Photo: J. Grant Brittain

Passion. It drives, it motivates and inspires. Christian Hosoi has always been passionate, he continues today. Throughout the course of life and the vast amounts of experiences, there are indicators along the way of things we should take notice of.

I am extremely encouraged to see that you are still a skater, after all that you have been through, and what you are today, it’s really inspiring. I see alot of situations where talented people come to God and then are encouraged to leave everything in their past behind, sort of a “throw the baby out with the bath water” vibe. Could you share your thoughts on this?

God created you with talents and gifts and a lifestyle not to use for your own glory but to glorify him. Everything that was made was made for him and by him. He created the whole skateboard thing and he gave me the opportunity to use it for his glory, at first I didn't, I was all about me. I was a selfish guy who thought that the world revolved around basically whatever I wanted to do, just be a good person and if there was a heaven then I'd go there.

So my idea of heaven was being a good person, so I was a good person, but I was getting all the glory for myself, I was sitting on the throne, I was on that chair. He was obviously trying to get my attention, my name is Christian, my nickname was Christ, I invented the Christ air, and really there wasn't any laborers put in my path that talked to me about a man named Jesus who loved me and died for me, who claims he's the son of God, and the Savior of the world, and that in his blood I have the remission of sins, and that I can have eternal life if I just give my life to him, and believe that God raised him from the grave.

So for me it was one of those things like "Boom!" "Wow, how can I have not been told this?" It's like the best kept secret in the whole wide world. Here I am in prison, the first time opening up a Bible, and God just breathing his truth into my life, the scales falling off my eyes and me finding the reasons why I was created, what my purpose was for and all these things. I remember sitting there on my bunk bed, a triple decker bunk bed in county jail, and saying "God I'll give it all up" I was in one of those holy moments you know what I mean, "I'll just go to the amazon for you, I'll give up my wife, my kids, I'll quit skating forever!".

I thought I was being super-spiritual, "Lord I'll just sacrifice everything for you",

I was immediately apologizing to God - "Lord forgive me, I'll be the best husband, I'll be the best father, I'm gonna try to be the best skateboarder so that you can be represented well, and I'm going to tell the skateboarding industry, I'm going to reach out to all my friends, I'm gonna raise my kids and my wife in the things of God, and immediately, "Boom!", that whole idea of "giving it all up for you God", that's not what God truly wants, but I'm not saying that God isn't able to call you out of where you are at and tell you to go to another place.

If you can hear the voice of God, well then you'll just get up and go. Like Abraham did. He didn't question God he just said: "time to pack up our bags, we're goin'!". It was counted as righteousness for Abraham, because he did the things that God told him. But for me, I saw my place, and I saw what skateboarding could do, I saw the condition of the culture of skateboarding, and where it was going and how I was a big part of leading them down that trail of just crazy, rebellious type people.

You call them artistic and creative because of the lifestyle they live, but it's really just rebellion against the truth, and just trying to create your own idea of what life is all about, and where you find true joy or happiness, and you can't find it in the world, you can't find it in money, you can't find it in things, you can only find peace, joy and love in Jesus Christ, and that's the only place you'll have that, and it will satisfy you, and it will be a complete satisfaction that will never go away.

So for me, being a skateboarder, I saw the opportunity, I saw the platform, and I can use my name to reach out and touch people because God gave me this platform and how popular I've been. But now, I just want to use that platform to preach the gospel, in a loving, non condemning way, that shows them the love of God is real, and his presence is life-changing. It's his presence that's going to change your life and that's what changed my life, having an encounter with Jesus that was not religious, ritualistic, it was based on me having a genuine, real encounter with the living Savior that touched my life when I asked him to come into my heart.

Often when it comes to talents and gifts there seems to be not only more of a focus, but more of a validation when it comes to the spiritual gifts that the bible speaks of, like the gift of faith, prophecy, healing, etc. But shouldn’t gifts and talents work together? An artist can equally express his gift of faith thru his paintings as someone else with the same gift prays with people on the street corner, is one more valid than the other?

