Pro Skateboarder Goes to Prison – Kanten Russell

[00:00:00] three nine seven nineteen and now here’s your host Kevin Conover bring your time

[00:00:06] welcome to educate for life I’m your host Helen Conover and my websites educate for life dot o RG org and today

[00:00:12] I’ve got a really cool guest in the studio today and actually somebody that grew up in the same neighborhood as I

[00:00:18] did and we’ll talk more about that later which is kind of funny but I actually was looking through Facebook and I saw a

[00:00:25] really cool post by him and he was recently in Donovan state prison so as a

[00:00:33] guest though let’s make that clear right yeah not permanent yeah permanent he was a

[00:00:38] guest and let me tell you a little bit about him before I bring him on he’s a he’s a longtime fixture in the

[00:00:44] professional skateboarding world he is a design project manager for new line skate parks he grew up in Southern

[00:00:50] California right down here in Ocean Beach the same place I grew up and he is he was a professional skateboarder for

[00:00:57] 12 years he’s traveled all over the world and now he designs skate parks for a living he’s been doing this for 13

[00:01:03] years and he’s got all kinds of cool things and the most awesome thing about

[00:01:08] him is he loves the Lord and he has a strong faith in the Lord and that’s what he was actually doing in the prison can

[00:01:15] thanks for being on the program today it’s a pleasure yeah absolutely he’s Ken Russell calm if you want to learn more

[00:01:20] about him he’s a super cool guy very good at skateboarding if you’re into skateboarding or if you have kids that

[00:01:26] are into skateboarding he’s an awesome role model somebody to look up to that they can look at him and say wow I can

[00:01:32] really achieve some amazing dreams he’s doing what he loves so hey tell us how did you end up at Donovan state prison

[00:01:39] Wow that was a very interesting and very kind of random young

[00:01:44] someone from East Lake church when I was at one of the services was talking about some of the outreach they’ve been doing

[00:01:51] there at Donovan state prison for those of you don’t know East Lake churches down in the Chula Vista area and East

[00:01:57] Lake where I live we’ve been attending church there for quite some many years now probably at least like 15 years I

[00:02:03] think my my daughter’s grew up going there now my daughter is you know 23

[00:02:09] years old and one of the you know worship pastors there who’s on stage every but yes so jess is pretty young then

[00:02:17] yeah yeah 2023 yeah okay so um it kept

[00:02:22] me grounded yeah that day they keep me on my toes 24/7 keep you busy you can’t it’s hard

[00:02:28] to get into trouble when you’ve got to take out a kid right that’s right it doesn’t matter how old they are either so yeah we just were there to service

[00:02:35] and the one guys start talking to me about skateboarding and in the prison outreach and I kind of heard about it a little bit and said that hey you know be

[00:02:42] really cool if maybe you could go in there with us and share about you know your background and testimony a lot of

[00:02:48] prisoners know about skateboarding or have skateboarded or their kids skateboard you know maybe you can share

[00:02:53] a little bit about your journey of you know how you came to where you are now and maybe it’s a it’s a way to kind of

[00:02:59] reach out to them on a level that they understand and I was like why not you know let’s let’s do it and I had spoke

[00:03:06] at a couple of prisons before that nothing local but I thought it’d be a good opportunity to do something for the

[00:03:11] you know maybe some prisons are more local to where we are the first time I ever did it was a strangely enough at

[00:03:18] Rikers Island in New York Wow I was there with a long ways from home yes and

[00:03:23] you know I was there in an outreach with another church I used to go to a horizon

[00:03:28] over there in Claremont I went to horizon also yep with Mike McIntosh uh-huh and so we were there they think

[00:03:35] it was like the harvest for life or whatever they were calling that outreach because it was right after 9/11 and they

[00:03:42] wanted to really reach out to the hearts of that community so we went out to Rikers Island and they actually were

[00:03:48] able to bring us in and have some ramps there they had to build them in the prison though because you couldn’t bring him in you couldn’t bring him in and you

[00:03:54] know you had to take a bus over the water and so I was thinking about this like wow this is pretty hard to get to

[00:04:00] you yeah and so I asked the you know guy driving I was like there must not be too many prisoners who can escape from here is ago no they escaped all the time I

[00:04:06] was like what doesn’t rise like that that’s not you know comforting like where are we going that’s so funny yeah and so he was like

[00:04:15] well here’s the thing there are people who escaped and did we always find them

[00:04:20] almost 99% of the time and I was like how he is like because they always go back to the same neighborhood you know

[00:04:27] they just we as therefore days after they leave and sure enough they show up in the same same

[00:04:32] neighborhood same corner we picked him up the first time and I was like why is that he’s like they just don’t know anything else that’s their neighborhood

[00:04:38] they grew up there that’s their life they don’t know anything else and they just they just stay there and kind of

[00:04:43] made me think about that metaphorically it’s got a powerful message area ‘fl know it’s like some people are just a

[00:04:50] habit of their environment and how do you break that cycle number one how did they get in there number two how do you

[00:04:56] reach out to those prisoners to make sure they’re not just you know just

[00:05:01] recycling and repeating the same mistakes over and over again the recidivism rate is very high for

[00:05:10] prisoners who come out of prison and they’re back in the prison right and so and that’s really interesting because that speaks to human nature – yes from a

[00:05:16] theological basis we know the Bible actually says that that humans tend to go back to those patterns of living yeah

[00:05:22] and and starting to break a hearts heart cycle to break especially if you don’t know any better yeah who who do we have out here

[00:05:29] mentoring and showing another way it’s you know their inspiration is what they

[00:05:35] see on the street corner so if we know show them many other options that’s a lot of people I grew up that

