh, you know, and God did all the work, but BJ had that passion way back.

You know, you talked about it when you're in your 20s, and and when I first met you, you had that passion to help other women, and that's there.

And you put your yes on the table.

And I remember meeting you, you were just in college, yeah.

And you use your gifts, your passions, and your temperament to help other people.

And and I think a lot of times God does that, right?

He marries our passions when we say yes, he just makes it blossom into all the creative things that you get to do, writing content, podcasts, and Bible studies.

Yeah, yeah.

It's amazing when we just get out of the way and do it for God and let God use us to do it.

The fruit that it produces, not just for our own benefit, it's to feed people all around us.

And so let them pick off of the fruit that you've produced in the our seasons, yeah.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

It it's it's if the Lord wants you to start something, maybe it's not to fulfill you.

No, maybe it's it's often to not it's often to not fill you.

It is it is to serve his people and to serve him and glorify him.

Um, even if it's something that you're interested in.

Yes, you know, even if it comes out of something that you love, like a skateboarding, it it is it is to love other people through.

And I'm just glad he's skateboarding closer to home now.

Yeah, yeah.

One time it was a phone call.

I'm in Cleveland and I broke my arm.

Dun come straight up.

Doug, come get me.

Oh yeah, I can't drive.

You had a van full of kids that you were teaching skating.

Yep.

I drove a van full of kids down to Hudson, Ohio.

Uh huh.

And we were doing a big event there.

And honestly, I was trying to make my kid stop crying.

He was just upset.

He was just, and I'm like, cool, just just film dad.

I'll just I'll do some stuff.

And I'm in a 10-foot bowl and I go and I carved it incorrectly, cut it over, fell to the bottom of the bowl, snapped my arm.

And I had to I had to call Doug.

I'm like, hey Doug, I I need I need a favor.

It's a big favor.

Oh, shit.

It was fun.

It was but that's passion.

That's passion.

Yeah, very much so.

Yeah, for sure.

Sure.

What about for you, BJ?

What are some things that you've learned about yourself and that you've learned about the Lord through this process of being in Pertiscate, Ohio?

So much.

Like the big thing that the Lord has shown me, it's just that it was something that my wife was very reluctant for me to get into this and get into a ministry mindset of this, is that I I have a tremendous amount of empathy, and I I'm also a fixer.

So it it being able to because she knew that the the kids, the families we serve are usually lower income, and in certain situations, we've we've we've um come alongside a lot of families in in tough situations and stuff like that.

And she knew my heart.

She's just like, you can't do this, like you will die.

And but what it really revealed to me, and actually Pastor Mike uh really like made me understand is is the fact that you know when Paul was talking about listen, man, you you're either planting or watering, and it is not up to you to, you know, you do not reap the the harvest.

God reaps the harvest.

You may be watering right now, you may be planting right now.

And so engaging in the community and everything, every interaction I have that in the back of my head.

And like, are you planting or watering?

And either one of those things is fine uh in and of itself.

Don't think past that.

It's okay.

You're not gonna be able to uh fix this person's problems or anything like that, but you can be present and you can, you know, it listen, let's talk skateboarding.

We're here, we're here to skateboard and let's enjoy this and let's let's give you some joy in this moment and and do these things and let's teach and those things and and and learning a big uh another big thing was just giving kids confidence, I think is more important than anything else we can give them in the entire world.

And I think skateboarding is unique in the amount of confidence it can give in a short amount of time.

Uh we just finished up our winter sessions in April, and it's where we get to we did it at Crossroads at the Ontario campus for a long time.

Uh, but this year we did it out at uh the Ontario Center, the uh formerly the Richland Mall.

We were in the old Pacific Sunware, and everybody, and even even the older guys who are like, What is Pacific Sunware?

They're like, You mean Pac Sun?

I'm like, Well, it was originally Pacific, leave me alone.

Um, but the um uh we we got to teach kids, we had a lot of opportunity for uh teaching them like we had a lot of kids show up who had never stepped on a board, and we took 11 kids who had never stepped on a board before to dropping in on a half pipe, and more so that like you can see it, you can see it immediately in their faces where they were unsure of themselves on a board, and they uh they could finally do the thing, they're like, I could never do this, and then they do that thing and they have this this confidence that you've never seen before.