Yeah, you know, it's all about being rescued out of a lifestyle that has no Jesus in it, and then taking you back to that place where you were saved from, using you as a tool and an instrument. The very thing that was trying to destroy your life, for me it was drugs and that crazy partying lifestyle, that was sucking me up like a toilet bowl just flushing me down, so now finally I can speak to people about drugs, and having a lot of money at a young age, being famous, or just being popular, or a number one skateboarder, whatever it is that you are into.

I have that ability and experience- I can talk to people about prison and what prison is like, I'd been there for 5 years. Those are things that I have access to because I have experience in them. Whatever you've done, God can turn it around like he did for Joseph, he said "what the enemy meant for harm, God turned it around and used it for good".

People put God in a box, and they think "Ok, I'm gonna become a Christian, and I'm just gonna be a missionary, or I'm gonna go to church and I'm gonna wear a suit, get clean cut, get rid of my tattoos, don't wear earrings, because it's "time to get into the Christianity box"". Where is that place of reaching out? Because we're supposed to be on the rooftops preaching the gospel. So for us, to not go into the places that we have complete access to is shortening the arm of God. Because we're his hands and feet. It's not like God needs us, but God wants to use us. So we just need to be available for him to use us, and if we could just get into a relationship with God it will break down the religious barriers, there's no denominations in Christ. So many people get caught up in thinking, "Oh are you baptist, are you non denominational, are you one of those born againers"?

We have to have the absolute intact, we have to love people and tell them that Jesus Christ is who he says he is, and you need a genuine encounter with the living Savior, and when you have an encounter with Jesus, there's not going to be one denomination, there's not gonna be any walls, you're gonna have an encounter with God that is real and it's gonna change your life.

All of those things are awesome things for us to cling to, but there just comes a point when we just have to read the bible for ourselves, we need to stay in prayer and surround ourselves with mentors and believers and get into a healthy, healthy church that's full bible believing, and really researching and know what you're getting into, because it's simple if you just make it not seem like God is in a box.

Once you take God out of that box, then it becomes clear, but when he's in a box people put this yoke around your neck, of legalism and laws, just like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who said "you gotta do these things, you gotta look this way, you gotta act this way, you gotta talk this way" you know what, we just gotta know what sin is and not sin. We need to know what God's righteousness is and walk in it, we need to be slaves to righteousness and not slaves to sin anymore, and if you can do that you're on your way to changing the community you live in, your family, the world that we live in today, and that's the bottom line.

Photo: Jason Olivia

What is it about Christian Hosoi, and what is it about Skating that God decided to use them both in such a huge way?

God makes us all different, I'm different than you, my abilities are different than your abilities and that means we can reach different places, that's why we're the body of Christ, each member has its different function, like the eye and the foot. How can we work without each other, we can't, but when we work together, we can really make that difference, that will be powerful. It's working together, it's teamwork.

It's not "I'm gonna be captain save the world on my own". It's man, let's go out and fight this battle together, let's lock arm in arms, let's pray, and then we go out there with the anointing of God, believing that God is going to heal people, we're going to believe God for signs and wonders, there's going to be demons cast out in Jesus' name, setting the captives free. When we walk around with the expectancy that God is gonna use us, and we're pure and cleansed and our hearts are purified, and we're constantly sharpening our sword, and edifying each other, that's what it's all about. That's the uniqueness about every one of us, we're all different and God can use us all. You just have to choose to be used.

What is the most important part of skating, and what does it mean to be a quality skateboarder?

For me skateboarding was all about fun, and it was so much fun to me that I just wanted to do it all the time. Going from fun to doing it all the time, I wanted to be the best. So I had a goal that I wanted to meet, I wanted to reach that goal and nothing was gonna get in my way. Bruce Lee was one of my idols as a little kid, and I wanted to be the best Kung Fu guy in the world, but when I finally got the skateboard, I was like "Wow, this is FUN!".

