We were privileged to have the opportunity to be a part of Idlewild Student Ministry’s Block   Party on February 17 and it was certainly a Block Party to remember.  The trip itself was a lot of fun considering 13 hour rides in in our truck can be nothing but pure entertainment the entire time!  It was pleasant to see that as we left Nashville and the closer we were to Tampa, Fl that the temperature was continuing to rise, and we arrived to some awesome Florida weather! Even though it was late on Wednesday night when we showed up to our hotel we were excited to be there and looking forward to the days to come!  The next two days were going to be jam packed full of school assemblies and huge Block Party to follow all of them up on Friday night.  We had so many school assemblies to do that they ended up overlapping which meant we had to split the team up so that we could hit all of the required schools.  Tyler Rickman and Shane Weston were off doing their assemblies while Neal Heary and Seth Kimbrough were off doing their own series of assemblies.  These type of shows are a favorite of the guys on the team because they are always full of energy because who wouldn’t be pumped to get out of class to see some professional BMX riders go nuts in your gymnasium?!  We couldn’t have asked for a better response from the kids at the assemblies and it was awesome to see how the kids were really able to connect to the riders and the message that they brought with them. After our final assemblies on Friday we headed to the Idlewild where we were setting our ramps up on the sanctuary stage facing about 5,000 open seats!  It was quite humbling to have the set up complete and to look out and see that we were going to have the chance to perform for tons of kids that night!  It is definitely wild the things that God can do, considering he was using a group of guys who ride bikes to connect with kids inside a gigantic sanctuary on their stage (who would have thought!).  The show went down without a hitch and all of the guys rode really well.  Shane was throwing some clean bar spins, downside whips and huge turndowns to fakie on the quarter.  Tyler was riding casually while lacing his dialed 360 lookbacks over the box and Seth was boosting 7′ out of our 6′ quarter right into huge backflips and 360′s over the box.  The riding was incredible and the kids definitely got to see what BMX is all about from guys who have been doing it big for the industry for years now.  The riding is an awesome part of the show because it gives us the chance to gain respect from the kids who are watching so that they will listen to what we have to say, which is the reason we do what we do.  Tyler was able to share his heart halfway through the show and made it clear that it was a blessing that he is able to ride his bike for Christ because he knows that God gave him his ability to ride.  He wanted to give back to God by riding devoted to using his bike to take a message of life to all those who are willing to hear him speak!  Shortly after Tyler spoke Neal, Outcast Road Manager / Emcee / Speaker, was able to share as well.  He shared a message of encouragement and life in Christ.  He was able to connect with the kids by sharing the story of his life with Christ and how a real and living relationship with Jesus changed him from the person he used to be into a man of God with a heart to see others transformed.  He also spoke about the meaning of the name Outcast BMX and that transitioned well into Kelly, the main pastor, sharing the gospel of Jesus with the 1,200 kids in attendance.  It is so awesome to see the process of connecting with kids and how God can use anybody to do it.  Through the riding by Seth, Shane, and Tyler along with the speaking by Tyler, Neal and Kelly 120 kids came forward after the gospel was presented and 60 of those 120 had made their first time commitments to a life with Christ!  It is incredible to see God’s work be done and to really make it to true to the kids that no matter what you do you can use it to lead others to Christ!  It doesnt matter if you are a dancer, musician, athlete or professional knitter you can use your talents and abilities to reach others for Christ!  We all definitely left Florida feeling that God used us and that his will was done, and we were honored to be a part of that!  The drive home seemed to go by much faster than the drive there but despite it being quicker it was just as much fun as the ride down.  Even though the weather got colder as we neared Nashville we were all relieved to get home and sleep in our own beds again!