When we first arrived at the festival grounds we went straight to the NGA tent to get oriented. Some went on a tour of the festival grounds but Anthony and I went straight way to the Livin It Action Sports Area. Tom and Nate caught up with us shortly thereafter. Helmeted and suited FMX (Motorcycle) riders like Greg Hartman and Kyle Loza of Riders 4 Christ were already practicing their jumps off a launch ramp onto a 16 foot landing ramp. Many riders could do unseated maneuvers during “hang time” like hand stands and handlebar and seat grabs in various positions and then seat themselves at the last moment to land the bike safely. One rider could do complete upside down end over end 360′s and land it, amazing!

The Skateboarding/ BMX area consisted of a flat bottom made of unpainted chipboard (Thank God it didn’t rain! that stuff gets lumpy when wet and splinters easily) and a roll in ramp with a 4×6 quarter pipe on one side, three 6×6 quarter pipes on the other and pyramid ramp with rails in the middle. Featured King of Kings skateboard ministry skaters Luke Braddock & Elijah Moore were in attendance as well as few others who’s names escape me. Livin It skaters Tim Byrne, Anthony Carney, Christian Hosoi, and  pulled off smith grinds, disasters , noseblunts, bigspins, all manner of kickflips, and many combo maneuvers like ollies to railslides, 360 rock’n’rolls and even a mini Mctwist. After the demo someone from King of Kings gave his testimony, preached the gospel and invited whosoever will to receive Christ. I waited near the gate to the skating area for my opportunity to counsel someone coming in to receive Christ. There was an abundance of counselors. When I tried to reach someone to counsel another counselor got to them first. Next up were the BMX er’s who did peg grinds, x jumps, can can’s, table tops, bar spins, turn downs, fakies and flips. Don’t ask me what all that means, I’m not a BMX-er. But they made it look so easy that now I wanna try.

After this took a quick personal tour of the festival grounds located at waterside park which runs the length of 12 city blocks along the Willamette river.I then checked out the main stage area complete with JumboTrons, the merchandise tents and sponsors tents and wound up at the family fun zone, the kids looked like they were having a great time and learning about Jesus to boot. I stopped at the park near the Hawthorne bridge and prayed for an opportunity to lead someone to Christ. I Headed back to the NGA tent and saw Tom, Nate and Antony in the backstage area. “How’d you guys get back there?” I was on the outside looking in. I guess it’s all who you know.

We had dinner, saw some of Kirk Franklin’s set and then Anthony and I went to the main stage area to listen to Luis Palau speak and to be ready to counsel anyone who wanted to receive Christ. At the invitation someone behind me received Christ but once again another counselor got to him first.
After that the Home boys Kutless took to the stage. -End of Day 1-

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