Students Take Bible Lab to the Streets

Story by Esther Hernandez

Every other Friday, students at Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) have Bible Lab—a day when students take what they’ve learned in Bible class and live it out.

Bible Lab kicked off with students visiting the nearby town of Hamburg and surveying residents to learn how they could help. They, including sophomore John Vine and freshman Lukas Buggel (pictured), offered free yard work, health checks and invited neighbors to BMA campus events. And at every door, these young people offered to pray with those they met.

“My favorite part of Bible Lab was meeting a woman named Merlena. She and her husband ... are both handicapped. ... They were very grateful that we came and offered to help with their yard work,” shares junior Trisha Amanda Smith.

“Total Community Involvement (TCI) is an initiative that started as California-based Weimar Academy and Weimar University sought to reach the community. Their students go into the community every week to connect with people. We wanted to do that here,” says Sanghae Kim, BMA chaplain. “Often, I meet people who are not members of our church. They recognize there is a school [nearby] but they cannot even tell us what the name is. ... Ellen White writes that Jesus mingled with the people and met their needs, then invited them to follow Him. We are going door to door and meeting people where they live, discovering what their needs are, and then helping them. ... We know that we can make a difference, not only in the community, but in the lives of our students.”