Pilgrim's Progress

2009-09-25T18:02:00.002-06:00

2009-08-20T09:20:00.006-06:00

180 SK8 Church
Being Jesus Christ in the World

This has been an incredible summer and now we turn the corner to the 2009-2010 school-year. But before looking down that lane here is a swatch of what the summer looked like for the skateboard ministry here in Belgrade, Montana.

We were able to have skate every Friday night for the summer and started opening up for additional nights towards the end of July. The need was apparent: kids wanted to ride the ramps on their bikes but the Friday session really is a skateboard event. Thursday is the Bible-study night so we opened the "yurt" on Wednesday nights for high-school and younger...bikes only.

Well, there was a number of high school grads who showed up and thus I was aware of an opportunity to branch out to a group who felt like "non-people"...grads who were still young at heart and who love riding their bikes (their goal is to be like the bike-riders who you may see on Extreme Game competition).

Now we are open to grads on bikes on Tuesday, Youth on bikes on Wednesday, Bible-study on Thursday and All Youth, skateboards, on Friday nights. This has been a great move. It has demonstrated the wonderful opportunity to reach the lost for Christ through the preaching of the Word of God and then the connect with some dis-jointed "olders" who are believers but are in need of direction.

What a blessing this is to get to be with so many young people who are seeing God more clearly and for some just learning about God for the first time...EVER!

Our house (mostly the front deck and lawn) looks like a scene from Mad-Max with bicycle parts all over the place as the Baber house has become the "bike-mecca" for the neighborhood kids! I even made up a tool-box with some tools for bikes, a bike-pump ($1 at a garage-sale) and sometimes I provide some training seminars on bike repair! What a great blessing to share the Lord with these kids.

Our numbers at the ministry site have steadily grown IN SPITE of summer activities. We always have 15- 20 kids on Friday nights and often, like tonight (Wednesday) we have 3-4 new kids. I don't know what the school-year numbers are going to look like but I am anticipating the walls heaving from the increase. This is why I have made it the goal to separate High School from the younger kids.

This past weekend we loaded up the van and went on a road-trip to Billings to skate the park there. What a great time of getting to know the skaters better and to work on helping them learn God's Word better. So, with all the gear packed--helmets, extra boards, enough water and Bibles for everyone--we left for Billings at 8:00 and returned at 4:30. I was the facilitator. Matt Kruze was the "hands-on" guy with skating tips for the younger, in-experienced skaters. And we both used our time to open up God's Word to them and show them how God wants to be involved in their lives.

Eventually, as the Christian kids mature, I see a team of skaters going to various places, not just to experience recreation but to blend their favorite sport with sharing Jesus Christ with others.

One of the things the Lord keeps reminding me of is the incredible opportunity to be involved in these kids' lives. I see young boys and sometimes (but not very often) girls who can be shown Christ's love in very real ways. I want them to come to know Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God who came in the flesh and was willing to sit down next to an outcast Samaritan woman...demonstrating God's desire to know her and a willingness to listen to her and reveal himself to her. I reminded the kids this week that WE are like that person that Jesus was willing to go out of his way to meet and that he really knows us and really cares about us.

Please pray for SK8 Church as we try to bring the good news to these young people. Pray that those who have decided to put their trust in the Lord that they will see the importance of studying God's Word so they can discern between his truth and the deception that is so prevalent in the world.

Please pray that the needs of SK8 Church will be realized as our numbers grow. Pray for additional workers to join in this ministry to young people. Pray for Lynne and me as we trust in God for our continued support in this work.

I praise God for all of you and ask that we hear from you so we can know how you are doing and how we can be praying for you.

In Christ,
Mike Baber

Mid-May SK8 Church

2009-05-23T10:39:00.001-06:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Subject: Number 4
To: LYNNE BABER <lynnebaber@gmail.com>

Hello Friends!
Well a lot has happened since the last activity summary for 180 sk8 Church and I bet a lot has happened in your lives as well. First off...I am happy to announce that I have completed my studies at Montana State University. My education there allowed me to complete the requirements for my Bachelor Degree from Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon (where I earned my Associates Degree). Halellujah!!

Here, in as brief a form as possible, is about 2 months of ministry and personal update!

March/April--we saw the numbers of youth coming to skate grow so much that we made the decision to split into middle school/high school sessions. Middle school is from 4-6 and high school is from 6-9. I knew that this would eventually be the structure of sk8 church, I was just surprised how fast it happened. We are jam-packed in the building in the first session and pray for a larger facility to house the ministry. Please place this near the top of sk8 church prayer needs.

