East Ridge: Church reaches out to skateboarders

In the gymnasium at the Calvary Church Assembly of God in East Ridge, a handful of shaggy-haired boys in baggy pants laughed Wednesday night and shouted as they rode their bikes and turned tricks on their skateboards.

Since beginning his youth ministry at the South Seminole Drive church two years ago, pastor Derek Eledge, 27, has reached out to the children others shun by creating a place for them to skateboard, hang out and develop a relationship with God.

“When I saw all the skaters skating through the parking lot, God told me, ‘There’s your youth group,’” he said.

The church removed its “no skateboarding” sign and in 2006 organized the “X Games,” a day of rock climbing and skateboarding featuring the Christian skate group the King of Kings Skate Ministry from Birmingham, Ala. That event drew 400 people, Mr. Eledge said, but it also raised the ire of a youth pastor from another area church, who called to complain that he was sending the wrong message.

East Ridge churches and businesses routinely complain about skateboarders gathering in their parking lots, chipping concrete walks and steps and vandalizing property, according to Erik Hopkins, public information officer for the East Ridge Police Department.

One bank on Ringgold Road, he said, had to replace an awning over its drive-through after someone reportedly punched holes in it by hitting it with a skateboard. He said the manager also reported that someone urinated into the night deposit box and that skateboarders yelled at him when he asked them to leave.

Mr. Hopkins said the police department has met to address skateboarding and the issues that go along with it, but it does not have an official policy to deal with the problem.

Instead, officers are left to use their own discretion when dealing with complaints, and often will confiscate a skateboard to help get parents involved, he said.

“We don’t have a problem with kids skateboarding as long as it’s not creating a hazard to the kids or to the community,” he said. “But we do have a problem with the vandalism and the things that go along with some individuals who skateboard.”

Mr. Eledge argues, however, most skateboarders are not criminals but just children who are out having fun.

Thirteen-year-old Bobby McCullough said it felt “great” to have a place to hang out with his friends and to talk to someone about his life.

He said the meetings “made me stop and think about what I’m doing.”

What many don’t realize, Mr. Eledge said, is that skateboarding is the only thing many of these children have. Some of the young people he ministers to come from troubled home lives and have parents who are addicted to alcohol, marijuana or methamphetamine. Others might be living in extreme poverty or subject to neglect in other ways, he said.

“They’re good kids,” he said. “That’s what people don’t see in them.”

Mitchell Leavitt, 14, said he enjoys coming to the Wednesday night meetings because he likes having a safe place to skate and to learn about God.

“I want to be a different person,” he said. “I want to be a good person who always does the right thing.”

Mr. Eledge said his kids are far from perfect, but he embraces their imperfections and the opportunity to mold them into the people he believes they can become.

“These kids cuss, these kids smoke,” he said. “They’re not the Brady Bunch, and I think East Ridge wants the Brady Bunch. They’re rough kids, and we want to reach these rough kids.”