And the thing is, is the next week when they come back with their parents and their parents pull you aside and be like, This kid's different.

There's there's something different about them, they have confidence.

They've you know there was one parent who's like, This child hasn't smiled in months.

We've tried everything, we got them into everything they could get into, but this is the thing that they're latching on to, and it's yeah, it's giving them a level of confidence.

It's it's when it's it's a small thing that where kids are like, Well, I can do this, maybe I could do this, or it's like we've we've heard from teachers where like these kids are different at school now.

Like, we don't know what happened to them, but we know they love skateboarding now, so whatever you're doing, keep going.

And those are those are the things where you're like, okay, you're learning how you know okay, so maybe some different ways to like mold our children into more confident adults is to give them a very specific confidence now.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Amazing.

Well, I I'd love to hear from you guys.

Um just because I I know that these exist.

Uh what is a story from your time in your ministry?

And you don't have to use names because maybe you maybe you can't, but depending on your situation.

Uh, but what's a story that will stick with you forever uh from your ministry?

Yeah, um, I can think of one that she will remain unnamed.

Um, but just the last soul scan that I did in February, I received so many emails from different women just sharing their experience.

And there was this particular woman, she is a believer, served the Lord for many, many years, even in ministry, and went through a very difficult time.

She fell into sin, lost relationship with her children, her marriage was broken straight away from the Lord.

And um then the Lord was, you know, bringing her back after a couple of years after that happened.

And she has been, she had been trying to rebuild her life and reconnect with her children and seeking just healing.

And she had embarked in this journey of inner healing for some time.

Then, fast forward to the beginning of the year, she came across an ad that um there was a women's conference happening in Mansfield, Ohio.

And she had never heard of our church, never heard of Mansfield, and she's not from here, and she decided to come.

She decided to ask, I think, her daughter-in-law, and and they drove here, they came to the event, and she described it was a very lengthy email, and I read every word because it was powerful hearing her describe bit by bit how God had walked her through, God brought her to this event to meet her here to find to finish the work he had started.

Yeah.

He had been, you know, he had been having her in this process of healing for a while.

And there was just this one piece that was holding her captive.

She couldn't find a way to forgive herself and receive the forgiveness that her children were even offering.

They're grown now and everything.

And it was her own self keeping her and captive in this.

And so she went ahead and said, and I wish I would have had it here, but she's like, I I went, I went to SoulScan and being here, oh, it makes me want to choke up.

Um the Holy Spirit met me there.

And I was finally able to forgive after so many years of carrying such burden and unforgiveness for myself.

She said, I know the Lord used this ministry, he used this organization to bring complete healing in my life, and I have not experienced this level of freedom ever.

And thank you for your yes.

And so those kinds of stories.

Yeah, that is why I push forward.

Yeah, no matter what comes my way, no matter the difficulties that I have faced, the fights, the giants that have faced, I will push and push because that's why it matters.

That's why I do what I do.

Yeah, and and um that will forever stay right there.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, so awesome.

And you know, that that's just one.

Right.

That's just one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We we did a podcast uh that came out last week from when this were this was releasing about uh about uh our missions partners, uh with the global missions, some of the global missions team in here, and um just just the the the little stories about that where we were talking about how the this situation is like what you're talking about now, where the Lord obviously showed up in the situation and was able to use you in a circumstance that probably se would have seemed impossible.

Yeah, like the odds of this woman seeing an ad for this, yeah, and then coming here to a place that she doesn't know where she knows nobody, no, you know, and has this this level of of of spiritual awakening to be able to see the Lord working in her life in this way, it had to be him doing it.

And so whether it's you going across the world on a mission trip somewhere where you don't speak the language and you don't understand the culture and all that stuff, but the Lord uses you to reach somebody, yes, or if it's a situation where someone just happens to see something that the Lord is using you to do on social media, yes, you know, and then they they happen to say yes to going to this thing and the Lord uses you in a big way to bless somebody.

It like saying no to what the Lord has you to do when you know He has you to do it is such it robs you and it robs other people.

And so, yeah, and that's one story, right?

That's one story, right?

Oh yeah, yeah, so cool.

If we can get over ourselves, yeah, if you can and if you're out there and you have a ministry that God is calling you to start and you feel it, and you you are, you know, being pulled with the doubts and the fears, like I'm telling you, he can handle it, he will equip you.

