Come As You Are!

We all know teenagers can be hard to love. They even act like they don't want to BE loved.
Have you ever met anyone who takes JOY in loving on them?
In spending a LOT of time with them?
Someone who deeply and unconditionally cares about them?
Do you know anyone who enthusiastically loves the tattooed kids, dressed in dark clothing with headphones in, who spend countless hours on skateboards?

I HAVE!

Meet Zac & Lauren Whitfield. They are the missionaries we personally choose to support because we LOVE what they are doing, we totally believe in their heartfelt desire to reach out to these kids in our own communities...and we realize how hard it is to serve as full time missionaries in your own home country.
They mean it when they tell these kids to COME AS YOU ARE. They are showing them the grace-filled love of Christ. They are welcoming them into their lives and into their homes where these kids are firsthand witnesses to how marriage and parenting work when God is at the center of it all. There is nothing more REAL than that!

The Whitfields run Foundation Skate Ministry here in Lake County, IL. Foundation Skate Ministry has a twofold purpose:

• The effective proclamation of the gospel of Christ to the lost skate culture in Lake County, making disciples and,
• The development of those disciples’ character into the character of Christ himself “teaching them to do all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).
  

They effectively proclaim the gospel at weekly Bible study, which takes place at their house, at a local skate park or their INDOOR skate park inside their home church building. They develop disciples into the character of Christ through smaller discipleship groups that meet weekly, as well.

FSM takes these kids onto the mission field when they venture out into the various skate communities here in the US and stand up for Christ. Recent trips have included a flight to Oregon and a roadtrip to Colorado, along with excursions into the city of Chicago. Clearly, God is using Zac and Lauren to open up a world of positive opportunities and eternal hope for these otherwise "lost boys."

Check out their website at www.foundationskateministry.org
or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FSMSK8