The Christian Surfers Podcast

In this powerful and deeply honest episode of the Christian Surfers Podcast, Cyle Meyers sits down with legendary Hawaiian surfboard shaper Eric Arakawa — the man behind boards ridden by some of surfing’s greatest names, including Michael Ho and multiple world champions.But beyond shaping surfboards, Eric shares the deeper story of how God shaped his life.Growing up in Hawaii, Eric fell in love with surfing at a young age, riding waves on inflatable mattresses before eventually shaping his own surfboards out of necessity. What began as a childhood obsession would later become one of the most respected shaping careers in surfing history.

In this episode, Eric opens up about:
• Learning to shape boards alongside his father in Hawaii
• Working with surfing legends like Michael Ho
• The intense pressure and emotional highs and lows of shaping world-class surfboards
• Wrestling with identity, insecurity, and self-worth throughout his career
• Why he nearly walked away from surfing completely
• His powerful testimony of coming to know Jesus as a rebellious teenager
• Why surfing can either become an idol or a tool for God’s kingdom
• What it means to trust Christ fully and live for eternity

Eric vulnerably shares how years of comparison, pressure, and performance left him searching for purpose beyond success and how Jesus ultimately transformed the way he viewed surfing, identity, and life itself.

This episode is filled with wisdom, humility, laughter, and profound truth for surfers, Christians, creatives, and anyone wrestling with purpose, calling, or identity.“Don’t fear failure. Fear succeeding in the things that don’t matter.” -  Eric Arakawa

Huge thanks to @almondsurfboards and @trestlespropertymanagement for helping make these podcast episodes possible.

Did you enjoy the episode? If so, please consider supporting the Christian Surfers movement. As a non-profit organization, your donation helps us continue sharing stories of faith and reaching surfers around the world with the hope of Jesus.

Donate here: https://www.christiansurfers.net/donate

Facebook: /csinternational
Instagram: @christiansurfers_

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In this powerful episode of the Christian Surfers Podcast, host Mark Sawyer-Chu sits down with former pro surfer & co-owner of Island Water Sports surf shop, Cheyne Cottrell, for an honest conversation about family legacy, surf culture, ministry, and a life shaped across continents by faith. Cheyne shares his journey growing up in Florida around Island Water Sports, a surf shop founded by his father that later became a platform for ministry and community. What began as a surf business soon became a bridge into church planting and outreach, shaping Cheyne’s early understanding of purpose and calling. As a teenager, his life shifted when his family moved to South Africa to help pioneer Christian Surfers South Africa.

There, surfing, church, and mission life became deeply intertwined as his father helped grow a movement connecting surfers to Jesus. The conversation also reflects on Cheyne’s years traveling the world on the QS, living out of suitcases, chasing waves, and eventually stepping back into the family business in Florida. What was meant to be temporary became a long-term calling as he helped steward Island Water Sports into what it is today, now expanded across multiple locations. He also shares the impact of loss after the passing of his father in South Africa, and how his family has continued to live out faith through ministry, education, and service.

Through it all, Cheyne reflects on identity, ambition, grief, and what it means to live with an eternal perspective - seeing surfing not as the destination, but as a tool to serve people and share Jesus.

This is a story of legacy, faith, surf culture, and learning to trust God through every season. Huge thanks to @almondsurfboards and @trestlespropertymanagement for supporting this episode. Did you enjoy the episode? If so, please consider supporting the Christian Surfers movement. As a non-profit organization, your donation helps us continue sharing stories of faith and reaching surfers around the world with the hope of Jesus. 

Donate here: https://www.christiansurfers.net/donate Facebook: /csinternational Instagram: @christiansurfers_ #ChristianSurfers #SurfPodcast #JesusAndSurfing #FaithInTheLineup #SurfMinistry #Testimony #SurfCulture #HopeInJesus

In this powerful episode of the Christian Surfers Podcast, host Mark Sawyer-Chu sits down with former pro surfer & co-owner of Island Water Sports surf shop, Cheyne Cottrell, for an honest conversation about family legacy, surf culture, ministry, and a life shaped across continents by faith. Cheyne shares his journey growing up in Florida around Island Water Sports, a surf shop founded by his father that later became a platform for ministry and community.

What began as a surf business soon became a bridge into church planting and outreach, shaping Cheyne’s early understanding of purpose and calling. As a teenager, his life shifted when his family moved to South Africa to help pioneer Christian Surfers South Africa. There, surfing, church, and mission life became deeply intertwined as his father helped grow a movement connecting surfers to Jesus. The conversation also reflects on Cheyne’s years traveling the world on the QS, living out of suitcases, chasing waves, and eventually stepping back into the family business in Florida. What was meant to be temporary became a long-term calling as he helped steward Island Water Sports into what it is today, now expanded across multiple locations. He also shares the impact of loss after the passing of his father in South Africa, and how his family has continued to live out faith through ministry, education, and service.