He already has given you what you need.

Go and get over, get over whatever's happening in here because there are people on the other side of your yes that are hungry, that are dying, and that are in need of an encounter with the Holy Spirit, and he wants to use you to do it.

Yeah.

So good.

Doug, how about you?

What's a what's a story in your time with the hockey ministry that will stay on you forever?

I mean, it probably doesn't get any better than when someone is blind and they don't know Jesus and then they can see.

Yeah.

They accept Jesus as their personal savior and it unlocks the Christian life, salvation.

So that is is the ultimate, and that's just gets you goosebumps when when all you do is show up and the Holy Spirit does the work, you're you're showing them um things in the Bible that they that you didn't know.

Yeah.

Those things like, you know, they come across things and they start and um players start reading their Bible for themselves, or you start texting questions or hey, can I get your advice on this?

Um, you can't put a price tag on that.

Right.

That feeling you have of just explaining who God is, explaining um, explaining the Bible, and helping someone learn how to read it for themselves and start their own Bible study, a rhythm of coving to chapel, a rhythm of prayer and rhythm of of personal Bible study.

So so the reward is just watching them do what we want for all believers, right?

But but someone has to help, right?

Yeah.

We get the chance to be spiritual parents in everything that we're talking about.

And you kind of fish in the pond God gives you.

Yeah.

Right.

So so you know, my advice for anyone listening is where do you go?

And what do you like to do?

And is that a fishing pond where you can go spend time, build relationships, get to know people, and just let your light shine.

And the Holy Spirit does it does it through you and you share God's word with them.

And that's when you get those powerful stories from SoulScan from ladies that are changed.

Uh, we had the men's step up conference, and and I said if if it's even a fraction of what Soul Scan is, it'll be a huge success.

Just uh just if I could just have a piece for the men of what of what SoulScan is, it would be amazing.

But and it's just prayer.

It's praying and praying and praying for Skate Ohio and SoulScan and and the content that you're putting out.

But I just we just want to be ambassadors for Christ.

And it doesn't really matter if it's hockey, golf, you know, working at the senior citizen center.

It's just pouring out yourself.

And we can't help everybody, or at least I can't help everybody.

But do I have a little bit left in my cup at the end of the week?

Yeah.

And and can I pour that out somewhere in the community?

Yeah.

Right?

That's just not part of my pastoral job.

You know, it's not part of being a mom.

Is there something outside of there where I can give a little bit?

Outside of your busy day with your own family, you're giving to another organization.

So I think when we get out of our own nine to five bubble, you know, for all of our listeners, where might God be sending you to to show people the hands and feet of Jesus, to be Jesus for somebody, you know, in our community.

Yeah.

So good.

So good.

And man, like what you're saying rings so true in my heart because like the amount of things that are like times when it it wasn't in the nine to five of like pastoral ministry, you know, like we we live in a little bit of a different world, yeah, because you know, this is what we do uh as as a job, as as being pastors, working in the church.

Um, but the amount of opportunities where whether it was being involved in something or whether it's just the yes of asking my waiter or waitress if they know Jesus, or uh just being willing to serve somebody in in some way, you know.

It doesn't the the yes to what God might be calling you to doesn't necessarily mean it has to be in starting a new organization or being involved in a new organization or some kind of organized ministry or something.

It can be just saying yes to asking someone if they know Jesus or asking somebody how their day went.

Right.

You know, I remember when I was working with the uh with the host teams here at Crossroads, um, I I I I tried to drill it in everybody's head that wasn't a greeter, it was like, you may be the first person this week that was nice to the person that walked in.

You may be the first person that was nice to somebody that's that's here today.

And if we can go out into our community and be ambassadors for Jesus, like what you just said, and what again, whether it's be by being involved in something or just by sharing the gospel with someone in your neighborhood, if it's helping the old lady next door rake leaves or any anything at all, um, that there's gonna be access to people's lives to share the gospel, it's gonna be huge.

So uh BJ, I'd love to give you an opportunity.

Are there any stories that are gonna stick with you forever at a in that in that 20-year drought after like I thought my dream was dead, and um in that time, uh having kids and doing things like that, all I could do, uh the only time of year I got to go skateboarding was my birthday and Father's Day.

