Ministry on the move: Serious JuJu rolls to the streets

Change is one thing that has remained the same for Serious JuJu, director JD Carabin wrote in a letter to supporters.

This week will be no different as the skateboarding ministry plans to move out of its building on 1896 Airport Road in Kalispell and move to the streets.

Carabin’s skateboard ministry is going mobile using collapsible and transportable skate park equipment housed in a van donated by Moonlight Garage.

Donations and community support have sustained the nonprofit over the years, but this year, Carabin and his wife, Nicci, are barely skating by.

That has prompted them to liquidate the skate park equipment and gear in a live and silent auction at noon today at the Airport Road site.

Skateboarding is the platform on which Serious JuJu has rolled out the gospel to youths since 2007. The ministry moved into the Airport Road building in 2008. Serious JuJu was provided rent-free space to skate from a new church that was renting the building.

When the church moved out in 2009, Serious JuJu took over, paying rent at a lowered rate.

Since then, thousands of children and teenagers have come through the doors, whether to pop an “Ollie,” worship Jesus, hang out with friends, eat a free meal or get homework help. The Carabins see more than 350 people a week.

When JD Carabin’s business customizing and building Jeeps and rock buggies slumped because of a poor economy, he and his wife began to sell personal belongings — eventually their home. They moved into the Serious JuJu building in 2008 to make rent.

“Last year, we barely made it, financially speaking. We did it on $96,000 last year,” JD Carabin said. “This year we’re down 30 percent from last year. We just can’t continue like that.”

They have invested their energy full-time into youth, many of whom come from troubled home lives of abuse, neglect or addiction.

“They need to feel loved — worth something — understand they have value, ” Nicci Carabin said. “If it wasn’t for God’s word being taught to them they would never know that. They know that wherever Serious JuJu is, they know they’ll be safe — physically, emotionally, spiritually.”

Serious JuJu has become a haven for many children and teens. They lead skate teams, Bible studies and worship services.  “Kids are ministering to other kids,” said 16-year-old Carlee Hill of Kalispell.

“It’s really empowering to me as a kid,” Hill said. “I can come here and work, like have actual responsibilities.”

Although Hill doesn’t skateboard, she started coming to Serious JuJu to volunteer and sing during worship. When she was going through tough times at home, the Carabins let her live with them for several months.

When the youths are on their skateboards, they don’t have to think about their problems.

“You can’t think of anything else when you’re on the board. You don’t have to think about mom who comes home with different guys every night, or dad getting drunk, beating you up,” JD Carabin said.

“But when they’re here they see there’s more to life than just staying on the board. Worship is not just something you do by singing five songs. It’s something we do with our entire lives. If you skate with the mentality, ‘I’m doing this as an act of worship,’ then God accepts that worship. You bust out a kick flip giving glory to God — that is worship.”

This isn’t the first move Serious JuJu has made. The ministry’s started with a custom-built grind rail and a garage.

The Carabins, who didn’t have strict religious upbringings, started attending Fresh Life church in April 2007, spurring the formation of Serious JuJu.

“Levi Lusko at Fresh Life preached a sermon that everyone has a ministry. Nicci and I diligently asked the Lord, ‘What is our ministry?’” JD Carabin said.

When his business took a downturn, he took a job welding pre-fabricated steel tubing for a construction project.

“One of my friends walked in [saw some of the tubing] and said, ‘Dude, my friend that skates would grind all over that,” JD Carabin said.

He began creating and testing rails at Woodland Skate Park. As the weather turned colder, he invited skaters to use the rails and a 2-foot by 2-foot quarter pipe he built in his garage. Four neighborhood teens dropped by. Soon 40 were coming, waiting in line to skate. The Carabins began feeding them after noticing some were hungry.

Sixteen-year-old Michael Odom of Kalispell has been with Serious JuJu since it was in the Carabins’ garage. The Carabins were his neighbors.  

“You don’t even have to be a Christian to come and skate,” Odom said. “For me, it’s the relationship I have with JD and Nicci. They’re like my family. JD has been a father figure to me after my dad left.”

Odom said Kalispell skaters have a connection to Serious JuJu.

“I’m pretty sure there’s no skater in Kalispell that hasn’t been here. Every skater is like connected to this place whether they don’t like it, or if they do, but they’re talking about it,” Odom said.

In July 2008, Serious JuJu held its first skate competition at the Boys and Girls Club on Shady Lane. They continued skating there under a pole barn and when winter approached, they wrapped it in plastic sheeting, but it proved to be too cold.

“I was walking by this building [on Airport Road] and laid my hands on the corner of it and said, ‘Lord if this is the building, deliver it into my hand.’ Three days later, the phone rang,” JD Carabin said. It was the church that had rented the building, inviting them to use the space.

Now, the Carabins’ Christmas miracle would be the donation of a building with 10-foot-high ceilings, concrete floor and a minimum of 3,000 square feet.

Realistically, the Carabins are seeking indoor and outdoor places to rent and set up their skate park in Kalispell and surrounding towns. They also are looking to rent a home to live with their son, two dogs and space to provide emergency shelter for children or teens.

The youth at Serious JuJu have mixed emotions on going mobile.

Sixteen-year-old Sam Kendrick sees the move to a mobile skate park ministry in a positive light because it will give more skaters the chance to be involved.

“It’s hard for some people in Columbia Falls or Whitefish to come here, so we’re going to take it to them,” Kendrick said.

Hill hopes there will be some sort of indoor space during the winter to continue Bible studies and worship.

“JD and Nicci are really trying to get it into our heads [that it’s] not the end of JuJu, just the end of the building,” Hill said.

In one last hurrah at the building, more than 300 well-worn skateboards that have been affixed to the walls and ceilings of Serious JuJu will be taken down and used for a bonfire from 10 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 7 a.m. Jan. 1, ushering in a new year and a new beginning.

For more information about Serious JuJu, visit http://seriousjujuskateworks.com or email seriousjujusk8@gmail.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.