Bruce Lee and fighting is like aggressive, and I wanted to be the best and I wanted to beat everybody up, and be the best martial artist, because I went to all the Kung Fu movies and that's what I was into as a little kid, going to chinatown and japanesetown, going to chinese movie theaters and watching samarai movies, I wanted to be a warrior, but when I got a skateboard I was like "this is fun", and it's an extension of surfing and I'm like surfin' down the street, sprayin' dirt and smashin' against barrels by bushes, and I was like "this is SICK!" and all of the sudden I was at the skatepark and I was like "WHOA you can fly in the air???".

That's when I went "this is INCREDIBLE". This was like in 76' and 77' and I thought "if I could skateboard for a living, I'll never have to work a day in my life!", and I haven't worked a day in my life, you know what I mean? Skateboarding has been my job, and to me it's not a job, it's what I love and I'd do it anyway. So, those are the things that made me who I am and why I do them, and "what does it mean to be a quality skater?", It means that you're having fun, and you're doing it for the right reasons - It's not about the money, it's not about the fame, it's not about winning first place, it's about enjoying what you're doing and progressing at what you do, and that right there is the real ultimate reason why I love to skateboard. It's the love of skateboarding, it's the passion for it that drives me to do it. The quality part of skateboarding is the enjoyment and fun that you have skating with your friends.

Photo: Quiksilver

You were an entrepreneur at a very young age, I think that’s encouraging, in that it shows that there is more to the skating industry than whether a kid can turn pro or not.

How were you able to successfully implement Hosoi skates, do you have a head for business or are you an idea man who gets together other talented people who can make the ideas happen?

No, I started my company at 17 years old, and just did it out of the garage, we screened the boards ourselves, just me and my father. My father is an artist and went to art school at Berkely, and graduated with his masters in Fine Art. My mom was a secretary in beverly hills for major stock-broker firm, so she understood business, my dad was creative, I had both worlds of influence all my life, so when I came to that place of "skateboarding is my life", I'm making thousands of dollars a month, at 14-15 years old, traveling all over the world, it was like "ok, well how about starting our own company?" and it was just like "yeah, just do it!" It wasn't like it was something hard that I couldn't fathom, it was like "man this will be fun", and that's what it was all about, fun, going through business partners and joint ventures, and contracts and relationships with companies.

You know I had a great amount of experience dealing with partnerships and all that. So for me it was a learning experience, to do it all and be successful at it on top of all that. Not only being young, but being successful, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, it was kind of like, over the top successful, to the point where I was almost a loose cannon just goin' off. Blasting anywhere I wanted to blast and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and no one could tell me otherwise because I was successful.

So, my parents weren't raising me in the things of God, even though they were great parents, they raised me with great morals, great upbringing, supported me to the utmost, but the fundamentals of faith and God weren't implemented. So, when I came to the Lord, I introduced my parents to God and said that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and you guys need to read the bible and understand this because I want to spend eternity with you guys, and both of them got saved, and praise God, that God would allow that to happen, and that I would have the opportunity to be the one to present them the gospel.

But back in those days, it was all about freedom and creativity, and I was smokin' pot at 12 years old, with my parents, and it was no big deal. Bringing girls back to the house at 14, 15, 16 years old and spending the night wasn't a big deal back then. Today, it would be completely horrific, you know what I mean? I look at these kids at like 14 and 15 and they look like babies. But maybe because I was so young back then, I didn't know what I looked like, but back then I think it was a little bit more open minded, whereas today, people like us are really standing up and revealing Godly principles into the lifestyle of even skateboarding that people are recognizing what's really good and bad. Because when you don't know God, good and bad to us, before we come to God, is much different than today as how I look at things that are good and bad. When I look at things that are good and bad, I look at it through the eyes of God. It's about sin and righteousness, they're two different things, it's not about good and bad, because what's good in our eyes can be a sin in God's eyes.

So for me, I was just being creative, starting my own company, and having a good time. I didn't save any money, I was just like "I'm gonna spend all my money on my friends, I'm gonna live a crazy lifestyle, different than anybody else, and I'm gonna be a giver" I was like one of those generous guys that took everybody out, no matter what, spent it all and just paid for everything. If you're with me, it's on the house. Today, I get people who tell me how that really touched their lives, and now I can tell them how my life is today and how it's not kudos, it's not for me to get a pat on the back, for everybody to go "you're the man". Praise God that I was like that, praise God that my parents raised me to be generous, they were the ones who told me not to be tight and selfish, but I took it and said I was gonna be a good person. But now I'm doing it for a reason and that's to glorify God, and give God all the glory for it. Now, when I give things away it's not about me, it's about what God has done through me. So, I'm just humbly being used by the Lord to be able to bless somebody rather than "hey look at me, I'm really a godly guy", like the Pharisee's standing on the corner with their eloquent prayers and all their garb.

