Youth pastor — skateboards and straight talk

So your adolescent begs to see The Da Vinci Code or has heard about it and asks you, "Is it true that Jesus was married and had a child?"

That question can challenge any parent, as anyone knows who's ever been one.

It's the sort of thing Pastor Jonathan Loerop deals with every day, in his role as youth pastor at Marco Presbyterian Church.

Loerop has been working with scores of young people here since he took the job almost three years ago. He sees his primary mission as not to be a second parent to his charges but to assist their parents in guiding the youngsters through life.

Loerop has a straight-talking, convincing manner. He believes kids need to know that life is not all fun and games. Yet he uses fun and games in his youth ministry. And he leads by example.

On most Wednesday evenings you can see Loerop on his skateboard, zooming around at the Marco Island YMCA at his Praise and Skate event.

"I talk to the kids for about five minutes about something from the Bible and then skateboard with them for about an hour," he explained, believing that the sport helps him relate to the kids and vice versa.

"I've been skateboarding since middle school and I'm not as limber as I used to be," he groaned. But don't fret over his advanced age — he turns 29 in a few days.

His wife, Jessica, also is active in the church, especially with the young people, teaching Sunday school, singing at the weekly contemporary service and playing in the bell choir.

"She keeps me organized," the pastor said of his wife. She is expecting their first child in October.

The Loerops also actively encourage the church's "Adopt a Grandparent" program, in which some older members form relationships with the kids, sort of as if they were grandparent and grandchild.

"It's a way of unifying the generations," he explained.

The future of the family is on Loerop's mind a lot these days.

"In general, the family (in America) is dissolving and the school system is going in a more liberal direction," he said.

He notes that often both parents work long hours, thus having less time to spend with their kids.

"The main idol in our culture probably is entertainment.

Work increasingly is not to contribute to society but a means to get money for entertainment," he said. "The work ethic is slipping away and there's a tendency to be self-focused. Those things don't encourage strong family relationships."

Using The Da Vinci Code example, he explained, "Any time we popularize false ideas, kids are going to ask questions. It's easier to doubt than to believe.

"Everyone has been disappointed and if someone offers you a promise that sounds too good too be true, then it probably isn't true. Jesus said we could have eternal life if we put our faith in him. But because people have disappointments in life, they think he will disappoint them. And that makes it hard." Loerop is supervising a vacation Bible school from 5 to 8 p.m. all this week. He invites any young people who might be interested to come and enjoy.

Parent volunteers are welcome too.

"We try to help kids realize that being Christian doesn't mean you live a dull, boring life.

It's actually the most exciting of lives and that includes having fun."

The pastor knows that Marco may not be a typical community and that it's more affluent than many.

"Some young families are trying to survive financially in this area and that can affect the family. Even so, we have some great kids on this island that love each other and have strong heads on their shoulders and are going in the right direction.

God can do a lot of great things in them."

Loerop believes that society increasingly foists a concept of moral relativism on our young people that just doesn't work in real life.

"A chaplain friend tells me that a lot of our young troops in Iraq are coming to faith in the Lord because their relativist views do not, cannot face the barrel of a gun.

"You have to have right and wrong, there and in everyday life." That's his enduring message for his youthful flock.