Saturday, July 19, 1997

Inexpensive bracelet puts kids on spiritual path

By MAUREEN HAYDEN

Scripps Howard News Service

When a former classmate embarrassed 11-year-old Zachary Mollette, of Evansville, Ind., by calling him a string of nasty names, the first thing Zachary wanted was revenge.

But then the fifth-grader remembered the narrow cloth band wrapped snugly around his wrist and the letters woven into it.

The letters, WWJD, set the course for what Zachary did next.

"I asked him to be my friend," said Zachary.

What Zachary was wearing that day and every day since was a simple $1.50 wristband that has created a stir across the country and delivered more than one child from temptation.

Known as the "WWJD bracelets," the simple piece of jewelry, sold in Christian bookstores across the nation, reminds its wearers to ask a simple question before they act: "What Would Jesus Do?"

The bracelets have become the hot item among Christian youth.

Two Christian bookstores in Indiana that carry them are frantically trying to keep up with demand, which skyrocketed this spring after some national television exposure.

"They're selling like hotcakes," said Kevin Barnett, senior salesman with the Family Bookstore in Evansville. "They go like candy off a shelf."

Although they've been called the Christian version of the Beanie Baby, the bracelets' creator hopes they're not just a passing trend.

"We don't want them to be just another fad," said Mike Freestone, sales representative for the Lesco Corp. in Holland, Mich.

"We think it's a message people will carry with them long after they stop wearing the bracelets."

Lesco actually made the first bracelets eight years ago for the youth group at the Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church in Holland, Mich.

The Holland youth group and its minister had just finished reading the Christian classic "In His Steps" by Charles M. Sheldon.

The novel, written in 1896, is the story of the Rev. Henry Maxwell and his wealthy, complacent congregation, which is disturbed during a prayer meeting when a poor, starving stranger stumbles into the church. The stranger, who had searched in vain for help, collapses. But before he dies, he asks: "What would Jesus do? Is that what you mean by following in his steps?"

The dramatic death leads Maxwell to challenge his congregation to spend the next year living with the ever-present question: "What would Jesus do?"

The Holland church youth group was so moved by the story that they asked Lesco, a family-owned promotional business, to help them hang on to the book's message.

So Lesco's owners came up with the idea of putting the WWJD on inexpensive bracelets. Word traveled fast, and soon churches across the country were ordering the bracelets by the boxload.

Last year, several national bookstore chains contacted Lesco about selling them retail. Based on first quarter sales this year, Freestone predicts a million WWJD bracelets will be sold by December.

The price of the bracelets has been kept intentionally low, and will stay that way, Freestone said, so that children can buy them and pass them on.

"If you wear one, someone is going to ask you about it," said Freestone.

"So you tell them the story behind it, and then you are supposed to give it to that person, so they can know Jesus, too."

For Zachary and his classmates at Evansville Christian School, the WWJD bracelets have become a powerful tool to use in a tempting and fearful world.

"I was at the mall with some kids who wanted me to steal something from a store," said NeeCee Peckinpaugh, 11.

"It was hard to say I didn't want to, because I wanted to be part of their group. But that was the day I had bought my bracelet, and it helped me say no to them."

Katie Alvey, 10, found the bracelet helped her resist cheating on a test, even though she thinks she could have gotten away with it.

"The devil was really tempting me to cheat. But I looked at my bracelet and knew Jesus wouldn't have cheated," she said.

Some of the students say they've used the bracelet to help them get through difficult times, such as a parents' divorce, a mother's chronic illness or a father's job loss.

One child, fearful her father wouldn't have enough money to pay next year's tuition at the school, volunteered to go to public school so her younger siblings could stay at Evansville Christian.

"I think that's what Jesus would want me to do," she said.

The students also say it's not the bracelet but the message that gives them strength.

"I lose a lot of things," said Becca Heck, 11, "so I will probably lose this bracelet, but I'll remember what it said.

"These bracelets might go out of fashion, but people will always keep the love they get from them in their hearts."

(Maureen Hayden is a reporter at the Evansville (Ind.) Courier.)