Photo: Chris Ortiz

What we do in secret God will reveal in the open. When you see people coming into that place when you're ministering to them and them receiving it, that's the priceless gift that you get, when you tell somebody about Jesus, and you can see them give their lives to the Lord. You shared your testimony, you preached the gospel, and many come forward and give their lives to Jesus, and that you can be one of those people. Right? That's the pay, that's priceless in a Christian, or choosing ministry. It becomes a place of looking into the eyes of people and seeing them receive the lord. That right there is worth more than all the money in the world.

Obviously, there is a tremendous amount of hard work that goes into perfecting ones talent, but more importantly, there is also something else special there, something at the core level – divine intervention – help to do something that ordinarily one wouldn’t be able to do without that help. Do you agree?

I believe God has a part in everything, cause he created it all. There comes a point where we choose to do things for him. Because we were created to glorify God in our lives. So me, I was looking for my best interest in doing it, but God all along was like "I'm gonna use this for my glory and I want to use you as a mouth piece for me to reach out to this generation of people", and it took me thirty years to finally come to the place of revelation that Jesus is who he says he is, and that without him I will have no eternal life.

So my testimony of 8 years being on crystal meth, running around the streets with my head cut off, people can relate to that because they're going through those things. Now I'm helping to set people free and break the chains of bondage in their lives and addictions, and pleading the blood of Jesus over their lives, and breaking the curse that's been passed down from generations to generations, which ultimately is what cuts the thing to the root, takes the axe to the root and they become completely set free, "Who the son sets free is free indeed".

That right there is complete freedom, liberty, the peace that passes all understanding. Then you have the strength and the power, that fire that comes from the Holy Spirit, the place where the rubber meets the road, when life gets hard, because life isn't gonna be all a bouquet of roses, it's easy to praise and glorify God when things are good.

But when we're prepared, and when God has really conditioned us to that place of what the perfect will of God is, we would be thankful and thankful in all things, that is the perfect will of God. That means all things, in my sickness, in my hardships, in my difficulties, as well as in my strengths and my accomplishments, you know what I mean? But we tend to forget about him in our good times and acknowledge him when we need him in our bad times.

Praise God that I got touched by God when I was in a place of desperation. I was addicted to drugs for 8 years, I was in a prison cell looking at 5 to 10 years, and I surrendered my life to God and said "God if you're real" and I cried out with a cry of desperation, and said I'm lost and I can't figure it out, and that's when God supernaturally blasted me, and the scales flew off my eyes and I saw the truth and I just ran after God, and kept my focus on him and I haven't looked back since that day. For me, that test in my life, turned into the testimony that I have, and going back to your question of, "has God been a part of that?", oh yeah he has. Because now that I acknowledge him, all that is to be used for his glory.

Do you consider yourself to be a perfectionist?

I very much am a perfectionist when it comes to the serious things in my life, but I'm also easy going when it comes to other things, like the leisurely things, or stuff like that. So a perfectionist, if I want to be I sure can, and like skateboarding, that was one of the things, and my walk with Christ, I want to be a perfectionist, not legalistically, I just want to glorify God the best I can. I want him to be pleased with my lifestyle, I want him to be sitting up there having a sweet smelling aroma, when I'm worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

Does prayer play a part in your creative process? Do you pray before you skate?

Oh yeah, definitely. I pray before everything. The bible says to pray without ceasing, in Thessalonians, the perfect will of God is to be thankful in all things. So you think about it and you're like "ok, so pray without ceasing, so do I just not stop?" No, pray in a constant communion with God based on our relationship with him, that's communion, he's my best friend, and I know he's right there, he's with me, he's taking the rocks out of my path, he's the light to my path and a lamp to my feet, you know what I mean? When we walk like that we're not walking alone!

