Standing in the darkness of Mrs. Schimming’s room, Stefan Boulter, 12, looks up at the television screen as multiple bible verses transition on and off the screen.
“The words you are about to hear are true,” A man’s voice from the video lectures. “This is His love letter to you.”
Members of BASIC watched in silence as the man read scriptures from the Bible. “I chose you when I planned creation. You are not a mistake,” he said. “I gave up everything that I loved, so I could gain your love.”
The short video clip ended with the man leaving his word of advice.
“Come home and we can throw the biggest party Heaven has ever seen. Love, your dad. Almighty God.”
Leading the message for the day, Boulter informs the group that almost every word the man said in the video was directly from the Bible. As he passes out a full page copy of all the verses showed in the video, he mentions the group would not be reading from the Bible that day. Instead, he felt the video spoke for itself.
“God wrote us the Bible,” Boulter said. “The majority of the Bible is a love letter to us.”
As Boulter sits down in one of the three chairs set up in the front of the room he sermons the group members.
“I beg you to strive for a personal relationship with God,” He preaches. “It’s so easy and frustrating to get away from that. God really does want you to have a personal relationship with him, everyone in this room and everyone in this school.”
Boulter then plays three different music videos, some members sang along with lyrics on the screen while others knew the words by heart. Out of the three songs played the last song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me received the loudest singing.
As the music video played actual photos of real people who have died the meaning of the song touched Olivia Herbert, 12. Reaching her right hand toward the sky and placing her left hand on her heart she closed her eyes and sang along to every word by memory.
“He wrote this song after his dad died,” Mrs. Schimming informs the group. “He’s saying he could only imagine what his life would be like to be with both of his fathers.”
When the songs ended the group mentions who they would like to pray for. Josh Whitney, 12, was one of the prayer recipients due to his accident in early January.
“It’s a miracle he’s alive and here walking,” Nikki Childs, 12, said. “Our goal is to have him walk the stage with us.”
Ending the meeting, Morgan Ingle, 11, bowed her head and prayed out loud.
“We pray that we grasp what you’re really saying Lord,” she said. “Help us step out in boldness and not be afraid to talk about the gospel.”