[00:05:41] they told me that it’s like you don’t know how it is out here this is our only option yup and as well and no it’s not but

[00:05:47] since you since they don’t have anyone else to to see it or show them and then they’re just gonna keep doing it well

[00:05:53] that is a powerful statement you know and for me I I’m an apologetics guy I mean I teach apologetics that’s what I

[00:05:58] do which is the defense of the Christian worldview of the biblical worldview but it’s really important because I talk to

[00:06:03] the kids about this I say look it you know intellectually we can believe in God we can know God’s true we can have the evidence for God but then when it

[00:06:10] comes to our heart you can know the right thing to do and still not do it yeah and it takes what you’re doing here

[00:06:18] with providing an environment in which these kids have an opportunity to escape the things that might hold them back

[00:06:25] from from actually fulfilling you know what God has for them and the plans God

[00:06:32] has for them and really a life full of potential and so that’s really cool so

[00:06:38] in the prison when you were in there so what what did you do in there what kind of things you in the prison so the there was a

[00:06:44] lady there who runs a program there on a regular basis so it wasn’t really running through East Lake Church per se

[00:06:50] and they they have an open door for a lot of different faiths to come in and in share with the prisoners so what what

[00:06:56] happened was is I came in met the people who run those organizations met some of the guards and other people who helped

[00:07:03] with the programs inside and they just had a riot the night before at Donovan

[00:07:08] state prison so we we did scary yeah we’ve enough is gonna happen yeah and I was like of course there was a riot yeah no and so they were worried it

[00:07:16] was a state a statewide problem where you know certain gangs were pitting

[00:07:23] against each other and they were trying to you know just encourage you to every single prison through the state and so

[00:07:29] when we got in there we were waiting for the time to go on and I didn’t really know to expect we weren’t allowed to

[00:07:34] bring anything in and so it’s really just me my skateboard which was already awkward they let you in with escape yeah

[00:07:40] every station I went through the like what what’s up with this yeah what’s up with the board are you gonna do it I’m walking past guards with skateboard and

[00:07:46] they’re like is this gonna be used against us could this be a weapon yeah I mean I thinking all kinds of things so

[00:07:51] at the same time they’re kind of excited and I guess a lot of the prisoners had

[00:07:57] heard about it because they were sharing that hey this guy’s gonna come in skateboard share with you guys so the prisoners were excited they’d like they

[00:08:03] need more than anywhere else yeah and also the prison what’s gonna happen yeah I was gonna happen but they had a lockdown while we were there because

[00:08:09] they were concerned about this riot situation so we were hanging around waiting scene if this is gonna happen and sure enough they let everyone back

[00:08:15] out and they just they just all came in they’re almost like running out they were just right we’re so excited they’re just ready to see something yeah and and

[00:08:21] see something different and I don’t know I don’t know if I can claim I was a first skateboarder in the Donovan state

[00:08:27] prison but from what I was hearing probably the first person yeah I was

[00:08:32] told maybe I could use some of the natural you know landscape in the yard there the the yard was actually one of

[00:08:39] the newer yards so I was actually in pretty good condition with it with the concrete and some of the benches and things I thought maybe I could just jump

[00:08:45] up on this bench side boardslide the bench like way you can’t do you that’s the facing you know state property vandalism what are you doing you know

[00:08:51] like flashbacks to your child that’s right how’s it go you know looking down the road seeing the the guards they’re practically with

[00:08:57] the hand on the gun you know you can’t do that on our benches I was like of course you know what was I thinking

[00:09:04] so other other prisoners come out asking me a lot of questions a lot of them did

[00:09:09] know about skateboarding some of them had skateboarded weather was in the seventies 80’s 90’s whatever era they were from yeah depending on what they

[00:09:16] did but yeah it was it was kind of interesting because I didn’t realize they’re able to come right up on you so

[00:09:22] because it was something new and interesting for them they were all surrounding me and I said wow this could get this could get bad yes

[00:09:29] the security guards were nowhere to be mean you know the the guards were nowhere to be found think they went on a smoke break or something you know

[00:09:34] permanently that’s right so you know they were just all lined up and grilling me on what was I doing there what was I

[00:09:41] gonna do what kind of tricks could I do cause like I said they’re very savvy on the this game yeah and the tricks yeah

[00:09:46] so you better not be some poser that’s right I was like wow number one I haven’t really just had a good tech

[00:09:53] flat-ground session in a while and the tricks are asking me to do you’re pretty tech so I better hopefully have my

[00:09:58] a-game on yeah and now being at 45 years old it’s not as tech as it used to be so

[00:10:05] I yeah I can roll up in a skate park and do the things I know how to do and it might be impressive to a lot of people

[00:10:11] but when it comes to technical skateboarding I was known for doing really big jumps and crazy stuff like

[00:10:16] that down big stairs and gaps and railings and ledges and to do the technical stuff was more like for those

[00:10:23] of you know about skateboards more like a rodney mullen day long song kind of technical thing yeah yeah so but yeah

[00:10:28] you know they lined up the whole corridor there I’m probably most like a hundred prisoners and we started off

[00:10:36] with one of the volunteers from East Lake Church just got Brian Carlton he’s he’s a he’s a maniac already but he he

[00:10:43] was the first one to I’m not sure if it was smart or not smart to volunteer to get jumped over by me as an obstacle and

[00:10:51] he’s a pretty big dude you know so it’s not like I was jumping over a little kid yeah and then when he volunteered to be

[00:10:58] the other really big prisoners volunteer to get jumped over and these guys were not small so I was like wow I need to really be able to pop over these guys

[00:11:04] and they were all trying to lineup all together right off the bat there was no no hesitation it was a great waiting one at a time

[00:11:10] here they had at least warm uh a lot of coffee yeah let me warm up on this I jumped over Brian then I felt decent and