I'm always looking for divine appointments, God's just put it in me, to want to talk to people about Jesus, every opportunity that I get I'm gonna take, it could be that one thought that that person has, like myself back in the day, that somebody didn't take the opportunity to do so. That they didn't sacrifice their time for me, when they're like "man I should have said something", and what if they didn't. Well, my eternal salvation was on the line and I don't want somebody who's been placed in my path, who God has put there for me to minister to, to plant or to water, whether there's already seed planted or I'm just planting the first seed, or if there's a harvest there and they just want to give their life to Christ and they do so. God gives the increase and it's for me to just be available, to be there and to open up my mouth.

I remember in "Livin it LA", the part with Tim where he's alone, by himself practicing, and the whole time he’s talking to God and thanking him for being able to skate, and at the same time being honest about himself with God and saying things like "I’ve always had a desire to be by myself and that you wired me to be like this".

Is there a duality in skating that is unique to it alone? Meaning, there is an opportunity for "quiet time" and to be alone and focus on your work and meditate on God, and then there is a communal time where you can encourage and be encouraged by other skaters?

Photo: The Uprising

Me, I'm a people person, so for me, when I have my quiet time I don't wanna go skate a ramp by myself. Never, I'm never gonna skate a ramp and practice by myself. I told you that when I started out skating it was for fun, you know what I mean, it's for enjoyment, it's for people getting together, and having relationships and I think that really shows the love of God more than anything. Because the bible says that they'll know we're disciples by our love one for another. So for me being there skating by myself, it means there's a photographer there to get photos and there has to be nobody else on the ramp. I did that just two nights ago at a bowl in Hollywood. It was one of those things, I was by myself, on the ramp, but you know, there was a reason. But to go and to meditate while I'm skating, I'm either going to meditate on God, or I'm gonna be skating with the boys, you know what I mean, and trying to minister to them if they're not saved. Cause that's what we really do, when we go skate we go with an agenda, that hopefully we'll be able to minister to whoever's there. Every time we go skate.

Lets talk about art. I dig those pieces that you did with Mark Gonzalez. You mentioned before, your dad is an artist as well, what role does art play in your life?

Well, I grew up in the art scene, I grew up with my dad painting my whole life, I went to art galleries and art openings, my whole life in Hollywood, and understanding now Michaelangelo, and the sistene chapel and going to see all of that in Europe and seeing Picasso's work and seeing it live, before I got saved.

Now that I'm saved, seeing how artwork plays a huge role in representing a time and place, it really is interesting and it's really something you can hold on to and look at and constantly talk about, so for me art is something that lasts, it's a sign of the time, it's an extension of oneself who is the artist, and you can grab a hold of the purpose and meaning and it tells a story as well, and in relationships, like if it's a collaboration like me and Mark Gonzalez. The art was way beyond just the art pieces, and the person that did it, the relationships they have, what they do as skateboarders and the stories they have to tell, and then putting the art together. It means way more than what the art piece was in the first place.

That's what's so awesome about art and why I do it on my own, you can use it as an expression of who you are, and that's why I paint Jesus and I do crosses, and it's all about him. I'm going to do some for a website and start showing it.

Music is a huge part of skate culture, have you been able to see any collaborative works between Christian skaters and Christian musicians?

I go out and I do huge events and I'm there with the huge Christian artists, I get to meet them personally and hang out with them. You know what, I'm just so focused on the Lord and wanting to just be a vessel for him that I don't even have an iPod, I just put it on K-WAVE, at my church we have awesome worship music and for me it's all about worship music.

Then of course, oldies and all the classic soul, that stuff, R&B, I love blues, and reggae, I grew up just listening to blues and reggae. Hip hop and rap, motown, that right there is what I grew up on. So for me, that brings up the emotions of growing up and love and relationships and craziness and all that. But worship music, man there's nothing like it. Hymns and songs to the Lord, listening to the music, that's just "Wow". Like there's a band "Call To Glory" that one of the deacons in our church does. He used to be in a band called "Bar Room Heroes" and they do full on rock and roll and punk, hardcore Jesus songs, and you're like "this is just SICK!" It's like full on military, like we're going to battle, and there's worship in it too. It's like, ah man, it's awesome.

