The Waves and the Word
Finding a gnarly barrel off the coast of this island community is hard enough, but try bringing up Jesus and a surfer can quickly find himself floating alone. Josh Norsworthy can attest to it.
The 24-year-old Largo native was on the waters waiting to catch a wave recently when a nearby surfer began telling him of his drunken expeditions the night before. When the man stopped, Norsworthy thought he’d share his own war stories, including one about how Jesus helped save him from a cocaine addiction.
The man immediately paddled away.
“You feel it right away,” Norsworthy said of the experience. “You don’t want to be the guy people paddle away from, but that proves (talking about God) is some serious business.”
While sharing with strangers his faith in God isn’t always met positively, Norsworthy continues what he sees is a calling to spread his religious beliefs to anyone who will listen. Every week he and a group of nearby residents meet on the municipal beach across the street from the Waffle House to publicly reveal their love for God.
The spot is typically the same, the benches in front of the snack bar and beside the beach walkway. The session begins every week at 7:30 p.m. to capitalize on the serenity of the sunset’s purple haze and the murmur of the Gulf of Mexico rolling in the distance. Their only tools are Bibles and a Yamaha keyboard. As the group sings “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,” beach-goers periodically stop along the walkway and gaze at them, some with a puzzled look, others without emotion. Two couples stop and chat while pointing in their direction.
For two hours, they sit with their hands either clasped together in prayer or cupping their Bibles while the facilitator reads passages.
Mark 15:34: “‘How many loaves do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘Seven,’ they replied, ‘and a few small fish.’ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied…”
He continues reading passages one after the other. Psalm 22. Psalm 69.
The people who come are single mothers, young couples, janitors and children, mainly from Calvary Chapel, a non-denominational church in St. Petersburg. They have no formal name and their beachside sessions are open to all. But at their core is a group of evangelists of an unlikely sort -- surfers and skateboarders as passionate about their hobbies as their faith.
They use their boarding talents to strike up conversations with other surfers about their religious beliefs. The goal is always to help spread the truth of God as they know it. As in Norsworthy’s case, the response can often be a quick exit. But every so often, the sharing can make for a lasting friendship grounded not only in common interests but a need for spiritual fulfillment.
Sometimes “the word ‘Bible’ and the word ‘study’ doesn’t (interest) them,” said Josh Harris, whose sister Anna began the beachside Bible studies four years ago.
“But we’re just stoked to be with Jesus.”
While he grew up in a Christian household, Harris became fixed on Christianity five years ago during a surfing trip to Southern California. He’s surfed since age 12 -- as close to home as Bradenton and far away as the Baha Peninsula -- winning Florida competitions and getting sponsorships.
Girls he tried to pick up with friends turned him to Christianity. While on the trip to California, he surprised himself by preaching their message about Jesus to a random group of kids.
“During that trip I caught the most waves, hooked up with the most girls and drank the most beer,” Harris said. “But I started seeing it was a big mirage.”
He attended his sister’s sessions and soon began having cookouts at his home for people he felt would be uncomfortable at Bible studies. While surfing is still a part of his identity, Harris said it’s now used as an outreach tool.
“People listen to me when I catch some big air,” he said. “It catches their attention and they begin to ask questions.”
There are hundreds of Christian ministry organizations working to fulfill the needs of people from a myriad of backgrounds. An Internet search alone calls up several groups ministering to surfers and skateboarders and hundreds that cater to athletes, artists, card collectors, carpenters, dentists, doctors and many others.
“I’m not sure what a traditional Bible study would be because everyone does it differently,” said Kelly Patt, the national administrator for Christian Surfers International. “We teach the same things as everyone else, but we exist to be a Christian presence to the surfing community.”
Evangelizing by using one’s background “is a very common thing,” said Wesley D. Avram, assistant professor of communication at the Yale University Divinity School. “It imitates what Jesus did, which is come to the people with his message of faith. If the message is conveyed in an upfront sort of way, it can make for a very positive experience.”
Norsworthy is one of several people within the group who never grew up with a solid religious foundation. This is his third time finding Jesus. For years he struggled with a host of drug addictions. He was introduced to the group by Harris’ sister years ago, but attended infrequently as he struggled to find himself.
He’s been attending the Tuesday sessions for the past four months, stirred by his cold-turkey approach to dealing with his cocaine addiction. In addition to the wakeboard lying in his Nissan Pathfinder and the wooden cross hanging from its rearview mirror, a piece of paper hangs taped to the top of his dashboard with an inscription from the Book of Proverbs that reads in part:
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word turns up anger;The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good;
The sacrifice to the wicked is an abomination to the Lord;
But the prayer of the upright is his delight;
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord;
But he loves him who pursues righteousness...
The passage is his daily reminder to ignore the temptations of his past and remind him of a newfound relationship with God. While he is often reminded of memories where his surfing and Christian identities have clashed with each other, Norsworthy uses the Bible as a daily affirmation of a past that’s been reconciled through what he sees as God’s love. While surfing once encompassed his entire identity, it’s now just another way to bring people to know his beliefs. And it would change if it meant letting another person understand God.
“I’d become a bowler if it meant helping to save some people,” he said.