[00:11:17] they all lay down jumped over all of them crowd seemed to like that started doing some flip tricks and you know 360

[00:11:24] Ollie’s and all kinds of rotational stuff and ended up pulling out quite a few tricks that seemed like it worked

[00:11:29] for everybody so they were happy and satisfied a lot of people actually when I was done skateboarding quite a few of

[00:11:35] them were starting to try to head back to the other part of the yard and we’re like no no what you come over here and hang out and talk a little bit yeah and

[00:11:41] so I was able to get on the stage that they had set up in there which again was a feat just to get that in there with

[00:11:48] approvals so we were I just kind of asked her out to bat how many of you in

[00:11:54] here know about skateboarding how skateboarding maybe have kids who skateboard and I would say a good you know thirty forty percent of the people

[00:12:00] raise their hands which I was really surprised about and I just thought generation I mean yeah generation that

[00:12:06] was gigantic yeah 70s 80s 90s to eat you know to thousands even just some younger guys in there and I even called him ask how old

[00:12:13] are you you know like mid to early 20s and yeah my head I’m like you should not be here yeah yeah absolutely

[00:12:19] um but but yeah I just started sharing my background and it was really about what we’re talking about um how do you

[00:12:25] kind of break that cycle of thinking that there is other things you can do besides robbing stealing shooting all

[00:12:34] the things that they may know about or just have been exposed to but how can we expose them to something different

[00:12:39] absolutely and I was like hey you know what I was that kid who grew up by the beach and as you well know an ocean

[00:12:46] beach in the early days um there was a lot of drugs at the boardwalk I was offered drugs or asked that they could

[00:12:52] buy drugs probably on a on a daily basis every time I was going down there to to

[00:12:58] skateboard and do stuff I was asked all the time about drugs and it was pretty loose back then absolutely yeah yeah and

[00:13:05] being like you said before before we started I went to Ocean Beach Elementary in San Diego notion Beach Cara jr. high

[00:13:12] put on my high school Ocean Beach was definitely known for probably being a little bit more of the rugged country school some parents and

[00:13:19] one three kids to go there so you know just to make it out of that

[00:13:25] and and be be good is an accomplishment it is and you know you learn either what

[00:13:32] not to do or you’re gonna fall into that that life you know because it’s everywhere yeah so

[00:13:38] how do your parents you know equip you with the tools to know hey you know like

[00:13:43] use your head don’t get caught up in this in other words if you want you do something that you love you not gonna be

[00:13:49] able to do it if you get caught up with the drugs and and all the other stuff that’s out there in the streets yeah navigating around that I didn’t have a

[00:13:55] gate around it we’re coming up on a break here my guest today is Kent Canton russell pro skater and skateboard park

[00:14:02] designer he’s been doing this for 13 years really all his life he’s been in the skateboarding scene and he loves the

[00:14:10] Lord and he’s reaching out to kids and communities and providing them ways to navigate away from the things that so

[00:14:17] often drag kids down and so when we get back we’re gonna talk about his his life

[00:14:22] growing up how did he come to faith in Christ he didn’t grow up in a Christian family and what made him decide to

[00:14:27] choose Christ and then ultimately he’s going to share about how he was able to follow his passion and and do that for a

[00:14:34] living and then he’ll be able to give you some insight on skateboarding and the positive aspects of drawing kids

[00:14:40] into the skate parks in which they can get away from the things that might drag

[00:14:46] them down so stay with us we’re gonna be right back

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[00:16:22] hey thanks for being with us today my guest today on the radio and our streaming on social media all over the

[00:16:27] place is Canton Russell you can check them out at Ken Russell comm he’s got all kinds of cool stuff going on that

[00:16:34] he’s working on and we’re gonna talk about that a little bit later in the program what we’ve been talking about is

[00:16:40] his trip to Donovan state prison not too long ago he had the opportunity to go with East Lake Church and end up being

[00:16:47] able to do some stuff in the prison to give the prisoners a break from the monotony and also be able to share his

[00:16:55] faith with them and encourage them so let’s finish that off a can what happened yeah so after we did a little

[00:17:02] skate kind of exhibition thing on the flat ground there I shared with the prisoners kind of my life and how I grew

[00:17:08] up and and kind of navigating through the temptations I had with people you

[00:17:15] know we had a lot of options to do the right thing don’t do the right thing and go to prison wind up dead or just caught

[00:17:21] up in the drugs yeah and I just kind of had to learn of what not to do by everyone who was around me and a lot of

[00:17:27] people were getting caught up and I had to make that tough decision of I don’t want to go down that road I see where it

[00:17:33] leads I like when I’m doing I like skateboarding maybe I have an opportunity to do this as a career

[00:17:38] yeah and and then you know just just sharing that with them and saying you know there we just we just didn’t have

[00:17:44] many mentors out there mentoring us and that if we can now with the platform we

[00:17:50] have and the experience we have having been a pro skateboarder now doing other things and work there’s a lot of kids in communities working in developing skate

[00:17:57] parks surprising even a couple of prisoners knew the skate parks I designed and asked what my favorite feature was and the cool thing is not

[00:18:05] only did it resonate with them but they said hey you know what it was when I stopped skateboarding or when I stopped

[00:18:11] doing what I love to do that got in trouble and wound up here or you know my kids skateboards and they’re they’re

[00:18:17] kind of struggling right now how can I encourage them to keep doing something positive like that and not end up doing

[00:18:22] what I did wind up here yeah and so and some of them are even saying hey I’m going to get out in four to six months

[00:18:28] how can I follow what I like to do I’m a graphic artist how can I apply that to you to your industry and you know maybe

[00:18:35] I can make something myself like what you did an absolutely yeah so those really just sharing them another option to break that cycle like

[00:18:42] we talked about you know like we don’t want them to get out and just just repeat the same mistakes over and over

[00:18:48] again so I think it was good and encouraging to be able to share that with them and give them another option and and just talking about you know my

[00:18:55] basically also my faith and God really helped me to just stay on the right path yeah ed cotta that’s what I wanted to

[00:19:02] ask you about too is that you know I it’s it’s so funny for those of you listening or watching Kenton and I both

[00:19:09] actually went to the same elementary school he’s two years older than me so we were probably there at the same time I was there since third grade yeah and

[00:19:16] and then we both actually skateboarded at the same little rec center that was right next to the school which that was

[00:19:23] huge I was so intimidated as a little kid when I’d go over there to meet all these people but then as I got older I was like oh hey I can I can skateboard

[00:19:29] here too but there was no skate park at the time that was nice that was the skate park that was the skate park yeah and and and then Korea I went to Korea

[00:19:36] and you went to Korea and yeah point loma and then so my question is there were there was a lot of pressure to you

[00:19:43] know get involved in the wrong things as a kid and so my question for you is you

[00:19:48] know at what point did you become a Christian and did you put your faith in Christ and how did that how did that all

[00:19:54] work out what happened there so basically I started skateboarding when I was about 14 years old going into junior

[00:20:01] high school Korea continued into high school got connected with a group of

[00:20:06] friends who were really passionate about skateboarding and we weren’t really ever troublemakers didn’t really get caught up in a lot of trouble just basic stuff

[00:20:13] but when I graduated high school I had an opportunity to become a pro skateboarder and and I kind of made that

[00:20:21] choice I applied to and got accepted to USD and then I also had sponsors who

[00:20:26] were willing to go turn me pro and I said which one do I do I do who were some of your sponsors can you know sure that at that time I was

[00:20:35] sponsored by NHS had company called Sims that they were doing yeah and and then

[00:20:42] there was air walk shoes yeah they were hand you know a whole bunch of other sponsors like going trucks and things

[00:20:49] like that so you know we always had a variety of sponsors yeah and that was coming out of high school and in the 90s

[00:20:57] you know and early 90s 91 is when I graduated and I’d also I just had my first picture show up in Thrasher

[00:21:03] Magazine it was a double-page spread that’s huge and then several months later turned into a Thrasher t-shirt and

[00:21:08] then I got the contents double page spread and Thrasher so just was snowballing snowballing to the point

[00:21:13] where and this is all local just me shooting photos in Ocean Beach just doing what I was doing were you just were you like blown away

[00:21:20] by the fact oh yeah I mean was that I was like this isn’t real yeah I mean we’re just teenagers yeah and I think

[00:21:26] that’s a challenge is when you’re that young as a teenager and you have these opportunities and you’re traveling and

[00:21:31] people start paying you money or offering you the opportunity to make money you just don’t really know what to

[00:21:36] do what not to do I just was lucky enough to have a good family behind me I didn’t grow up in a Christian family we

[00:21:42] didn’t go to church so it wasn’t really until I got out of high school that I met somebody who saw me kind of at that

[00:21:50] crossroads of what are you gonna do with your life he could make it here you could you know crash and burn you know

[00:21:56] what is it that you’re doing you know that at that time I was just trying to do it all my own strength it was what I it was the only thing I knew just self

[00:22:02] survival and he’s like look it just seems like you’re having some challenges here you’re at the crossroads you’re

[00:22:09] going into the skateboarding industry which largely can be pretty dark yeah a lot of crazy stuff a lot of drugs a lot

[00:22:15] of money floating around no one no knows what they’re doing and I just didn’t want to wind up to be another statistic

[00:22:20] of someone who crashed and burned and threw their whole career away because I got caught up in all the wrong stuff yeah and I look you know what I’ve tried

[00:22:27] it my way and what do I have to lose you know if I could just you know and I was

[00:22:32] actually at a service at Horizon in Claremont miles McPherson did all the evening services on the weekends and I

[00:22:39] was listening to him here’s a guy who was a pro football player who had a very similar story as I did he did get caught up in all the

[00:22:46] wrong stuff and his whole career went down the drain in a matter of two years I was like I don’t want to be that guy

[00:22:51] yeah and what can I do to prevent that and he’s like you know you can just let Jesus in your life and let him help you

[00:22:58] let him be the rock let him be your lamp and guide you and I said what I have to lose and he said this he’s like if you don’t

[00:23:05] like it just go back to doing what you’re doing you know just go back to the way you are comfortable doing it

[00:23:10] just like the guys at Rikers Island just go back to the cycle yeah goodbye guarantee once you try it a different

[00:23:15] way and give that all to God and let him help you and let him in your life and

[00:23:20] let him be your strength I guarantee you’ll never go back so sure enough I walked down the aisle

[00:23:25] gave my life um that night um walked away not knowing what the heck I was

[00:23:31] doing what does this even mean okay I didn’t get plugged into anything I just walked down the aisle guys say this okay I’m good what happens now yeah sure

[00:23:37] enough just sometimes when you get saved and you know what the truth is and you believe in that sometimes you can be

[00:23:44] attacked a little bit more because you know no one wants to see he yeah sharing your faith or or or being a

[00:23:51] light there’s this Christian there’s a spiritual war yeah I was guys being spiritually attacked for probably the

[00:23:56] next several months and I was just confused and so I went to another couple of messages and sure enough I was like I

[00:24:03] just need to start really plugging in and learning just be a student of what it is to even be a Christian yeah and so

[00:24:10] I walked down again second time I was okay I’m just gonna do it again yeah I get it right you have a tree let’s make sure this is yes I just need to go I