Easter weekend was a great celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection. What a joy to have this victory in our lives! Keeping our mind on that is important! Easter weekend was also when we had to deal with the damage done to our pick-up truck. It is the truck we've used for about 9 years to tow the skate ramps for ministry. Somebody (youths, judging by the size of the foot-prints left on the truck hood) had a busy weekend. Late at night or early morning on Friday or Saturday they visited the sk8 "Yurt" where I had the truck parked and smashed out the windshield and the rear window of the topper. It could have been much worse! We were thankful to have this limited repair to take care of. This act helped us see that we really don't need the truck since we have the building and because we have the maxi-van (with towing capabilities as well as room for 12 people). The truck spends most of the year parked anyway with a couple of trips in October/November for hunting. We are glad to be able to move in this direction.

I have been able to share at a coupe of churches about the vision for the skateboard ministry and people are coming on board to help. We made the decision to provide a meal for the kids every Friday and the kids have really liked that addition to the ministry. It means a lot to the middle-school kids because they walk to the skate session from school and I think we can hear their stomachs growling!! Praise God for those who are excited about this outreach ministry and are giving their time and resources to help with this part of the ministry.

One of the needs we have is to get more skateboard-type people who are older than the skaters and are mature in their faith. Pray for a revival among the believers in the Gallatin Valley so that they would hear the voice of the Shepherd saying, "Feed my sheep." I really want to see a miracle in this area. So many know that we are out here in Belgrade doing this work of God. Now if they would only see the call of God in their lives to put their talents to work to further HIS kingdom. We do not want to glorify men at sk8 Church. We want Jesus Christ lifted up and to see young people turn their lives over to the Savior!

We have seen between 50 to 70 kids pass through our doors since January and sometimes they are brought their by their parents and while here there is often a chance to tell them about God's love for them and they see the love of Jesus Christ being demonstrated by the volunteers helping out with the ministry. They see workers cooking the dinner, they see staff helping out the skaters on the mini-ramp. Often they even get to hear the lesson taught during the session. They ask lots of questions about why we are their and who we are. What a blessing to be able to share the reason for being there caring for their kids!

Please keep up in your prayers and pray for us as we open our mouths to speak God's truth and always reflect those truths in our actions around these who don't know Christ yet.

Love in Christ,
Mike Baber

180 sk8 Church
303 9th Street
Belgrade, MT 59714
406-388-9180

Blog---plgrmprogress@blogspot.com

Meeting

2009-04-23T14:01:00.001-06:00

Greets to all of you. I wish that I could see each of you face to face and visit with you to find out what is going on in your lives. Please send a little note to give a little sample of your lives these days. I care and I would take advantage of those notes to spend time praying for you. A few of you don't know Christ personally and you know that my greatest desire is for you to see the reality of God's love through his Son Jesus Christ. If you have been around Lynne and me you have heard from us about the need to be forgiven for sin the reality of judgment after death and the great experience of walking with Christ while living! Don't delay...Read Psalm 51 about how to approach God!

My short letter is to request that you be praying for the Bible-study at our home tonight and the skateboard ministry tomorrow night called 180 sk8 Church. Youth's lives are being changed by Christ and the number of boys coming to Bible-study on Thursday nights is increasing. God provided donors who are paying for the new study-guide from the Navigators and a whole box of Bible for us!!

Prayer
I can not stress just how important I consider this request. It is the most important thing I can ask of you. I want to see God take this community for His Kingdom! Please begin to see the critical need of this blessing God has placed in your life...PRAYER! I am not asking you to pray "God, bless the Bible-study at Mike's house." Rather----Pray that the hearts of these young boys would be open to the Holy Spirit tonight, that Satan would lose his foothold in their lives, that the broken hearts they hide would be healed by God's presence and power!, etc.

May you be vessels filled up and used up for His eternal purpose!
Love and Blessings,
Mike Baber
180 sk8 Church

sk8 Ministry for Friday, April 10, 2009

2009-04-11T21:33:00.003-06:00

Things are moving ahead in dramatic fashion at sk8 Church. In addition to the change in schedule for the skaters on Friday night there is also the Thursday night Bible-Study at my house.

Schedule change: Our numbers were growing to the point that we decided to create middle-school age session and High-School session. We decided to keep them on Friday night which eliminated having a completely different night to manage. It makes a long 5 hour "on-site" ministry but it is do-able. We noticed a change in the attitude of both groups which we describe as positive. The younger kids have their "own" time and aren't pressured by older skaters. The adult skater (Doug) is also able to work with maturing skaters to help them develop stronger skills.

