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Northwest Baptist Witness Communications Team Leader/Editor: Cameron Crabtree Managing Editor, The Witness: Sheila Allen Graphic Design & Production Assistants: Jennifer Logue and Beckie Bruhn Circulation Services: Twyla Outhier Churches of the Northwest Baptist Convention provide the Northwest Baptist Witness for their individual members through the Cooperative Program. Individual subscriptions are available: $12/yr. in U.S. | $18/yr. int'l Published each month by: Northwest Baptist Convention Phone: 360-882-2100 | Fax: 360-882-2295 | E-mail: ISSN 0745-2195 Circulation: 14,000

Skateshop owner lives out passion

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A passion for skateboards has coursed through Jason Brown’s veins for 25 years. While some might see the allure of the ride as a passing interest for teenagers, Brown’s commitment to skateboarding has never dimmed since he first picked up the sport in his native South Carolina.
Brown now owns and operates a shop for skateboards and supplies in his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ore., where he provides a positive environment for the skateboarders who come seeking equipment and conversation for their own passion.
“We attract at-risk teenage boys here,” Brown said. “It is really sad because they come from broken homes that overwhelm our area, which is in a very poor part of town that suffers from a lot of drug use.”
While Brown was raised in a much different environment, he connects with his customers because of early choices he made in life.
“I grew up going to church and said I wanted to accept Jesus when I was in the eighth grade, but the next day I was back out smoking pot,” Brown said. “I ‘gave’ my life to Christ several times, but it was because my brother, who I looked up to, came out of a lifestyle of partying, drinking and drugs that made me sit up and notice. I looked up to him and thought he was cool. But even though I dabbled in that stuff, I was always more interested in skateboarding.”
Brown finalized his commitment to follow Christ wholeheartedly after a girlfriend cheated on him and his brother talked to him about his relationship with Jesus.
“I was still a little kid looking for direction when I went to college, and only lasted a year and a half,” Brown said. “I joined the military and did my time there, but I always wanted to be a professional skateboarder, though I realized along the way that I was never good enough, even though I was able to get some sponsors along the way.”
Following his military service Brown went to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz., to obtain a degree in psychology. He met his wife, Melanie, who is from Springfield, and the two were married in 2000.
“I was mentored by a man in Phoenix and I am the man I am today because he poured into me,” Brown noted.
The pair made the choice to travel and teach English during a two-year stint in South Korea following graduation, where they fell in love with the people and culture there. The respect and kindness they encountered while there made a lasting impact on the couple, as did the food they enjoyed.
“We went to South Korea with the philosophy of lifestyle missions,” Brown said. “This is how I live — some days are really wonderful and others are bad.”
Brown has adopted that same philosophy when he and Melanie returned from South Korea with the goal of opening a skateboard shop. Cactus Skateboards, (??) in her hometown, which was named with a nod to the influence on Brown of his years in Phoenix.
“My mentor told me that if I started a skate shop it needed to be a legitimate business, to do things without an ulterior motive,” Brown said. “So I started my business four years ago, and it is a core skateboard shop completely devoted to skateboards, skateboard tee-shirts, pants, shoes, videos — anything to do with skating. We do not carry snowboards, surf boards or anything else not related to skateboards.
“I get to live out my life as a man should in front of the customers who come in my shop,” Brown said. “Approximately 98 percent of them don’t have a dad and the area is really poor. I hire kids from time to time to work in the shop and right now I have a 19-year-old working for me who comes from a difficult situation where he moves back and forth between parents. I don’t force my views or religion on him, but it has led to good conversations, because even though he had heard of Jesus, he was completely unaware of who he really is.”
Many of the young people attracted to Cactus struggle in life, and find their way to the shop when they shouldn’t be there.
“I’ll kick kids out if it’s in the day when they should be in school,” Brown said. “I’ll play ‘skate’— a variation on the basketball game horse —and get their respect. I joke and cut up with them, but I have threatened to call the school and they bolt out. While they were upset they still came back.”
His love of skateboards has taken Brown to over 150 skateboard parks across the United States and other countries, and helped the Browns find Harvest Community Church in Eugene, Ore., as it was just across the street from a local skate park.
“I first started at work at Harvest as a janitor a few hours a week, because the shop isn’t able to fully support us,” Brown said. “It was an awesome quiet time where I could of several hours where I could put my headphones on and just worship.”
 Brown was eventually offered the position of youth minister at Harvest, which he accomplishes in a part-time role while also running his business. He tries to put in 20 hours a week at the church and dedicates two afternoons a week to those duties.
“Formal ministry was not an aspiration of mine,” Brown said. “I wanted to go to seminary for personal growth in the past, but thought a para-church organization would fit my lifestyle more. Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for the stress this job brought, but I am a people-person and relate to most of the parents well.
While there is potential for Cactus Skateboard customers to join the ministry of the church, the distance of several miles deters them because most of them do not drive.
“They are already in the lifestyle of not going to church,” Brown noted. “But some of the kids in the youth ministry now skate. This church was comfortable for us from the beginning because people were friendly and interested in us. It has been a great place for us as a family,” Brown said , which now includes two small children. “What I do is just me being me,” Brown said. “God really backed me in a corner with this ministry, but I love Jesus and I love kids, and it has worked.”