[00:24:16] care how many times I take so you know over time and I think it was also just maturity growing up beginning older

[00:24:23] going into my early 20s um making several mistakes along the way and just

[00:24:29] learning that you know being a Christian doesn’t mean you’re trying to be perfect because no one’s perfect that’s right

[00:24:34] only God is perfect yeah um we’re just trying to have him lead us by example

[00:24:40] and the Bible has a lot of good stories and in examples of what to do and what

[00:24:45] not to do yeah and I just had to learn the hard way of falling down getting up again and honestly it was just like skateboarding as a gay being a Christian

[00:24:52] is like being a skateboarder we’re falling down all the time getting bruises getting banged up and we just

[00:24:58] have to brush ourselves and get back up again yeah so that’s a fantastic analogy mm-hmm I think in skateboarding too like

[00:25:04] sometimes you know you’re afraid you’re afraid you you you you hit the ground

[00:25:10] really hard you’re all busted up and bruised up and sometimes you don’t want to try again because you’re thinking to yourself man I don’t want to go through

[00:25:16] that pain again right but ultimately as Christians we have God with us who is going to

[00:25:21] continue to lift us up help us up and keep us going forward that’s right that’s a powerful analogy that’s fantastic

[00:25:26] and so you know I got married early and my 23 that same year had my daughter my

[00:25:33] oldest daughter now kailia 23 here she is leading worship now here she is leading worship and you know there’s a

[00:25:40] funny story their perception of what I did as a skateboarder was very different

[00:25:45] from what I thought I did so you know one time I am I was trying to film a

[00:25:51] trick for a big video part and and I hey hold on can this is a pretty time this

[00:25:57] is a perfect place because everybody’s gonna be like wait I want to hear the story okay okay okay it’s a good preface

[00:26:02] and a whole bunch of other things that’s awesome yeah my guest today is Ken Russell Canton Russell comm check him

[00:26:07] out he’s got a lot of really cool stuff going on and I’m really excited to see what he does in the future and a great

[00:26:14] story that he’s telling us here about his life and how he came to faith in Christ and so stay with us we’ll be

[00:26:19] right back and you’ll get to hear the story [Music]

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[00:27:57] and thanks for being with us today this is Conor educate for life radio mobile

[00:28:02] here ya go we air on a praise 106.1 as well as a.m. 12:10 my shows every Sunday

[00:28:13] the places on YouTube it’s on Facebook is on periscope it’s on our website

[00:28:19] everywhere we’ve got all kinds of shows right my goal with the show is to allow

[00:28:25] people to share their testimony moving

[00:28:30] through them to love others and raw them to Jesus Christ and so I’ve had on the

[00:28:40] program so your family view things

[00:28:53] differently different than what I was

[00:29:03] humming for this big video that kind of put a lot of this on the map as a professional skateboarder of the storm

[00:29:08] video for us Irish video and I had to go

[00:29:18] on a trip and maybe maybe the day after that and so I was trying this trick and I fell and I fell so fast and quickly

[00:29:26] backwards that to prevent myself from hitting my head obviously never getting whiplash and you know I felt pretty

[00:29:33] dizzy and kind of sick so I need a bone at the hospital that night just get checked out to make sure my head was it

[00:29:39] was okay but basically the doctor is asking what happened I was like I don’t know how I was able to stop at momentum

[00:29:46] back quickly because it just physically seemed impossible but I told everyone the only thing I can imagine was it

[00:29:51] really felt like it was like this angel I kind of slipped a hand on my head and just protected me and a day and I’m

[00:29:59] allowed me to not you know really be hurt from that opportunity and my dear

[00:30:05] friend’s house do you go sit in the night or whatever and we became back internet really the

[00:30:10] next morning in that’s everything’s on I’m gonna go on my trip and she is like daddy next time you it hurts

[00:30:16] a burning connected on my friend’s house again and you know they’re asking like what do you think your dad is like well

[00:30:22] you fly around in the airplane and fall down on the skateboard like you just see

[00:30:29] me practicing and not making anything I do know how to make some tricks yeah because one of her teachers asked if I

[00:30:35] could share and do some stuff for the class and she was terrified she’s like dad you can’t you can’t even make your

[00:30:41] tricks yeah I mean my motivation honest

[00:30:53] leads you to stay on the path as a Christian because we talked about before you fall down as a Christian sometimes

[00:31:01] is painful I always get back up again all the time it’s just like in Sabra you’re trying that big trick or you almost getting

[00:31:06] hurt you do get hurt how do you keep going and it was really just looking at her and my other daughter at the time

[00:31:13] but you know judy daughters I have three daughters actually my other daughter didn’t come so much later but yeah those

[00:31:20] two you looking at them as I need to be example for them not only am I trying to do this career to make money to put a

[00:31:26] roof over our head but okay yes spiritual leader of my house and for my daughter is an example of what what to

[00:31:32] do what not to do so that was my real motivation factor to maintain like a level head with with was in

[00:31:38] skateboarding as a Christian taking him to church plugging them into Bible studies are going to Christian you know

[00:31:44] schools and you know I think that at one point I did get hurt during that filming

[00:31:52] for that video and I was pretty frustrated cuz I was almost done I just don’t have the part I want how do I get

[00:31:57] back on the horse again yeah I was sitting in church at a message at Horizon and they were the

[00:32:03] youth pastor wall he came up and say hey were thinking about doing a skate park here all these I’m good boy he really

[00:32:11] helped me a lot to just the things in a very easy perspective understand yeah and so he either went on a tear and

[00:32:18] headman in him before but he’s like you know I just wanna say because I was just in the front row in crutches saying I’m

[00:32:23] worthless yeah I mean I’m hurt how can I finish this video part my career might be over what am I even