Through it all, Cheyne reflects on identity, ambition, grief, and what it means to live with an eternal perspective - seeing surfing not as the destination, but as a tool to serve people and share Jesus.

This is a story of legacy, faith, surf culture, and learning to trust God through every season. Huge thanks to @almondsurfboards and @trestlespropertymanagement for supporting this episode.

Did you enjoy the episode? If so, please consider supporting the Christian Surfers movement. As a non-profit organization, your donation helps us continue sharing stories of faith and reaching surfers around the world with the hope of Jesus.

Donate here: https://www.christiansurfers.net/donate

Facebook: /csinternational
Instagram: @christiansurfers_

#ChristianSurfers #SurfPodcast #JesusAndSurfing #FaithInTheLineup #SurfMinistry #Testimony #SurfCulture #HopeInJesus

In this powerful and deeply honest episode of the Christian Surfers Talk Story Podcast, host Mark Sawyer-Chu sits down with Reed Burr - missionary kid, surfer, filmmaker, and full-time staff with Christian Surfers - to unpack a story that moves from faith, to rebellion, and back again through radical encounters with God.Reed grew up in a global missionary family, living across Africa and the United States, learning to surf on the coast of Kenya and Ghana while wrestling with identity, belonging, and belief. Though surrounded by faith, he admits he had to reach a place where he personally questioned everything - from the existence of God to the authenticity of his upbringing.What followed was a raw and unfiltered season of rebellion, distance from faith, and searching for meaning in all the wrong places. But even in the midst of chaos, God was not absent.

Through unexpected encounters, conviction, and moments that couldn’t be explained away, Reed describes how God slowly pulled him back into relationship with Him in a real and personal way.From there, everything changed.Reed shares how a Christian Surfers Bible given to him years earlier became a turning point — eventually leading him to discover Christian Surfers again, pick up the phone, and step into a full-circle calling that now sees him serving full-time as the media and storytelling lead for CS USA.Today, Reed and his wife Priscilla serve together as a family on mission, using media, photography, and storytelling to share the gospel through surf culture and global ministry - while raising their kids and trusting God for provision along the way.This episode is a reminder that faith isn’t inherited - it’s discovered. And sometimes the very thing you run from becomes the thing God uses to bring you home.

Whether you’ve wrestled with belief, walked away from faith, or are trying to figure out what’s real, this conversation will challenge and encourage you to trust that God is still writing your story.Huge thanks to @trestlespropertymanagement and @almondsurfboards for helping make these podcast episodes happen.

Did you enjoy the episode? If so, please consider donating to the Christian Surfers movement. As a non-profit organization, your donation will help us continue to create quality content, allowing more surfers around the globe to have the opportunity to know and follow Jesus. You can donate here: https://www.christiansurfers.net/donate

Facebook: / csinternational
Instagram: / @christiansurfers_#ChristianSurfers

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#JesusAndSurfing
#FaithJourney
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#ProdigalSonStory
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#KingdomStory

In this inspiring and faith-filled episode of Christian Surfers Talk Story, host Mark Story Chu sits down with Pastor John Cobian, founder of Cobian Footwear, to talk about surfing, business, ministry, and what it means to boldly follow Jesus in the surf industry.John shares the incredible story behind the launch of Cobian in 1995, from stepping out in faith after losing both his job and relationship, to watching God open unexpected doors through the global surf community. What began with little more than prayer, perseverance, and trust in the Lord grew into a brand that has impacted surfers, kids, families, ministries, and communities around the world.Throughout the conversation, Mark and John reflect on decades of partnership between Cobian and Christian Surfers, the importance of Christian fellowship within the surf industry, and the calling to be “salt and light” wherever God places us. John also opens up about prison outreach, serving orphanages in Mexico, supporting missions through surfing, and how Cobian continues to use its platform to share the hope of Jesus through business and community.

From trade shows and surf trips to worship nights and ministry events, this episode is packed with powerful stories of faith, generosity, and God’s faithfulness over the last 30 years.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, surfer, ministry leader, or someone searching for purpose, this conversation will encourage you to trust God fully and use your gifts to serve others and glorify Him.

Huge thanks to @trestlespropertymanagement and @almondsurfboards for helping make these podcast episodes happen.Did you enjoy the episode? If so, please consider donating to the Christian Surfers movement.

As a non-profit organization, your donation will help us continue to create quality content, allowing more surfers around the globe to have the opportunity to know and follow Jesus.

You can donate here: https://www.christiansurfers.net/donate

Facebook: csinternational
Instagram: @christiansurfers_