NEWS FEATURE: Christian Artists Join in Tribute to Keep Cassie Bernall’s Spirit Alive

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The hardest questions raised by any tragedy often come months _ even years _ later. Immediate grief quiets and real soul searching takes root. So it is with the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., on April 20, 1999, a tragedy that highlights more than safety issues […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The hardest questions raised by any tragedy often come months _ even years _ later. Immediate grief quiets and real soul searching takes root.

So it is with the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., on April 20, 1999, a tragedy that highlights more than safety issues in schools. For many churches, its aftermath has underscored the crying need for workshops, programs and mentors to youth searching for meaning.


Cassie Bernall, who perished in the shootings, found meaning in her faith, in life and in death. Struggling to keep alive the flame of that vibrant belief, her family and friends have linked talents with Christian artists for a special tribute.

When gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold asked her if she believed in God, Bernall said yes and was shot point-blank, according to early reports on the tragedy. While questions have been raised about the accuracy of some of the initial reports, Bernall’s story continues to move millions.

Her mother, Misty Bernall, wrote “She Said Yes,” (Plough Publishing), the story of her daughter’s life. It has sold more than 500,000 copies, making it a best seller. It explores the tragedy and the often difficult issues faced by adolescents and their families.

Dubbed a martyr by some in the news media, Bernall’s most significant contribution may turn out to be focusing serious media and church attention on the perils of adolescence.

In a new video tribute, “Whatever It Takes _ The `She Said Yes’ Video Project,” friends and family tell how Bernall’s life and death influenced them. The video showcases music videos from Michael W. Smith and The Kry.

Publishers, Christian recording artists, songwriters and record labels are donating royalties from the video and a related CD, “Whatever It Takes _ The `She Said Yes’ Music Project”to the Cassie Bernall Foundation, organized following the Columbine incident.

The CD features songs by Christian powerhouses including dcTalk, Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James and The Kry, one of Bernall’s favorite bands.


The title cut, “Whatever It Takes” is taken from a poem Bernall wrote shortly before her death and is recorded by The Kry. “Whatever it takes, I will be one, Who lives in the fresh, Newness of life,” says the song’s chorus. “Of those who are alive, From the dead, Whatever the cost, Whatever it takes, I will be one, Whatever it takes.”

The 37-minute video tribute relives the Littleton tragedy but moves beyond the deep sadness it engendered in so many. Students and others describe how the massacre and its aftermath strengthened them.

“I’ve recognized more than I ever have in my life that God has a plan for me, where I fit in,” one student says in the video. A local pastor echoes such sentiments, hailing Bernall as “someone who has given us a brand new hunger to do what God would call us to do.”

Rob Michaels of Lord & Michaels’ entertainment in Brentwood, Tenn., says events like Columbine have become far too common.

He wants to remind families of what can happen to young people.

“The story of Cassie is vital in that regard,” Michaels wrote in a letter presenting the new CD and video. “This young lady was far from what she became prior to the impact a youth camp made on her life.”

The new video and CD offer “hope to both kids and parents,” Michaels contends. “People can change if given the opportunity. The Cassie Bernall Foundation hopes to provide that opportunity to kids just like Cassie _ in need of direction and desperate for hope.”


The foundation plans to:

_ Support churches providing youth scholarship funds for kids to participate in youth group trips and retreats, the kind of event that proved a turning point in Bernall’s journey.

_ Assist youth ministry projects and outreach in Littleton and surrounding areas.

_ Partner with the Cassie Bernall Home for Children, a orphanage in Honduras named for her.

_ Help with various projects in the African Sudan, a region in which Cassie Bernall was very interested.

Producer Matt Nelson of Point One Entertainment got involved with the CD and video through his friendship with Dave McPherson, pastor at Littleton’s West Bowles Community Church, which Bernall attended. Assisting with Bernall’s funeral and memorial service, Nelson came to know her parents whose “authenticity and strength” moved him, he said.

Young or middle-aged or old, most of us need something and someone to believe in. When our lives or our faith falter, we turn to others who have lived out what we may barely remember. For her friends and family, Cassie Bernall remains that kind of model.

DEAEND HOLMES

(Cecile S. Holmes, longtime religion writer, teaches journalism at the University of South Carolina. Her e-mail address is cecile.holmes(at)usc.jour.sc.edu)


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