Ministry plans and petition for prayer for the Outer Banks this summer:

I will be moving down to Frisco, NC on Hatteras island (just past buxton, the town with the black and white spiraled lighthouse you always see) this summer with two other guys, PJ Terranova and Charlie Blakeley. PJ and Charlie both graduated from Norfolk Academy and were discipled by Josh Shaw. PJ goes to UNCW and Charlie goes to UGA, both are rising sophomores and a year younger than me. The three of us will be living in a warehouse, above 316 Skatepark. The vision for the warehouse is for it to become the hub for youth ministry on Hatteras Island. Currently however, the warehouse consists of a skatepark, a meeting room upstairs where a house-church meets, and two semi-finished bedrooms upstairs where PJ, Charlie, and I will be staying. The three of us will be working alongside a guy named Doyle, who is the fruit of the ministry Shaw began on the island almost 10 years ago. Doyle grew up on the island, graduated from Appalachian State a few years ago, and has since moved back with a heart and a vision for the lost kids down there.

The house church that meets in the warehouse, spurred on by Doyle, will essentially be sponsoring our stay down there for the summer, providing us with a free place to stay in exchange for opening and running the skate park four nights a week. PJ, Charlie, and I will attend the house church and meet with (and hopefully be discipled by!) the elders. The three of us also plan on working part-time jobs to make some sort of money this summer (we are college students after all) and also be available to kids by not working full time. I'll be making a trip back to Blacksburg for our camp trip to Rockbridge in July, staying in touch with Blacksburg High School guys that I'm running after, and also making sure guys from Blacksburg and Chesapeake make it down during several trips for a couple days throughout the summer

We will be entering the Hatteras community with the heart, goal, and vision to love lost teenagers for the sake of Christ. According to Shaw, the Buxton/Frisco area is the epitome of small town life. Everyone knows everyone and what they are about. This is both a little scary and also encouraging. This means, for the three of us, that we will be doing "full-time" ministry in a very real way. Within a few weeks the entire community will know who we are and why we came down for the summer. Everywhere we go, from grocery shopping to surfing, and even at our jobs, we will be given the opportunity to actively live out the Gospel. We will essentially be doing Young Life style ministry, though no one down there knows anything about Young Life (I have the most YL experience, although PJ and Charlie were a part of Young Life in high school and Doyle took Hatteras kids to Shaw's Tidewater Independent Schools Young Life Winter Weekend) The three of us, partnered with Doyle as well as the local house church, will go forth into darkness meeting kids where they're at, earning the right to be heard, and hoping and praying for a chance to share with them the story of Grace. We will be using our knowledge of and passion for the skateboarding and surfing scene as a medium for reaching teenage kids, gaining credibility in their eyes simply by being present in the surf line-up and at the skatepark.


Specific prayer requests for this summer/future of ministry on Hatteras Island:
-that PJ, Charlie, and I would go all out for the sake of Christ
-that we would be provided with jobs that set us up well
-that the warehouse and 316 Skatepark become a vibrant image of Christ centered community and the hub of ministry on the island
-that projects, including a finished kitchen, guest room, game room, movie room, and refinished skate ramps, would be funded and completed
-and especially, that leaders from all over our region who plan on taking discipleship trips down to 316 Skatepark would feel loved, welcomed, and most importantly be a window into authentic fellowship and the grandeur of Christ for local kids who have limited perspective on Christian community


Thanks so much,
For our King,
John Carr