The older skaters enjoy themselves more as well. The pace stays rapid and they loosen up quite a bit. We have more personal chat-time with the olders because we are not "putting out fires" with the youngers.

We are going to try and do a barbecue each Friday (hot dogs). It does provide a need as some kids come directly to the sk8 Church building after school.

We have a lot of prayer-needs. I could make quite a list here but just lift up the ministry that we may be able to communicate to the kids the depth of who God is. Pray that the eyes of their hearts would be open to knowing God. Pray that they would understand that they were made for God and become true worshipers. That is our focus. Our Father knows our every need and how everything that we have on our list of dreams is for the sake of bringing HIM glory. We submit that list to Him for his provision. Would you please join us in praying? Thank-you.

The following words are from a song I know as "Hymn of the Welsh Revival". The words say what my heart sings as I reflect upon God's great love for us. Following these two stanzas will be the web address for the entire song. Still, insufficient words describing magnificent love.

Blessings,
Mike Baber

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Fwd: sk8

2009-04-11T21:33:00.001-06:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Subject: sk8
To: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>, Lynne Baber <lynnebaber@gmail.com>

Hello to all,
First Friday of the new split schedule was smashing...just smashing (a little posh-English there!). We had 33 kids. Visiting adults stayed for the Bible-talk (PTL). Many good things are happening including the second Bible-study on Thursday night. God is AWESOME! WOW! I get pumped when I get to see how God is working. Please. As these times get difficult...don't despair. Make yourself available to His Holy Spirit. Be a vessel filled up and ready to be used. Just look around you. We live in a TRE (Target-Rich Environment). Let Christ pour through your lives to the hurting around you.

Pray for additional helpers to come on Friday nights. The number of skaters coming make it necessary to have more help. Pray for God to move as He wants...may His will be supreme.

I hope that you are doing well. This is Saturday night. We spent yesterday as believers considering the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. At about 2:45 yesterday I remembered that He died right around 3 o'clock after hanging on the cross for about 6 hours ( see http://www.bibletimelines.org/FramedPassionWeek.html for source). Here was the Son of God pouring out his life for all the world so that we could be reconciled to God. He suffered for me and you...bearing our chastisement. I complain about 45 minutes in the dentist's chair (really, I complain about a lot less...just ask Lynne!). Six hours hanging on the cross. The physical pain was unimaginable. But even more-so...to be sinless and yet be made to become sin for the world. Wow. What grace and mercy flowed on that day.

May you have a great day on Easter Sunday....as you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Love and blessings to all of you,
Mike and Lynne Baber
180 sk8 Church

Contact Info:

Mike Baber

180 sk8 Church

303 9^th Street

Belgrade, MT 59714

1-406-388-9180

Read more detailed info at:

plgrmprogress@blogspot.com

Request

2009-04-02T08:23:00.001-06:00

Hello,
Though many of you will not open this till later on today I am asking those who do read it to pray for the Bible-study that will be at our house at 6:00 Montana time for the skaters. I have a great hope that several will show up as many expressed interest in being here. I am using a book called First Steps to get them going in their new faith. May God move in the heart of each one, creating such a hunger to go deep in their walk with God. Thanks, Mike

Father you have saved these kids. They belong to you now. Satan would lure them and try to snare them with mega-temptations. Please protect them from his deceit. Give them hunger for righteousness, hunger for your Word, hunger for your presence...for you. Meet with them where they are today. May you be glorified in our lives as we seek you, your truth in your Word. In Jesus name, amen.

Fwd: 180 SK8 Church Update, Mar 25

2009-03-25T13:12:00.002-06:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Subject: 180 SK8 Church Update, Mar 25
To: Mike Baber <pilgrim8@gmail.com>

Hello everyone!
I am not used to addressing such a large group of people in the email world. I just realized that I am writing many people in different regions with very diverse activities going on in their lives! I am so blessed to have you as friends and acquaintances. Thanks for the replies this past month. It meant so much to get your positive encouragements for this outreach to young people. We have seen such a kingdom work take hold in these young people's lives. Only God is worthy of credit for such great work. We are literally just his vessels. We have asked him to fill us and he has been so faithful. Oh that we can see these youth grow up to be godly men leading others to the Savior and living lives pleasing to our heavenly Father!

· We had a tremendous February and early March. As many of you know, 8 young men gave their hearts to the Lord on March 6 (see our blog at http://plgrmprogress.blogspot.com/). We have books and will begin a follow-thru Bible study to provide the training to get them grounded in God's Word.

· We took advantage of Spring Break and installed a great new addition to the mini-ramp. The skaters were so amped! I wish you could have seen their faces. It fit perfectly with the existing ramp. Matt and Doug (adult leaders/skaters) shared in the Bible-talks for this week's special Wed-Thur-Fri skate sessions from 4-7pm.

