Crazy - Perhaps

Yesterday, as I was standing at the copier waiting for a few more copies to come off the press for a Finance meeting at the church I spied out the front door of the office a few youths with a video camera and a bike positioned at the top of the stairs from the street into the church parking lot.

I admit we have one of those signs that prohibits any kind of skating, biking, etc on church property. I also freely admit that we sometimes provide a safer environment to allow some stupidity than other areas of the city, and so I am a little more relaxed about all this.

So, as this young man was on his bike at the top of the stairs I noted that the rail along the side of the stairs was pretty tight on the concrete block wall. Even more dangerous is the fact that the railing is straight while the block wall is stair stepped down. That is to say, trying a rail ride on the pegs of the bike would invariably end up in a major calamity.

I quietly walked out to the boys, where the cameraman was sure to turn the camera on me to get the reaction I had to their coming stunt. I simply checked in with the boys to see what their plan was...simply to ride the stairs down, and I admitted my fear that they were going to try something truly stupid and railride the obviously problematic handrail/stepped block wall combination.

As I turned my back to walk back inside the young man on the bike made a tremendous jump and cleared the approximately 12 steps in a single jump. He did not ride the rail and he did not simply ride the stairs down.

No injuries, to him, or anyone else. I often wonder what the real insurance concerns are with this, how liability plays in, and whether I am doing anything of real worth with the young men and women who come to our church (or any church I have served) to find a safe and somewhat interesting landscape to try their tricks.

What is your position, understanding, etc?