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Speaking team offers encouragement to women
By Sheila Allen

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. —An early life of hardship and struggle has brought Rose Florez to the place where she can find common ground with many women who find themselves in difficult or lonely situations. A lifetime of learning has allowed her to offer the message of hope God offers to all, which she and a team share in conference and retreat settings.
Florez, born the sixth of 12 children in her family, has known nothing but hard work her entire life. She was born and raised in Phoenix, Ariz., by her mother and father, an illegal immigrant from Mexico and Florez recalls moving each season, following available work in the fields with her expansive family.
“We were migrant workers and lived in our car, on the beach or in tents that were provided for the families,” Florez said. “We did that until I was 13 years old when my father landed a permanent job in Phoenix, and then we were able to have a home for the first time. All the girls shared one room and the boys another, and we were literally stacked on top of each other.”
The fear of outsiders learning of her father’s illegal status in the United States kept the family isolated and totally dependent on each other.
“We were this big family with 12 kids, but we were allowed no outside activities — we worked,” Florez said. “Our life was not normal because we were isolated and that led to a lot of unhealthy behavior and hurt. Hiding that information led our family from my father’s beautiful dream of 12 children to hiding from fear of separation that my dad would be taken away.”
The family dynamics led to early childhood molestation and physical abuse that Florez and other family members endured.
“My mom had no outlet in her life, which led to lots of frustration, and normal discipline turned into beatings,” Florez said. “We all had battle wounds from mom after our dad began working a regular job. He became tired and emotionally unavailable to us, so most of us just wanted to escape home as soon as we were able.”
Florez left the family home and married at age 19, and her daughter, Christina, arrived in short order.
“The marriage was difficult because my husband became a mental abuser to me for six years,” Florez noted. “He left me when our daughter was six months old, and then kidnapped her, but after a horrific police chase I got her back. Obviously, that marriage ended.”
Hope began for Florez when she accepted Christ at the age of 24 with the witness of two young women she worked with in Phoenix. She connected with North Phoenix Baptist Church, a large church that offered many ministries.
“It was really after a surgery I had that went wrong that I went to my knees before God, finally understanding that he had been wooing me all along,” Florez said. “When I speak now, it is with great passion, because I want to give so much hope that you can have in Christ. I am transparent and people can relate to me because of what I have been through. I have never rejected my family, my mother or my molesters for what happened, because of grace.”
Florez and a team called Sisters of Strength have formed for speaking opportunities in hopes of helping others. The team includes Nancy Parkhurst, who uses humor and fresh perspectives with everyday life to connect with her audience. Also on the team is Ellen Hahn who details how one family dealt with sexual abuse over two generations and the impact of Christian faith on healing the victims. Florez’s daughter, Christina Jackowski, provides the perspective of firsthand stories of a daughter affected by her mother’s years of love and trust issues.
“For a long time I wasn’t able to truly love because of the walls I built to avoid being hurt again,” Florez said. “But I found some tools along the way that have helped deliver me.”
Florez ministers alongside her husband of 26 years, Stan, who is the pastor at Church Club 1 in Bonney Lake, where they have served for 19 years. She works in the administrative side by running the office and training volunteers in the church they first came to as church planters.
“My family and the church absolutely believe other women need to hear our stories and the biblical truths from God’s word,” Florez said. “My desire is to be a speaker in a world that overlooks sensitive topics to help others open lives and heal through authenticity, forgiveness and freedom in Christ.” Those interested in having Sisters of Strength speak may contact Florez at 253.826.4343 or email rose@club1.com.