My life has been refined and shaped by the name of Jesus ever since I surrendered my heart to him at the age of seven. And although I would live as if he were not present for longer than I’d like to admit, the power of his spirit would always draw me back to the peace of knowing him. This is the everlasting grace and pursuit of our God. A love so powerful, I’ve chosen to surrender to his will and purpose for my life.

In 2018, I was seeking direction through uncertainty, anxiety, and no earthly father in my life to guide me. I was passionate, but my identity was not grounded. That year, against my hopes of finding work in the film industry, I was referred to apply for a non-profit organization called Samaritan's Purse as a videographer. The job was to travel and film humanitarian projects, disaster relief efforts, and witness people being healed and helped in devastating circumstances, all over the world, all in Jesus name. This job was my introduction to ministry and is where I re-encountered God’s presence in ways I could no longer deny.

While working for Samaritans Purse, I also encountered The House of Ride Nature in Ft Myers, Florida. As soon as I stepped inside the shop for the first time, my soul was marked, like a flashback to the beginning of my life. Modern-day worship music was playing over the speakers of a well-designed skate/coffee shop, and everything before me presented itself as peace. It was a feeling of redemption connected to who I was and where I came from. Skateboarding was something that found me right after coming to Christ and was the world in which my coming-of-age story began.

I was introduced to skateboarding when I pulled a book off the bottom shelf of a library in first grade. Later I would discover films, video games, and eventually receive a skateboard as a gift from my mom. I started skating at a time when other boys in my neighborhood were also getting into skateboarding, and the rest was a story I hope to tell in more depth later.

While skating as a kid I had been in many other skate shops. But I had not yet walked into a skate shop and encountered worship and faith connected to skating. I would learn that Ride Nature's mission was greater than just retail sales; it was a global organization on a mission to reach the spiritually poor and fatherless through action sports. Including all nations, providing resources generously, and sharing the Gospel. Skateboarding was what inspired me to hold a camera, and a camera is the tool that God used to bring me into ministry years later.

I returned to the mountains of North Carolina with the Ride Nature mission on my mind. It was also significant to me that Ride Nature was emphasizing the term “fatherless”. As a child, I too was raised without a father and grew up in a neighborhood of fatherless boys who all gravitated to skateboarding. Skateboarding gave us purpose and bonded us on a brotherly level. And although we may have thought we were a gang of wolves, we really were just lost sheep without a shepherd. It was while working for Samaritan’s Purse that I was discipled within a Christ-centered community where fellowship encouraged my faith, helped heal my inner wounds, and built up my identity as a son.