One issue that seems to be recurring lately with people I’ve talked to, has been the idea that things Christian are cheesy. I’ve dealt with this personally, in that a lot of Christian music I find follows formulas, is very contrived and isn’t half as heart felt as some secular music, it’s like they aren’t paying attention to what they are actually creating and holding up high standards for it. Skaters pour their heart, soul and blood into their work, and can spot fakers a mile away. How can we as Christian artists keep it real and be authentic, and instead of creating mediocrity, become the forefront of inspiration to others?

One thing for sure is that Christians aren't worried about what people think of them and the secular people are. That's why they're so meticulous and insecure that they have to make it perfect. I've heard very poor artists ushering in the presence of God, and it being just like a sweet, sweet atmosphere of the presence of God. You can't do that with secular music, you might get touched and all, but you know what, there's something about when you worship God with your music, that it changes the dynamic of the atmosphere of where it's being played, if it's live or if it's in your car. That's why worship music is for me, it just brings me into that place of just communion with God. I think that's what music was created for.

It wasn't for having the best drum solos or having perfect sound mixing, and all that. Yeah, you can have all that and you know what if I was a musician, I'd be like this: I want to smoke the secular music world by how good I play, and I want it to be a representation of my relationship with God, but you know what, I'm not that, so for me I'm not worried about that, but I can see how people start pointing their fingers and saying "yeah that Christian stuff", but you know why, because the presence of God comes with their music and you know what they don't want to change. It changes your life when you step into the room and Christian music is being played.

Why? Because the gospel's being preached, you know what I mean?, and if the gospels not being preached, well then it's just bad music. Or it's just music that's mediocre. It's not about the music, it's about the message that's being told. If it's all about the instruments and all that, well then where's God? It's about we're worshiping God with our tambourines and harps. But I think that when you take it out of context of why you're making music, well yeah, we can get all technical, we can get all stuffy and yeah, ok this band's better than that band, but that band loves the Lord. Whatever, that's all politics, that's why I'm looking forward to somebody who's an awesome musician, and saved, so radically saved that people go "what happened?" You know, like when Johnny Cash came to the Lord.

Johnny Cash played good music, that's my whole point.

Bob Dylan, he came to the Lord, but what happened to him? He walked back into the world again. I don't know if he's still serving the Lord, I don't know if he's going to be spending eternity in heaven, but God knows, the seeds have been planted, he did read the Bible, he did gospel songs.

He's got like 5 gospel albums.

Smokey Robinson's saved, it's not about that anymore, it's about who wants to use your talents to glorify the Lord, well, that's why I'm going out practicing tonight, I'm going to the skatepark and I'm going to get better so when people see you're going to skate and preach the gospel, I want to at least come up and do pretty good! I don't want people to go "Man that guy sucks!!" "But he loves the Lord!!!" "He sure sucks, but he loves the Lord!"

[Laughs all around]

That's what I'm getting at here, the bottom line can't be "but he loves the Lord". It's that "that kid is DOPE and he loves the Lord".

Yeah, and I think that's happening today, the people who are finally getting off that pedestal and allowing God to get up on it, in their lives, and say "ok, you're the one and why I want to do this, and I want to represent you" and what does God say? He says, I will exalt you when you humble yourself. All my sponsors, all the money I'm making, it's all God... It's not anything else, I'm not performing, I'm not jumping through hoops, I'm saying to everybody, "I'm a Jesus freak, bible thumpin', on fire, spirit filled Christian, who loves the Lord, and I skateboard and I have a family, and I love to go and hang out in a backyard pool and grind coping." But I'm out there on a mission, everywhere I go, and that's what I do, I'm here to be a vessel, used by God to reach out to a lost and dying generation.

Related

• The Sanctuary HB
• Hosoi Skates
• The Uprising on Steelroots
• The Uprising Is Here
• Skate Bible