This story is part of The Water Main from MPR News, helping Minnesotans understand the value of water in our lives. Visit www.americanpublicmedia.org/water/ for more as well as check out @thewatermain on Twitter.

By MPR News Staff

MPR News/90.1 FM

Water skiing and Christian ministry might seem like an unusual combination. But Debbie Kraft got the call to put the two together when she was a young adult.

“It was one of those weird, eerie things where people were like, ‘Really, you heard a voice?’” she said with a laugh. “It was God calling to me, saying, ‘I have a plan for your life. If you would just give up the controls to me, I will direct your path to something that is far more than you could ever ask for or imagine.’”

For Kraft, of suburban Victoria, Minn., that plan entailed offering Christian mentorship to kids and teens, while encouraging them to do things like care for the environment, water ski, wakeboard and fish.

In 1999, she launched the organization Walk on Water, holding activities on Schutz Lake, a small lake behind her house. At this point, the ministry has served over 700 families.

“When I work with kids, I want them to see that God created them for a purpose,” she said. “Living in the Land of 10,000 lakes, it just all makes sense to me that I’m working with kids, helping them to use their bodies to do sports, helping them to go fishing and experience the environment and to care for that environment.”

Some participants have even been known to read the Bible while water skiing. A waterproof version, of course.

“Why not learn about the one who created you and has a plan for you out on God’s creation on a boat on a lake?” she said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Kraft has structured her life around water. When she’s not pulling kids behind a boat, she’s working to help ensure Minnesota’s water quality.

She’s participating in the Freshwater Society’s Master Water Stewards program. It trains average citizens to become community leaders around water issues, teaching them water pollution prevention strategies like planting rain gardens.

As part of her capstone project for the program, Kraft recently invited some area officials to her home, including Carver County Commissioner Tom Workman, to discuss the potential water impacts of a road improvement project near her home.

For her, it’s an extension of the work she does with Walk on Water.

“I think God is happy that we care for the environment. This is the biggest gift he’s given us,” she said. “The birds in the sky and the fish in the sea — he’s given us authority or responsibility over that.”