Bboy Bible Study Practices

Breakfree has been hosting a practice spot at Whitton Ave. Bible's church. The practices are from 7-9 pm on Mondays and Thursdays. The practice starts out in word of prayer, then practice goes for about 1hr and 1/2, then ends in a short Bible study. The purpose of the practices is obviously teach people who have a desire to bboy but more importantly, is used to help reach out to people who dont know Jesus Chirst. Roosevelt Community church also does a bboy Bible study practice on every third Monday of the month.
Out in California, Bboy Bishop (Mike Swalley) has been going to various practice spots and reachn out to the bboys. He is trying to get a Bible study going at one of the practice venues. Breakfree's passion is to try and reach as many people for Christ as possible, this is one way that the ministry is expanding.

Breakfree Battle: Veritaz (tim) vs. Beebop (josh)

Mike "Bishop" Swalley's Testimony

I grew up in the Lutheran church until I was 8 years old. At that time my family,
which consisted of my mom, my sister and myself, moved to an evangelical covenant
church. This was a great move for me in the long run as the Lord surrounded me with
some great friends and pastors. My family at this time was a big part of who I was. My
father had passed away when I was very young, so I was close to my mom and sister.
When I reached middle school the security I had in my family started to crumble.
There was so much pain that I experienced in this time that I turned from my family, and
quickly went to my friends. But my friends were going through much of the same things
I was and there was not much security there. The relationships would fail and hurt, and I
was tired of the pain. So I turned to sports and school as my identity. I could understand
those things and they brought me the acceptance and popularity that I desired.
I continued to go to church and put on a good front, but I was a tare among the
wheat. I knew a lot about God and was heavily involved in my youth group. I was on
the leadership team with my youth group, and was the vice-president for our local FCA,
but it was all an image for me. This was my group and where I felt comfortable. But I
did not have a saving relationship with the Lord, mainly because all of my other
relationships were ending in hurt. Why would it be any different with Him?
Amidst all of this, I was not aware of my personal rebellion to the Lord and how
dark my sin was to Him. No one had told me that I had broken God’s Law and because
of that I needed Him, or at least if they had I was not hearing it. The God in my life was
football, and ultimately what people thought of me through that. I went to a Christian
college to play football and would much rather have been known for being a good player
than a man of God. And that is exactly what I got. I played well my first year and that is
where my identity stayed. Surrounded by Christians now more than ever, I continued in
my way of simply having my faith as just another thing I did, refusing to face the pain of
my past. I had yet to commit my life to Him, to die to myself and follow Jesus.
My second year of college I got a few concussions in football. It put me out of
the season for good, and they told me that if I got one more I could never play again.
This really hit hard for me because my entire identity was wrapped up in football. Not
being able to play, coupled with post concussion syndrome, put me into a deep
depression. One afternoon as I was laying in bed, I simply cried out to God that if he was
who I had heard he was, to make himself known. I got out of bed and read Romans 8:35-
39 and saw the love of God in Christ Jesus. It finally clicked in me how much I needed
Jesus. Everything I was doing on earth was temporary and my identity here would do
nothing for me when I stood before the Lord because of my sinful nature. I cried out to
God for His forgiveness, and he faithfully answered. I truly saw that His love would
never fail me and I knew this because when I was his enemy he died for me (Romans
5:8). Now that I was his son, he would never let me go.
It has been a process since that afternoon of my sophomore year of college. I did
get another concussion the next year and had to quit playing football. My relationships
with family and friends bring me a lot of joy, yet still cause pain and heartache. The
grace that saved me is the same grace that sustains me. Despite the fear and uncertainty I
face in ministry, I am driven by the love he has for me to tell them of the same love he
has for them.

Breakn in Wheaton IL and Branson MO

Well, Mike and I have been planning this trip for sometime now. We both arrived in Chicago, my favorite city, and had an event that evening in the Wheaton area. The event was at a large car garage, which was owned by the people we were staying with, and it was awesome. Randy, who is a close friend of mike, is a leader of a Christian organization called K Life and he invited many of the Christian high school students he leads to come to the event. So there was a great turn out, about 40 or so students came. Mike and I taught them the top rock, knee drop, 6 step, and a freeze. It was awesome to see how well it connected with the high schoolers. We were given an opportunity to speak and I spoke on being creative in evangelism. While Mike shared about identity and how it needs to be found in Chirst alone. At the end of the night, the students showed off their moves that they learned. It was great!

Then, we headed off to Branson, Missouri. I must admit Branson is an interesting town. Dolly parton's hotel, Dick Clarks theatre, and countless impersonators made me laugh. There was a K life conference going down at the Dick Clark theatre and hundreds of college age and older people were there. Mike and I set up a both and were able to promote Breakfree ministry. The first night of the conference we were able to go up on stage to share about breakfree and bust some moves. So we had the booth for a few days. Then the last day,Sunday, we were able to go to a church in Branson and do a couple Children's services. I spoke about being a fisher for men. Then we gave an announcement to the church about the event we were doing that night called Kollision, which was for jr. high/ high schoolers, encouraging them to invite people. We were told that typically on 30-40 people come, about 110 people showed up ! Bishop (mike) and I did some bboy demonstrations and then Mike shared his powerful testimony. The gospel was preached and because of this, I was pumped! Thank God for another great week of opportunities!

