Marco Gratta

Marco grew up on the Gulf Coast in Sarasota, Florida. He learned how to surf as a young teen in  the occasional tropical storm and hurricane. Marco grew up in an unchurched home and felt deep lacking in his life. He tried to fill these voids with hanging out with friends, drugs, women, and partying. These pursuits started off as wanting to have fun but quickly grew into unhealthy habits and addictions.

Marco attended the University of Florida to study accounting. In his first week of college he met his best friend Jack and together they fell in love with surfing. They would surf out front of Jack’s house in Flagler Beach and Marco began encountering God. God would reveal his majesty and glory in creation. Marco started noticing God all around him in the waves – how the water can break in such a way that you can ride a wave, and in the marine life – seeing a giant manta ray jumping in the sunset horizon. These countless experiences created a firm belief in Marco’s heart that God is real and God is good but he was still far from the truth. He was still living a life trapped in addiction and sin and the road was only getting darker.

In his darkest moment – a time of utterly needing a savior, Marco’s friend Micaiah shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the UF Surf Club. Marco started going to a Bible study at his friend Mack’s house and learning about Jesus and what it means when “Jesus died for our sins” and recognized he really needed Jesus and surrendered himself to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

Along the way in the early stages of stumbling his way towards Jesus, he was introduced to Christian Surfers (CS). At this time he was working as an Auditor, auditing nonprofits all week and surfing every weekend no matter what the waves were doing. He went on a CS mission trip to Panama and it changed his life – he was met by God and encouraged by strong men who he could look up to and be discipled by. He saw a calling on his life to be in Christian Surfers for the rest of his life. God led Marco to Oceanside where he now lives in a loving Jesus community (with a bunch of waves nearby). Marco lives at the Christian Surfers Discipleship House called the Launchpad – a house dedicated to being servant leaders in our local church and CS community. Marco is being built up and led by strong leaders and pouring into the future generations.

Marco has the opportunity to serve on staff with Christian Surfers managing the accounting and operations for the United States. God has put it on his heart to faithfully serve this ministry and see it grow in numbers (both people around the world and finances). Please reach out if you want to learn more about Marco! 941-321-8556