I won't go into lots of details here. This is meant to whet your appetite for more info that you can get on our blog and to request that you remember to pray for us. We are so hungry to demonstrate God's love for the lost through our actions, communicate God's truth through our teaching and to honor God through our lives. Please pray for souls to be saved and for saved souls to grow to Christ-honoring maturity.

Love in Christ,

Mike Baber

180 sk8 Church

303 9^th Street

Belgrade, MT 59714

406-388-9180

http://plgrmprogress@blogspot.com/

sk8 church update for Friday March 6, 2009

2009-03-07T17:31:00.001-07:00

Hello!

So many of you received my snail-mail letter giving more details about the progress of 180 sk8 Church. I wonder if that did not motivate a lot of you to be praying for the ministry this Friday night. Why? Because there were events taking place that only God could have orchestrated. This email update will be a short description of the March 6^th session at our new building.

We had lower than average skaters for the evening. It snowed most of the day and it was very cold. This would probably explain why a lot of those kids who walk to sk8 church were not there.

I spent some time speaking to one of the guys who takes care of the music for me. I asked Matt if he had ever given his life to the Lord. I did this after he was describing the change in his life since coming to sk8 church. He said that this was all new to him and that it was really important to him. In response to my question, he indicated that he had never given his heart to the Lord but that this decision was something that he was interested in pursuing. This motivated me to pray for the approaching Bible-talk time. I prayed for the Lord to give me the words to speak. Perhaps I could be used to help Matt make this important decision.

Well, I know that God was working in the hearts of these young men. I preached a very simple message drawing upon the lesson from the week before to explain their need to repent and be saved from their sins and to follow Jesus Christ. Well, I know that most of you know what salvation is all about. I am probably preaching to the choir here. But you've got to realize that most of these boys have never, before sk8 church , had the gospel explained to them. They only know what the world has taught them…that God is a good god and everyone gets to go to heaven because of God's good nature. At sk8 Church they are learning about the God of the Bible and how He killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness so they would not have the shame they experienced after disobeying God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They heard for the first time that this was a picture of the death of Christ on the cross to provide covering for OUR sinful hearts because we inherited the sin nature from Adam.

The Holy Spirit was really working. When the invitation was given Matt came forward. But he wasn't alone!! There were seven other young men who also came to repent and be saved from sin. I almost told them to sit back down. I mean, maybe they didn't understand the magnitude of the decision that I was asking them to make. Oh, me of little faith! God reached down into our little building outside of Belgrade and did a work that only He can do! He was busy working in these young men's hearts by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I got to lead them in a sinner's prayer as they came to have their sins forgiven! Oh, what a glorious experience to see souls blood-bought by Jesus Christ's death on the cross asking him for forgiveness. He conquered death through the resurrection and now he is bringing victory into these skater's lives!

Please pray that I will develop a good Bible-study for the boys so they can be founded in the Word and progress well in their new-found faith.

I appreciate all of you praying for the ministry. It means an awful lot to have you spending time lifting us up in prayer. Remember what Henry Blackaby said in Experiencing God…When you are looking for the work you should be doing, look for where God is working and then join him (my paraphrase).

Go to our blog at http://plgrmprogress.blogspot.com/ for more info. Or look for my facebook profile.

God Bless you all,

In Christ,

Mike Baber

180 sk8 Church

Mike's Bible talk

2009-03-02T10:58:00.001-07:00

Bubble-building for 180 SK8 indoor!

2009-03-02T10:57:00.001-07:00

180 SK8 Ministry 08

2009-03-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

Many get our email updates and newsletters, but thought we'd also do a posting on this great blog site we have---thanks to our son, Dan!

Last summer we held skate jams every Friday night at a church parking lot in Belgrade. We had ages 7 to 17 and averaged about 20 kids each time. We held jams from the end of June (when it stopped raining) until the end of October. We had two fun skate competition nights with about 30 kids each time.

Now we are excited to have our first indoor skate park, (bubble-shaped building provided by the same church, lumber for ramps donated by local lumber shops, drill donated by local hardware store) small building, but accommodating for several skaters at the same time on one half-pipe ramp that our partners, Matt Cruize, Dan Barnes, and Doug Duschene built. Matt and Doug are adult skaters that are also working with the kids every Friday night. They are awesome. Mike stops the skating midway to sit the kids down and share a gospel message from the Bible each session. They tend to really listen to him.

Lynne & Mike

2008-10-26T20:18:00.000-06:00