[00:32:30] doing I’m not even helping anyone in this church I’m just here you know it’s like the parable of the wheat field if you’re not

[00:32:37] growing and you’re just gonna get shot down yeah that was the message Oh a

[00:32:48] borders right now is a park here and if

[00:32:54] anyone can help us and it was just like the light bulb went on and gods like you

[00:33:00] idiot you know like just because you don’t think you can be used I’m gonna show you that I can use anybody what can

[00:33:14] I do to help like here’s the message God breaking down humbling you yeah like let me show

[00:33:23] you how I can use you and that’s how I met him I helped him with a ministry that they were you know using just kind

[00:33:29] of as outreach to the community and I’m here to preach to anybody just and then

[00:33:40] he had some calls from other churches around the country of the calvary chapel like churches like horizons like you

[00:33:45] know we saw you guys arted this a part of your church we have one two or even reaching out to aprons quarters and he’s

[00:33:53] looking at me border right here and

[00:34:00] doing outreach is now the first one was Tallahassee I’ll be chaplain Tallahassee

[00:34:05] Florida hopefully they’re gonna be okay with this hurricane out here in Florida and they had a part much bigger than

[00:34:12] horizons and and that was the first call he got I was right there in his office and I was like sure I’ll come down here and they asked like guys you know Ken

[00:34:19] Russell yeah we’d be awesome I flew out there didn’t know what to expect sure

[00:34:25] big church Big Tymers Chapel Church mega church yeah thousands of people in the parking lot waiting and so we do this a

[00:34:33] demo we bring the kids into the the event we have some giveaways which videos I share a little bit about my

[00:34:39] story about falling down getting back up again trying a God’s Way and how that’s when things really would better for me

[00:34:46] as a porter as a husband as a father and that I never wanted to go back and we

[00:34:52] shared that message and said hey if anyone else wants to try that journey and have you been starving and Ken

[00:34:58] shared you know please walk down no one walk down and I was like ah man well I tried yeah maybe next time and the East

[00:35:06] pasture and I was kind of going back and forth encourage never sure enough kids it up I think we got two kids awesome

[00:35:12] and then slowly but surely from young

[00:35:17] skateboarder ages to the parents even grandparents there were 300 people uh stood up and walked down to get eighth

[00:35:23] and I was floored oh that’s like so here I was just maybe a month or two ago

[00:35:29] complaining to myself about how I can’t be used to share God’s message and then

[00:35:36] seemingly overnight there are 300 people walking down to get saved because of the message out using skateboarding yeah so

[00:35:42] there’s a lesson for me that I’m not a control which is why I made that

[00:35:48] decision to give control to God and said look you’re in charge here I’m just here

[00:35:54] I’m just a vessel and I’m life is a gift to me so I’m just enjoying it to the

[00:36:00] fullest and just I’m just gonna do whatever I can to get it to get back to do a one that I can whether it’s through

[00:36:07] sharing my life my belief my faith sharing about was he bringing it for me

[00:36:12] starting my own companies to be able to give back to kids who don’t have anything creating see a parking environments or

[00:36:18] kids who have no skatepark to go and so they don’t have a place to go they they get tickets they get chased out by the

[00:36:24] police I mean my career as a printer was getting chased out of places because we had nowhere to go ya see a burning of legally getting

[00:36:30] tickets can we give these kids whether it’s on a bike scooter escape or to place a ride around on so they don’t get

[00:36:36] hassle they love did you and if they can latch on to something it can you know have

[00:36:42] something that’s gonna be motivating for them to be further themselves and not not get caught up in that whole cycle

[00:36:47] that he’s not in a Donovan prisons workshop that’s not a that’s not just a

[00:36:55] cliche can really enjoy it and have a

[00:37:01] good time with it I mean you just saving a kid a lot of heartache and really in a lot of ways for a lot of these you’re probably

[00:37:07] saving their future you’re saving their lives so trying to you yeah it’s awesome so how many have you designed now since you

[00:37:14] first started I think is okay and that’s

[00:37:22] worldwide you know here in the United States Canada did a project in Copenhagen Denmark Mexico and the world

[00:37:34] what you love and you know God said thanks for giving that to me now I’m

[00:37:40] gonna make this into something you know it’s a gift to me and I know life is

[00:37:47] short I don’t take anything for granted I’ll take my health for granted I don’t

[00:37:52] take my kids or my family or anything for granted so you know my first ministry is definitely the family and

[00:37:57] and you know God so if I can just continue to do it you and I just very thankful for the health to continue on

[00:38:03] doing that and I guess they’re getting backs already brought a couple has to be for the show you know the motif brand

[00:38:10] you know so in the best how you can look at that damage he Francom maybe for over

[00:38:17] pink

[00:38:27] I bring some in-house for myself it gets

[00:38:34] taken such a giver you know being who she is and her story’s a whole kind of

[00:38:40] story that’s you might have to have her on the program to share her story because it’s crazy but right on to be able to you know she has such a passion

[00:38:47] to giving back I’ll give her a new sweatshirt or something and she’ll give it to someone who’s you know homeless on the street the next day so she just

[00:38:54] doesn’t yeah it’s not about things you know and I’m just thankful that they’ve

[00:38:59] taken that to heart and learned like you know it’s not about it’s not about who you are where you are status wise is

[00:39:05] about the journey yeah where you came from where you are now and how can we how can we use that to mentor other

[00:39:10] people and she’s been a good job of doing that and sharing with a lot of young girls about this is where you

[00:39:15] could be I made mistakes and I’ve had to learn from them and let me help you with

[00:39:21] these cliff notes in life you know yeah let me give you the short version yeah well my guess is can I hope you enjoy

