Skateboard Legend Leads Youth to Christ

In the words of Christian Hosoi:

“I started skateboarding when I was seven-years-old. Though I immediately picked it up, as time went on I became professional - it was like me, Tony Hawk, Stevie Capalaro, Lance Mountain, those guys. We took skate boarding to a whole new level. And really innovate a new culture, that’s what we did.”

During the early evolution of skateboarding, Christian went from being the best amateur skateboarder at 12, to reaching legendary status as a professional at 14; yet as his career escalated, so did the emptiness he felt inside.

“I tell you, when I was filling my life with being a pro-skateboarder, that was it - I was just wanting to win contests. Trophy after trophy. Then it was money. Then it was sponsors. Then it was girls. I filled with girls and I was never satisfied. Then I filled it with drugs. I was never satisfied.”

In the early 90’s the skateboarding scene changed and the vert style skating Christian was most known for wasn’t as popular. Christian’s love for skateboarding waned, but he soon found a new passion - drugs.

“Not going to skateboarding contests anymore, living this like, you know, drug addict lifestyle; and so here I am caught up again. And then I went to prison, you know, basically got arrested at the Honolulu National Airport carrying a bunch of crystal meth amphetamines, over a pound of crystal meth. And that’s when reality confronted me, in a way I never knew.”

“Called my wife, first phone call, who was my girlfriend at the time, and I said, ‘They’re telling me that I’m looking at 10 years,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it.”

“She’s like, ‘You know what? I love you. We’re going to try to get through this together, but we just have to trust in God.”

“And all I can think about is, ‘God? What’s God going to do for me? I’m in jail. You know what I mean? Isn’t God like some happy place you go to at the end of your life when you finished?”

“I thought God was like, way up there. We’re down here and when I’m at the end of my life, you know what, I’ll go there. So you know, I really didn’t have any idea what that meant.”

“She’s like, ‘Yeah we’ve got to trust in God, Christian. God’s going to get us through this, we’re going to make it through.”

“She goes, ‘Get a Bible and start reading your Bible. We’re going to do everything we can, ok? I love you,’ and “click.”

Christian’s girlfriend contacted her uncle, a minister, who shared the plan of salvation and encouraged Christian to read the Bible.

“And I just went, ‘Whoa,’ and immediately all I could do is just want more, and want more. And I just kept turning the pages, and going, ‘This is who God is?”

“And immediately I said, ‘You know what? If I’m going to do 10 years I’m going to do it finding out who God is.”

While in prison, Christian earned the trust of a federal judge. Now a minister, Christian uses his former celebrity to reach today’s youth culture.

“It’s not about me anymore. It’s not about Christian Hosoi. But I’m using Christian Hosoi to reach this generation. God raised me up in this life of skateboarding so that I can reach everyone in this generation. The youth culture of today needs to hear this message of hope. They’re hungry for something, something real and something new. There is nothing more satisfying than the gospel.”

“All those things, my skateboarding trophies, the career, you know, everything’s going to pass away, but God’s Word shall abide forever the Bible says. You know, so anything I’ve done before Christ, was, there was a lot of accomplishment, a lot of things I’m credited for, but nothing compares to now that I have a relationship, and just knowing Jesus Christ personally.”