At Pepperdine's Surf Chapel, Prayers Come in Waves | LA Times

by Martha Groves, LA Times

On such a gray, nippy morning, most self-respecting college students would pull the covers over their heads and languish for a couple of extra hours in the sack.

But Asa Miller drove 30 miles from Simi Valley to greet the dawn at Zuma Beach.

After spending six years in the Navy, Miller sometimes feels at sea as a 24-year-old freshman at Pepperdine University in Malibu. That's why he heads to Surf Chapel, a weekly convocation on the sand, to help him get his bearings — by combining a little bit of God and a little bit of wave action.

"Surf Chapel is a chance to refocus the soul and mind," Miller said. "Being by the beach in the morning gives me perspective, reminding me of my place."

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John all tell of the miracle of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee. Nowhere do they mention surfing. 

But that matters not to dozens of students from the Christian university as they sit on the beach about 10 miles west of campus, nestled in navy Pepperdine hoodies and wrapped in beach towels to ward off the morning chill.

First they listen to Bible passages and break up into small groups to share emotional highs and lows. Then many of them don wetsuits, grab boards from a Pepperdine recreation department truck and hit the waves.

One might say they give new meaning to the phrase "pray for surf."

Surf Chapel is spearheaded by Rob Shearer, an assistant professor who teaches undergraduate students the decidedly secular topics of business statistics and quantitative decision-making.

Each Wednesday morning, he carries his surfboard and his New American Standard Bible and wades into the sacred realm of the outdoors, where he expounds the merits of religious belief and community building.

His own faith was built on the move at a succession of mostly nondenominational churches.

Shearer, 47, was born in Atlanta to a military father. The family relocated often, worshiping as Lutherans or Baptists, Shearer said, "whatever the chaplain was."

He graduated from West Point and served 22 years in the Army, including six months in Baghdad as a lieutenant colonel during the military surge in 2008.

He spent his final military years in Monterey, where he took to the frigid water to lend moral support to his son, Will, a novice surfer stoked by the sport. The father, too, was soon hooked.

After retiring from the military in 2012, Shearer began teaching at Pepperdine, where a 125-foot tower with a carved-out cross is one of the most visible landmarks from Pacific Coast Highway. Each week, he and Pepperdine alum Grant Waggoner invited about 10 students, all hardcore surfers, to the beach. 

"We really wanted to build a community," Shearer said. "We both thought college students struggle with 'Where do I fit in?' We wanted to be a community where we love God, love each other and love surfing — hopefully, in that order."

The second year, word spread; 40 people showed up to the first gathering of that 2013 fall semester. Waggoner moved, and Shearer decided to cast a wider net by advertising throughout campus. He also got the university to designate each weekly Surf Chapel as an official convocation. (Students are required to attend 14 convocations each semester.)

The university provides funds to pay for beach permits and to hire a lifeguard. Shearer noted with a smile: "We are the only convocation where you have to sign a release form."

Surf Chapel now has an average attendance of 80 or so, with the number swelling to more than 100 on warm, sunny days. 

"Surf Chapel really responds to today's college students, who do not have the edifice complex … that my generation had," Pepperdine President Andrew K. Benton said. "We needed stucco and tile or brick and mortar to find places to worship."