[00:39:28] the program left Ken Russell calm if you want to check him out what I want to

[00:39:33] talk about to Kenton is what’s next for you and you if you if you’re watching you’re on YouTube or you can see he’s

[00:39:40] got this LP a hat here and he’s got a shirt this is living proof he’s clearly come to represent here so but I think

[00:39:47] it’s an awesome so we’re going to talk about that a little bit and you can learn more about where he’s going next

[00:39:52] in life and if you didn’t know well I’ll tell you what eight words alone next when you come back

[00:40:04] [Music]

[00:40:12] Luke Gibson of LG equipment supports educate for life with Kevin Conover Luke

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[00:40:40] eight zero nine two four hi this is jason hall president of team home loans a branch of synergy one lending i just

[00:40:46] want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Conover for the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual

[00:40:53] life as well as being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us

[00:40:58] all how important it is to be defenders of our feet it’s our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show is our

[00:41:04] sincere hope and prayer that he will continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life

[00:41:11] teachings thank you Kevin from the hall family and team home loans

[00:41:18] [Music]

[00:41:23] [Music]

[00:41:34] hey this is Kevin Conover you want to educate for life radio and my websites educate for life.org now typically when

[00:41:41] I I do the show I’ve got guests from all over the place we’ve have former Buddhists we have former Muslims we have scientists

[00:41:48] talking about creation and evolution all kinds of different stuff we not too long ago had a woman who is a professor now

[00:41:56] and she used to be an atheist became a Christian talks about why she became a Christian so all kinds of people sharing

[00:42:02] their testimonies about how Jesus Christ has impacted their life and then how God is working through their lives to show

[00:42:08] others God’s love and if you want to check out my website I’ve got all kinds of classes there on a biblical worldview

[00:42:14] on helping you or your kids establish a firm foundation for why you believe what you believe why are you a Christian

[00:42:21] today how do we know that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead how do we know the Bible is the inspired Word of

[00:42:26] God so there’s all kinds of really good stuff out there for you to use on my website I hope you’ll take the opportunity to check it out and my guest

[00:42:33] today is Canton Russell of Canton Russell comm and he’s just shared with us an amazing story I think his his life

[00:42:39] is kind of a you know it’s it’s like a biblical message about how God can move in your life to radically change you and

[00:42:46] then he can take wherever you’re at and he can make it into something awesome God is the god of redemption that’s what

[00:42:53] he does so it’s been really cool Canton having you on the program I just think it’s funny how much we have in common or

[00:42:59] where we grew up I’m kind of I was like kind of right behind you just following you along yeah

[00:43:04] you know all the people I know and and Wally if you’re out there were giving you a shout out you you were a good

[00:43:10] influence to both of us yes definitely I said Wally actually he officiated you know my marriage and you know just a

[00:43:16] great guy yeah yeah I was involved in ministry with him for a long time – and so Canton what I wanted to ask you if

[00:43:23] you’re listening if you don’t know this skateboarding is now gonna be added to the Olympics is that right that’s right

[00:43:29] next year yeah they added skateboarding BMX racing was already in but now it’ll be freestyle surfing is going in as well so

[00:43:36] I think with you know they saw what snowboarding did in the Olympics for the Winter Olympics it kind of helped them kind of give it that cool factor yeah

[00:43:42] now they’re like how can we you know kids just aren’t signing up to shotput you know they’re

[00:43:48] just not a lot of kids or trying to be javelin throwers and all these other like you know more classic sports so ya

[00:43:55] know Canton we’ve got somebody that just called in a special caller go ahead and

[00:44:00] put them on Todd oh uh who likes me Wally who is this

[00:44:08] awesome that’s too funny we didn’t even give out the number yet he already knew what number to dial that’s right too

[00:44:19] funny but yeah I did I did not expect a call from you Wally oh sure you did it’s been a joy to

[00:44:27] follow you can’t you’re a huge blessing and encouragement to me bro I know you you know right right back at ya I mean

[00:44:34] you know there was a time where I saw Wally doing what he was doing in youth ministry at Horizon and you were also

[00:44:41] doing everything for the high school kids well you know I remember asking you know there was some kids coming in there who were pretty messed up mm-hmm and I

[00:44:47] said well wait a minute we’re at a Christian high school I was like Wally how do you handle that these kids are you’re trying to like share with them

[00:44:53] God’s love and the message and and they’re just coming in here and they’re just having all these problems like what

[00:44:59] makes us different from a normal high school with all the same problems and he’s like well when they fall down we’re

[00:45:04] here to pick them back up again that’s the difference we’re just here to adjust here to be there for them when they when

[00:45:09] they need us and that that meant a lot to me because I’ve had to share that message of so many people’s like look

[00:45:15] we’re not here to tell you you have to walk to the door and be perfect we’re here to just say we’re here to love you and when you fall down we’re here to

[00:45:21] pick you up again oh thank you and that was just being obedient to what God called us to do and

[00:45:26] then amen that’s so awesome Wally I’m so glad you called in man do you have any other questions or comments for remember the

[00:45:36] Montana trip oh I definitely member the Montana trip yeah we did yeah we did

[00:45:41] another outreach with Wally and a whole bunch of youth youth kids and we were just skateboarding up and down the coast

[00:45:48] of all these skate parks and there was some interesting characters I ran into you’re right Wally I thought all those Oregon skate parks right into Montana in

[00:45:56] the Montana skate parks and yeah we you know it’s a bit different up there in that environment and we were able to

[00:46:01] just skate it with everyone and just share as I hear who here’s who we are we’re not perfect we’re in a crazy world but you know if you if you’re struggling

[00:46:08] like we’ve struggled plenty of times like we’re here to help you and one more question how’s Josh doing I just

