When he was a teen-ager in Westminster back in the 1980s, Greg Wacker was no choirboy and neither was his buddy Erin May. These guys were slam-dancing skate punks who dropped tabs of LSD and rode their boards on the city's concrete drainage ditches and loading docks.
They never thought they'd live to be 30, but they say God saved them from wiping out completely. And now they're helping a new generation to feel the Holy Spirit -- via the half-pipe at a new skate park in Carroll County.
"Some of the kids who come who don't go to church normally can come to the skate park and relate to us because we're still skateboarding," May said. "We give a short message to plant the seed. We give them a free place to come skate with no cussin' or carrying on, with music of their style, ska and punk rock, played by Christian bands."
This unusual house of worship sits on a hill overlooking Westminster's TownMall, in the back yard of the First Assembly of God Church. Every Sunday, unless it's raining, teen-age boys skateboard on a custom-built half-pipe or on several smaller ramps bearing Bible-themed art of the crucifixion and the face of Jesus.
Planted near the half-pipe is a cross made from broken skateboards. Spray-painted on it are the words "Skating for Jesus."
In return for access to a new skate park in Westminster -- the only one in Carroll County that doesn't charge a fee -- these kids listen to a short service. May and Wacker usually take turns talking from behind a pulpit made of broken skateboards. On one recent Sunday afternoon, one of their friends addresses the teens from the valley of the half-pipe.
"The Bible says we've all sinned," Jacob Puckett, 23, a youth pastor at the First Assembly of God, tells the congregation as they hold their skateboards and sit on the deck of the half-pipe. "Some of you may think you have to be perfect before you can get to know the love of God. When I came to God, I was anything but perfect."
He tells them he was addicted to heroin until three years ago, when he put God to the test and, he says, the spirit entered him. He hasn't touched drugs since, he says.
"He'll put the same fire in your heart," Puckett says. "Let's pray for a couple minutes, then you can go back to skating."
As the amens ring out, the dozen or so boys strap their helmets back on and soon the sound of wheels on steel clangs from every direction. The Christian rock song "Jesus is the Way" by the group Disciple plays in the background.
Barbara Willet, 45, who brought her sons Justin, 13, and Jordan, 11, says the park is a safe place for her boys to have fun -- and learn something, too. Willet of Westminster looks on as Wacker shows Justin how to skate on the quarter-pipes.
"They're willing to share their passion, but they also set the example," Willet says. "The atmosphere is set up for it to be a positive experience. They're taking something the kids enjoy doing and combining it with a Christian lifestyle, and it works."
Benefits of the park
Most of the time her sons skate at the Westminster Skate Park, run by the city, but Justin prefers this park.
"You can listen to cool music and the language isn't as rough as the other skate park," says Justin, an eighth-grader at Northwest Middle School in Taneytown. "Greg and Erin are here to show you new stuff. But you also pick up things from the other kids. They're always giving you advice, like how to land a new trick on the mini-ramp."
Wacker, 31, and May, 30, retain enough youthful agility to pass on tricks they learned in the 1980s. Then, they considered themselves outcasts, and they turned to drugs and alcohol. Wacker was kicked out of the house when he was 17.
"We created a family with outsiders," May said. Their idea of a role model was Sid Vicious, the Sex Pistols bass player who died of a heroin overdose.
With no skate parks around in those days, they took to riding on sidewalks, benches and in friends' back yards on homemade half-pipes.
"People just didn't understand us," said Wacker, adding that their background makes it easy for kids to talk to them. "Kids want to be individuals. So, we know exactly how these kids feel."
As adults, they've cleaned up their acts. May, who lives in Westminster, works for a contractor clearing land for developments. Wacker commutes from his home in Hanover, Pa., to Beltsville, where he is a supervisor for a company that clears trees. Both are married with children.
They credit Christianity with changing their lives. May worships at New Hope Fellowship Church in Westminster. Wacker attends First Assembly.
"I decided to go into church one Sunday," Wacker says. If you see me, I'm covered in tattoos -- I don't look very normal in my ripped-up shirt and jeans. I was used to getting looks and getting hassled a lot. Instead, I got 50 hugs and unconditional love."
May and Wacker bought two quarter-pipes, or mini-ramps, for $100 apiece in the spring of last year and asked the pastor of First Assembly, Pete Puckett, Jacob's father, if they could put the ramps on church property.
'Love the unlovable'
"There are a number of people on the fringe of society like Greg," said the elder Puckett. "This is a church where we need to love the unlovable. They are sending a message that's relevant to where kids are now. We want to reach them before they get to a point where they're turning to drugs."
The congregation felt the same way. Soon donations poured in for blacktop, a fence and a half-pipe of 8-gauge steel, the centerpiece of the park. The kids are constantly changing the layout and making more creative launching ramps.
At the park, May sells his "The Way" brand skateboards. He prints them in his basement with two designs: one showing a cross with two arms breaking a chain, the other with a cross and the phrase "Jesus Died."
"On a lot of skateboards you'll see designs of naked women or words like, 'We want to see you burn in hell,' " May said.
"We're trying to give a positive atmosphere for kids," he said, "and hopefully connect with the kids and encourage them not to make the mistakes we made."