MANSFIELD — Seven high school juniors walked along a busy Mansfield street Friday morning with honks of support from friends and strangers.
Mansfield Christian junior Gabe Westfield said he remembered carrying a cross at Berean Baptist Church when he was younger and wanted to get his school friends together to try that again.
Westfield and his classmates, Connor Loose, Anthony Smith, Luke Zerby, Tristan Johnson, Davis Wushinske and Brock Rentzel, traded a cross between them while walking along Lexington Avenue from Goodwill to St. Peter’s Catholic Church and back.
Loose said the group heard multiple honks of support from people driving. A stranger also greeted them in the Goodwill parking lot as the group ended their walk to pray with them.
“I think it’s just a good reminder of what Jesus went through,” Loose said. “We talk about it in church, but we wanted to physically carry a cross too to show that we’re willing to do that.”
Rentzel said the 3.5-foot cross, loaned out by Mansfield Christian School secondary Bible teacher Cory Branham, was difficult to carry between him and his friends.
“Even us carrying that small cross between all of our healthy bodies was difficult, so I just imagined Jesus with his whole back and body beaten doing that for a quarter mile,” Rentzel said.
Shawn Zerby, Luke Zerby’s father, said he didn’t know about the group’s plan until Friday morning.
“This wasn’t a planned school activity, they planned it all on their own,” Zerby said. “I felt really proud when I learned about it because you see them accomplish things in academics and sports, which is great.
“But their faith is more important than all that other stuff. I would have been sleeping in at their age, but they all got up and did this together, and hopefully inspired some people.”
