The Real Heroes of #BringYourBible: 5 Student Stories in 5 Years

This Thursday, October 4, more than half a million students from across the United States will join the Bring Your Bible to School Day movement. The annual student-led event, now in its fifth year, began with a simple goal – to empower kids to share God's love with their friends and celebrate religious freedom.

Students sign up on BringYourBible.org, and throughout the day, they broadcast their experience via social media using #BringYourBible.

Participation is voluntary and student-directed, which means the real heroes of Bring Your Bible to School Day are the kids who make it happen.

Sometimes real heroes are hard to come by, but these five student stories demonstrate the power of God's Word in the hands of young people:

1) Ethan: "What if I'm the only Bible that these people get in their life?"

For Ethan, #BringYourBible is an opportunity not only to share God's love with his peers, but to embrace healing in his own life. Scripture became a lifeline for Ethan as he watched his father's tragic battle with drug addiction, which resulted in his death last December.

Now Ethan wants to share that same lifeline with his friends at school.

"Trying to stay strong and be rooted in my faith, it's all about this—my Bible," Ethan says. "Especially when you're attacked and when you're at an all-time low, you can just pull those Bible verses out of the back of your mind and they give you courage, they give you strength, and they give you the will to carry on. I've had a lot more people ask me questions about my faith and what I believe. [Bring Your Bible to School Day has] opened up a lot of opportunities for ongoing conversations."

2) Isabella: "[I felt God] kind of nudging at my heart."

When Isabella first learned about Bring Your Bible to School Day, she wasn't sure she wanted to participate. "I was kind of afraid that kids at my school were gonna judge me or that they would make fun of me," she recalls. But Isabella felt God "kind of nudging at my heart," and decided to get involved.

Although hesitant about the potential fallout of talking about the Bible and prayer at her public school, Isabella persisted with the support of her parents and equipped with information about her rights from the Bring Your Bible web site. By the time the day finally arrived, Isabella had succeeded in getting posters about the event displayed in the school lunch room and had gained the confidence to lead her classmates in a voluntary prayer before classes. "

This is a new thing for me," Isabella said, "because at our school, it's not normal to see kids praying or doing that type of stuff... I feel like a lot more people were more open to us just having our Bibles there, just having prayer."

3) Hailey: "This was a great idea to share with other kids that Jesus loves them."

For Hailey and her brother, Hunter, Bring Your Bible to School Day turned into an opportunity to break down cultural barriers.

They handed out more than 60 Bibles—in both English and Spanish translations—to kids at their dual-language school in California.

Leading up to the event, Hailey and a few friends even spent their recess time translating Bring Your Bible promotional posters into Spanish so that no one would be left out.

Their efforts resulted in the establishment of an ongoing Bible discussion group. "Because of Bring Your Bible to School Day, I feel more open about talking to Jesus at school," she says.

4) Lettie: "When you bring Jesus into a school area, it makes the whole place seem happy and bright."

Like many Christian kids, 13-year-old Lettie assumed that she wasn't allowed to carry her Bible or talk about Jesus in the halls of her public school. So when she learned about Bring Your Bible to School Day and discovered these things were legal, she was thrilled. Lettie told her friends about it, and even before the day arrived, they began bringing their Bibles and praying together at their lunch table.

As the event drew near, they also posted inspirational Scriptures and messages on their lockers. On Bring Your Bible to School Day, almost half of the kids in Lettie's class brought their Bibles to school with them, and the response was similar in other classes.

"When you bring Jesus into a school area, it makes the whole place seem happy and bright," Lettie says. In fact, she made a commitment to spread that brightness far beyond the one-day event. Her principal granted her permission to start an after-school club called the "Christ Crew," a once-a-month gathering for prayer and Bible study.

5) Carson: "I told them that anyone who wanted [a Bible] could have one ... we ran low on fifth graders."

A #BringYourBible veteran, Carson first got involved in our very first Bring Your Bible to School Day in 2014, and he's been an enthusiastic participant ever since. He started a project to collect donations and then purchase and distribute Bibles for kids who might want them.

Carson didn't face any opposition from his school, but he did face opposition from a classmate. "He's like, 'There is no proof that God exists, and you shouldn't believe it because it's not something that is true,'" Carson recalls.

But when Bring Your Bible to School Day rolled around again the following year, that same skeptical classmate had a change of heart. "This year he asked for a Bible the first time I brought them in," Carson says. "I gave him one; I think he's been reading it occasionally."

The times have been dark lately. Our culture feels divisive and chaotic, and kids (and grown-ups) are busy searching for hope and meaning. It's these students – Ethan, Isabella, Hailey, Lettie, Carson, and thousands of other who love the Word – who shine a bright line in the darkness. Please join us in praying for Bring Your Bible to School Day this Thursday, October 4.