A South Florida church is offering a new twist on the traditional summer camp or vacation bible school.
Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale is using extreme sports to present the gospel to children. There are camps focused on power lifting, wrestling and skateboarding.
For hours, skaters fly around the Calvary Chapel Skate Park, launching themselves off jumps.
When the children are not busy performing tricks, they are gathered around Camp Organizer Ulises Frallicciardi. He told Local 10 he has a real passion for reaching young skateboarders.
“I just think every kids wired different. The summer is crucial. Summer can really change a kid. So my thing is they can sit and play video games or they can come to a skate park and skate and learn about God,” he said.
Frallicciardi said mixing skating with scriptures helps children better understand the principals outlined in the Bible.
For camper Tyler Ellul, it’s truly kept him out of trouble.
“ I see some kids and how I could have turned out. I just look at them and that doesn't look fun to me. For me it’s just to go out skating to do what I love to do personally. That's bliss for me,” said Ellul.