My birthday is in December, Father's Day in June, obviously.

So those are the two times I got to go skate.

Yeah.

Uh one of the times was in December, and I was at a skate park called Skate Naked.

It's an indoor skate park in Columbus, Ohio.

Do you have to skate naked?

You do not.

That is just what it is called.

It is since closed.

We're all sad.

But uh I was there.

It's it's my birthday, so I'm just I'm just skating, trying to get as much skating in as I can.

And this little girl had to have been five, maybe.

She's she's coming in, she's got the pink pads, the helmet, the pink skateboard, just dragging it in.

And I grew up in an era where uh in the late 90s, early 2000s, when I started skateboarding, where I'd I'd remember multiple times getting spit on and get out of the park.

And you know, this is that was just the that was the culture, and that's what it was.

And so your your core skateboarders were just you know, root, get out of my way, that type of stuff.

Those little girls dragging her skateboard in, and there's like the core skateboarders I can see they're over in the corner, and they start to approach her, and I'm like, Okay, I get to be like super dad and kill some kids today.

And and I was just kind of prepared for this interaction that I was so used to um from this this community, and the this one kid walks over to her and he just asks her, he's like, What do you want to do?

She's like, I want to drop in on that.

He's like, Let's do it, and and took her, and eventually the whole like park was there watching, and then once she did it, and every single person in that place just like erupted, and I was just like struck with like this, I want this.

Yeah, it's so great that the community has changed in such a way.

How do I do this?

Yeah, and just this last um when we did winter sessions and stuff, like we I think we put a video out on it because I every time like we were getting these kids close to like landing something, I would I'd run out and I'd be like find their parents like, give me a phone, give me give me a phone.

Like, can I just so I could like film them so they they had this because you know kids love to look back at that stuff.

So we have like a really long video just showing this little girl who was just determined she wanted to, but she had several times where she just kind of stopped and stuff, and we'd have such a way that we teach them and being able to like help them do this, and we get them to a point where it's like we do it without holding on to them, and just the the the point where like where it happens where they do it for the first time, and we were just like I two to make it true, let's go, let's get up there, and and they do it again, and then they they realize they're like I can do this.

It's just that same feeling, and it's just like every time I just stand there next to Adam, or like we get this, this is why we do this, yeah.

This right here, that is exactly why we do that.

And I get it's not even just the one time, we get to experience that a lot.

Yeah, we get to show we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus in these ways, just being it be showing up and and just being that positive influence in their life, whereas like everything else may be turmoil in their life or anything like that, it may not make sense or whatever, but but in here, you know, you're going to achieve something you've never done before.

You're you're gonna get exercise, you're gonna you're going to have this camaraderie where I mean having just an entire place just cheering for you because you did something you never thought you could do.

There's just no, yeah, there's no better feeling.

So kind of wrap us up today.

BJ, how do you get involved with Skate Ohio?

Many, many, many ways.

So um, you can look us up online anywhere you look.

Skate Ohio, uh is a Facebook, Instagram.

I think we have a TikTok.

I I do nothing with the social media.

That is Adam.

Uh, but uh we take partnerships, everything we do is locally funded.

Uh, we haven't been able to accept grant.

We've not really any grants or anything yet.

We're trying to figure things like that out, but but we want to get involved with businesses.

We want to put your name on skateboards.

And there's there's there's we always tell people whatever your idea is to get involved with us, we can make it happen.

However, that looks like we're we're opening a roller rink at the mall.

Um, there's opportunities to be able to donate to get a banner with your business on it up there that will go into a scholarship fund for uh families who can't afford to come out and roller skate.

We're gonna try to keep it as low cost as possible, but even families who have like, I don't know, six kids, we want them to be able to come and everybody be able to skate.

So we're trying to figure out what a scholarship fund would look like, but you can donate to those things.

We do a ton of that stuff, giving boards to kids.

Uh, you could fund a skate park.

And if you fund the skate park, you can name it.

And it's there's and we can do that at like a lot of different levels.

We can take it.

Don't name it.

Yeah, don't name it.

Birthday shoot skating.

It also has to be approved by whatever city we're in if you fund it.