Monday, December 10, 2007

So you think you can dance? Anaheim California

So you think you can dance? Calvary Chapel of Anaheim put on its first dance competition outing. The venue was set up real nice. It took place at Cal State Fullerton College and the dancing was great! From Hula dancing to Breakdancing, the diversity was fantastic. About 200 seats were filled and about 50 people stood in the back to watch, it was packed. There were judges,MC's, and there was also a live video feed of the dancing up on a big projection screen. The whole set up was done real well. As far as the bboyn goes, Tim (Veritaz), Landon (L), Josh (Beebop), Mike (Bishop) were particiapting for the purpose of having fun and sharing the gospel. Bishop's friends, who bboy, came and the battle was fierce! Bishop threw down his freeze's, Veritaz cleaned the floor with his smooth style, L came hard, while beebop got the crowd going. Of couse, the crowd favorite was Bishop, he had home court advantage. Most importantly, Mike was able to share the Truth of the Gospel with everyone. He spoke on the passage of scripture with blind Bartemaeus and how he wanted to be healed of his blindness. He correlated that to spiritual blindness and that those who dont know Christ personally are spiritually blind and lost. Jesus is the cure to man's disease (sin). The room was silent as the gospel was preached and seeds were planted! Good witnessing conversations came about with some of Mike's bboy friends who came to help dance. God moved mightily and the night was very memorable. Hopefully the next "So you think you can dance?" competition will be held in Phoenix in the near future.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

REDEEMED SINNER

I grew up going to church, my mom was a Christian and as time went onmy siblings became Christians too. I believed in God and believedbecoming a Christian was the right thing to do, but I first wanted tohave my 'fun', sin for a season. So I did my own thing, the whole partyscene. I stole for fun, to make money, for pleasure. I was prettypopular in school being one of the better skateboarders, I wasrespected by the guys, I was confident in attracting the girls so I hadmy share of girlfriends too. I hated my life, I often wrote "lifesucks" as I day dreamed in class. I ditched a lot and barely graduated highschool. The only reason I did graduate was because of my new life in Christ. At the age of 15 one of my friends died, totally healthykid, completely out of the blue he died from a brain aneurism. That puta whole lot of fear into me, I thought if he could die at such a young age so could I. So I decided I needed to get my life right with God, Idont want to go to Hell, I knew that my sins seperated me from God andthat my sins would be paid by death. When I heard the news of my friendpassing away I was at a beach with a friend at a bon fire, where wewere about to drink alcohol he managed to get his hands onto. We bothwere convicted about our eternal destinations and both wanted to getright with God, so we started by throwing the alcohol away. I figuredas soon as I stop all my sin God will accept me and I'll be saved, so Ibegan to try and stop sinning....I tried very very hard. I couldntstop, I was addicted, the sin that really had a hold of me was lust. Itwas the one thing keeping me from perfection, so I thought. I tried andtried, I couldnt stop, sin had its chains of bondage around me. I began listening to sermons at church, reading my bible, and attendingChristian retreats. After probably a couple of years I finally began tounderstand that, its not about me saving myself and then going toChrist, it was about me going to Christ and Him saving me. I wanted tobe healed before I visited the doctor, I had it all wrong, I needed togo to the Doctor so that I can be healed. I finally understood it wasby grace alone that I am saved, not of works lest any man should boast.Up untill that point I was living a lukewarm life, I had enough of sin,and I wanted my WHOLE life in His hands, I gave my life up to Him,recognizing that Im saved by His finish work at the cross. Now I livein devotion to Him, seeking His will in my life daily, do I struggle?Oh yes I do, that's why I need to be continually seeking Him for graceand strength. Do I have a new heart? Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, yesI do, I hate sin and I desire to do whats right only because of thework He's done in me. I thank God for saving me from my foolish life ofdestruction, and for blessing me with treasures in Heaven. We have aGod of second chances and I thank Him for it. We will all see God oneday, either as a Savior and friend or as a Just Judge. You choose.



Landon aka L

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Open Air Breakdancing with Ray Comfort, Hungtington Beach

I, Josh, have been planning this event for months. God gave me an idea to do this over a year ago, in which I thought about getting a group together to breakdance to draw a crowd while Ray Comfort open air preaches to them. Ray Comfort, for those of you who dont know, is part of Way of the Master TV show with Kirk Cameron, which is based entirely on helping equip believeres to share the Gospel. Ray has been a tremendous influence in my life and has really helped me to be more on fire for evangelism.Also, God provided two other bboys, Mike and Sam, who have a passion for the lost and who love to breakdance. So on Saturday, Oct. 2o all of us met up at huntington Beach pier to evangelize and it was AWESOME! The breakdance crew consisted Peter (swift child), Josh (beebop), Tim (Veritaz), Landon (L), Mike and Sam. We bboyed for about 4 hours total. Thank God the idea worked, we drew about 40 + people and then Ray and his crew, preached the Word! Ray and his team speak with strong conviction because of their love for lost sinners. I was able to witness to a bboy and I got in contact with many cool Christians. Tim and I met a couple from St. Petersburg Russia who invited us to come and do our ministry down there, which would be incredible if God permits. It was awesome to see how God brought all of this about! As Paul says, "Christ was preached and because of this I rejoice."

On a less important note, we had a breakdance battle. The crews were split: Landon, Josh, and Sam VS. Mike, Peter, and Tim. We had these young hispanic kids judge the battle... oh, who won? Mike was smooth with his top rock, while Tim threw down his Master swipes, Josh busted out his mills, L gave donkey kong a run for his money, Sam's crazy freezes and L-kicks, Peter's flips and creativity were all part of the show. The judges said my crew won but it could have gone either way.