Building Lives Around Sound Truth by Abigail

Building Lives Around Sound Truth by Abigail - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

During my freshman year, I came into high school with a vision. I wanted to make the student body a more family-oriented, selfless group, but how could I do that? I searched for opportunities to better my school system and after a couple of weeks, I came to a startling realization.
I was sitting at lunch with my friends when a conversation arose about religion, and why it was so difficult as a high schooler to attend church regularly or hold any religious beliefs. It struck me that many teenagers who want to follow God or know more about the Bible have very few resources, or feel uncomfortable asking friends or teachers because they don’t want to be judged. This conversation led me to the idea of our school youth group, Building Lives Around Sound Truth.
In the time leading up to the group’s start, I spoke with my youth pastor about ways to minister and teach the word of God to people who weren’t sure of their religion or wanted more knowledge about the subject. I was wary at first, but when the group started meeting, I was ecstatic about the results. I advertised the meeting to my classmates and the high school and the first day, I had forty-five people show up at the meeting! We held a short service and talked about the ways God can impact people and their dreams. The club was available to anyone, even those who weren’t sure of their faith or they were questioning the certainty of God.
With this club, I have been able to create a positive impact on our school by completely changing the environment of our school community. We are able to be much more open with each other and discuss problems that we can solve through our faith, and we are much more connected with each other now. Not only this, but I have gotten our school to be much more committed to serving the community and being there for one another. After a couple of months of starting the club, we started to do service activities around our area. We served at the soup kitchen, the nursing home, and we went to our local elementary school and read to the kindergarteners there. Through our work, it made a big difference in the life of many high schoolers and their attitudes towards serving others. It made a lot of people learn the values of humility, selflessness, empathy, and kindness. We were able to make a positive impact on many people in the community and it showed me and others that we are all truly blessed and we should look on the positive side of things rather than the negative side. Even for those not directly involved in the club, they saw the positivity and warmth spreading throughout the school from God’s word. For those involved in the club, some found a church family, others found a sound group of friends to support them and guide them throughout their journeys, and others have learned about what it takes to be a good person in a world filled with temptations.
I cannot believe the impact that this club has had on our school environment and the people in it. Through my leadership and faith, I have been able to teach a lot of my peers scripture and the values that come along with it. I believe that our school system would be completely different without Building Lives Around Sound Truth, and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to impact the lives of those around me in a positive way.