[00:46:16] saw Josh Casper last week I only got to see him for a minute he was at a skate park meeting in Spring

[00:46:21] Valley and we just got to see each other for a minute just catch up real quick he seemed like he was down good yeah the

[00:46:30] show and I love you guys appreciate both of you what you’re doing well we love you Wally yeah we love you man and and

[00:46:35] you made this show man I’m really I’m really glad you called in man you know

[00:46:40] well yeah I will say one more thing in something that ties into what we’ve been talking about when you were talking about the skate park and how you wanted

[00:46:46] to do this gay Park arise and here’s one other thing I’ve shared so many times so you you when I came to you as a yeah I’m

[00:46:53] here to help and you’re like well here’s the problem we don’t have any money and I was like well what are you gonna do he

[00:47:00] says well it was the problem yeah I was like well I was hoping that I was gonna get the money handed to me from the

[00:47:05] church but you know Mike told me that Wally is God in this and he’s absolutely he’s in this skate park in creating the

[00:47:12] skate park for the church the goal of God’s in it then he will provide and you’re like that wasn’t the answer I was hoping for and and you were saying that

[00:47:18] you were humbled because a service after that that lady who came and flew in

[00:47:23] every weekend from Vegas to San Diego to see a message right there and at the church which was insane already and she

[00:47:31] was like well we’re this what 30 $40,000 check helped get you started and you were humbled you’re like well up God

[00:47:37] here we go just hitting me over the head saying if if God is any he will provide and I need to be obedient and the money

[00:47:42] will come in as sure did and you built it and and say that in I have I’ve had so many people come out to music man I

[00:47:48] remember you know skating with you at the church skate park and horizon that was the best times in my life I really

[00:47:53] helped me so it made a good impact oh thank you man it was yeah that was amazing that money came in overnight

[00:47:59] yeah this well you know it was it wasn’t us right amen well I got a lot of

[00:48:08] memories can I love you bro I let me to you Betty okay well I thank you so much for Cohn might

[00:48:17] well that was awesome that was awesome that was great that’s so funny well Canton we’re almost

[00:48:23] out of time but before we we end the program I wanted to just real quickly could you tell us what living proof is

[00:48:28] yes a living proof is like more of like a skateboarding accessories lifestyle brand

[00:48:34] just more premium with the gear and the the stuff we’re gonna be dropping I’ll come out in the next two or three months and we got some samples rolling out here

[00:48:41] we’re kind of getting it out there teasing it out there letting people know it’s coming but living proof really is

[00:48:46] just representing kind of myself and and the partner I’m doing it with Brandon Turner we both grew up in you know if

[00:48:53] you remember him Brandon Turner you know skateboarder with me and Osiris was on shorties grew up in Claremont he’s had

[00:48:58] some rough times himself he’s been in out of jail three times well and you know every time he would go in he write

[00:49:05] me a letter saying oh man I didn’t do anything we talked about you know spend the night of your house his little kid he said he would take notes he would go

[00:49:12] home and write down what I would tell him because I would tell him all these things I don’t do this don’t do that you’re gonna get caught up with this

[00:49:17] avoid these people avoid this thing and I just said you know just focus on what you love to do don’t worry about the girls the money the drugs don’t get

[00:49:24] caught up you know just just stay humble and and you’ll be fine yeah and he’s like man I didn’t listen

[00:49:30] to one thing he told me and so you know there’s last time that he got out he was like you know I I was finally humbled

[00:49:36] and broken and said I need to I need to turn my life over and start doing the right thing myself and he actually

[00:49:42] wanted to go to the prison with me to share his message with the prisoners which we’ve been perfect yeah because he

[00:49:47] and he’s like you know we want to do something that shows that we’re living proof of what you can do if you do

[00:49:53] staying humble and stay out of trouble and he’s I’ve had to learn the hard way he’s had to learn the extra hard way to

[00:49:59] know that he never wants to go back there and he’s he’s even outreach to some kids at some local churches in the

[00:50:04] neighborhoods and try to mentor them and give them some opportunities these sets to do something cool so if we can use living proof as a platform to to support

[00:50:13] and do something for the kids and have something to to reference which we didn’t have grown up yeah there just

[00:50:19] wasn’t a lot of people out there trying to do a positive thing so we just want to say like look we’ve been blessed with

[00:50:24] a lot now what can we do to get back and show that we’re living proof that you can make it you can

[00:50:30] turn your passions into reality and dreams and use it for a good stuff yeah well that’s fantastic thanks so much for

[00:50:36] being on the program today it’s a pleasure yeah I think a lot of people will be blessed by the opportunity to listen to this and and

[00:50:42] hear your testimony and hear all that you’re doing it’s very encouraging and I’m gonna be praying that God really

[00:50:48] blesses us and I know he will so yeah we’ll come back come back another time we’ll do a part to you or something yeah

[00:50:54] that’d be a blast I’d love it or maybe bring your daughter on that’d be fine okay a story in itself you got it okay

[00:50:59] well hey if you’re if you’re listening today I hope you enjoyed the program I sure did I had a blast and please check

[00:51:05] out Ken Russell comm because you can see what he’s doing you can you can purchase some of this stuff because what what’s

[00:51:11] really cool is that you’re buying if you buy some of the clothing that he’s making it’s going towards a good cause he’s investing this money into good

[00:51:17] places and good things trying to reach out to kids and trying to help them stay out of trouble and know Jesus Christ so

[00:51:24] okay I hope you have a great day thanks for being with us wave to the camera Ken yeah okay bye-bye

[00:51:29] did you miss part of today’s program don’t worry work hon mitad to helping you get the info you need

[00:51:35] okay that was dumb but for real visit educate for life con for podcasts and

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