It does have to go through a uh a panel, but uh there's just so many ways to get involved with us, and even just showing up and helping us put concrete in, or yeah, uh there's just a lot of ways that we try to get all the kids and the community involved whenever we do a park, because then there's a lot of ownership.

Yeah, the kids are like, hey, don't do that.

This is my park.

I built that, and yeah.

It's just it's just another layer of ownership for them.

But but there's so many ways.

Info at skateohio.com uh is is an email you can reach out to us, and then all of us who are involved get that immediately, and we can we'll resp we respond instantly.

Yeah, cool, awesome.

Uh Doug, how do you get involved with your hockey ministry?

No, what I would love is for everybody to go to the Ohio State men's hockey website and look at the players there, look at their faces, their bios, and pray.

Pray, yeah, pray for the guys on the team, pray for the coaches, the coaching staff.

That's one easy way.

And then if you follow along with the season, if you have happen to be on the Big Ten network or have to come across it, but but prayer for for what's going on on the Ohio State campus.

Many have probably seen what had gone on with the football team.

So many guys getting saved and getting baptized.

But prayer is so powerful for all of our for all of our ministries in and through the local church, and certainly these other parachurch ministries, prayer is so important.

And and what's unique about hockey is you can actually see their face and see their name and and and pray for for for young men.

Yeah.

Pray for salvation, pray for discipleship, pray for growth.

And certainly, um, you know, um Hockey Ministries International accepts accepts checks and donations to make this ministry go forward.

But but but prayer, prayer for this next season for these new guys.

Oh so good.

So Vanessa, how do you get involved with SoulScan?

Yeah, so SoulScan is a nonprofit, and so we raise funds to make these conferences happen.

And the the desire is to bring this conference to different cities, to bring SoulScan to the heart of different cities.

And so we raise funds to make that happen and to create resources for those conferences.

And so if you want to partner, you can go on soulscan.org.

You can reach us at uh hello at soulscan.org and or any of our socials.

You could just DM us, private message us, and we will get back to you very quickly.

But um just so that uh keep in mind the story that I shared me because um when you're thinking about what ministry you should support this year, I would love for you to consider partnering with us because events like that make those store stories happen.

And so that is a way and and also prayer, prayer, um, prayer for the women that attend these events.

Yeah, so good, guys.

Thank you so much for your time.

Uh what I want to communicate to everybody watching today, too, is that the three of you not only have stepped up and and started these ministries, but even as we were like talking, getting started, like like each of you just like were jazzed to talk about what you're doing.

And then also like each of you have a fantastic reputation in our community, and a lot of that has been built out of what you're doing.

And part of it's out of being a part of crossroads as well, and just who you are as people, but also the reputation that you guys have through what you're doing, through Skate Ohio, through SoulScan, through hockey ministry, through all the different boards and coaching you guys have been a part of, all this kinds of stuff.

Like you guys have proven that you're willing to invest in your community and go from go above and beyond for the Lord.

And so that for anybody that's watching today, like that's that's local, you've probably heard of one of the one of the three of these people at the very least, if you're even if you're not a part of Crossroads.

And so if you like one of us is a really big deal.

Yeah, one of us, you know.

So I'm not saying which one.

One of us.

So I I just I I wanna I want to commend you guys for that.

Uh for all three of you guys have fantastic reputations, and I'm I'm really blessed to get to know you and get to watch the Lord work in and through you guys.

And I know so many other people share that same sentiment.

Um, but also like like if you go to crossroads, or even if you don't, and if if you're watching today, I'm sure all three of these people would would love to talk to you about that thing that it that maybe the Lord's pulling you towards, whether it's involvement in their ministry or whether it's in like starting your own thing, or even if it's just trying to find the confidence to take that next step in your walk with Jesus and saying yes to whatever he has next for you, because who knows how it could affect your life?

Who knows how it could affect someone else's life?

At the very least, um, I just want to kind of repeat what you were saying earlier, Vanessa.

At the very least, recognize that maybe it's not about you, maybe it's about who the Lord wants you to reach.

And if you can be uncomfortable for just a second, or maybe you you you have the the confidence in the Lord for just a second to take a step and maybe where he's calling you to go, um, who knows who it can affect.

So, guys, thank you so much for joining me today.

And guys, thank you guys for watching the Crossroads Podcast.