Holy Rollers -- Christian-Music Night Draws Youths To Skate King

BELLEVUE - The rock 'n' roll blaring from the loudspeakers on a Saturday night at Skate King sounds pretty much like the music typically played at skating rinks.

But listen to the words, and you'll notice a difference:

It all comes down

to a man upon a cross.

It's your decision:

Who's going to be your Lord?

Now in its 11th year, Christian-music night is going strong at Skate King, where as many as 400 teenagers, parents and kids, and young adults turn out for the fun.

Christian music on one of the busiest nights at a profit-making business?

It wasn't the idea of Jim Sullivan, Skate King's manager. But business wasn't so hot on Saturday nights back when a young woman asked whether she and some friends could organize a Christian skate night.

Sullivan agreed to give it a try. He hasn't looked back.

The Christian volunteers promoted the venture and brought in a whole new crowd. "It was the right thing at the right time," Sullivan said. "It's been a good thing for Skate King, and I'm sure it's been a good thing for the world of Christian music."

The atmosphere on Saturday night is dramatically different from Friday nights, when mainstream rock music is played. On Fridays, a second manager and a uniformed police officer are on duty to handle the sometimes-rowdy crowds.

"Friday-night people push you around," said Liberty High School student Jeremy Cheng, 15, as he chatted with friends on a recent

Saturday night. "Christian night is better; everybody is nice. I feel safer."

"I'm going to put it in a nutshell," Sullivan said. "On Friday night they goddamn you, and on Saturday night they God bless you."

The evangelical Christians call their work Holy Rollin' Ministries, after an upbeat 1986 tune by Christian pop musician Bryan Duncan. The spark plug has been Kim Lemon, a preschool teacher who is the disc jockey on Saturday nights. She was an 18-year-old Bellevue Community College student when she and several friends started the ministry.

"I grew up at Bellevue Skate King. I remember when I was 6 years old, holding on to the wall. I've always loved skating," said Lemon.

She carried on after her friends moved on to other things. Among the newer volunteers was Dale Lemon, a Boeing technical designer whom she married seven years ago. Together, they have continued to promote Christian-music night, recruit volunteers, book top-name Christian musicians for occasional concerts and organize other special events at the skating rink.

"Some people have had the idea that following after Christ is boring," Dale Lemon said. "We say that you can have fun, have a blast and scream and shout and enjoy music. The next day you feel good about what you did."

Marlene Feinman, an Attachmate software tester who is Jewish, said she is not uncomfortable at Christian-music night because she feels the underlying religious values are common to all religions. She brings her son, Glen, 15, and a friend of his on Friday and Saturday nights. Glen prefers the more familiar mainstream secular music.

Sullivan also rents the rink to patrons of a gay bar one Monday every month. "It's just business. If it doesn't work on the business end, they won't be back," he said.

Leigh Ann Wolfe, a proofreader for Microsoft, said she was delighted to discover Christian-music night this month because "as a Christian it can be really hard to find things to do that fit your values."

----------------------------------------------.

Where to go

Christian-music nights, open to the public, are regularly scheduled at several roller and ice rinks in the Puget Sound area. Here are some:

-- Auburn Skate Connection, 1825 Howard Road, Auburn, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sundays.

-- Pattison's West, South 342nd Street and Pacific Highway South, Federal Way, 7 to 9:30 p.m. every third Monday of the month.

-- Pattison's South, 133rd Street South and Pacific Avenue, Parkland, Pierce County, 8 to 11:30 p.m. Fridays.

-- Skate King, 2301 140th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, 7 to 10:30 p.m. Saturdays.

-- Sno-King Ice Arena, 19803 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood, 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays.