“became intrigued by the seemingly complex but yet extraordinarily simple message. You see, Jesse is a typical British teenager- only concerned with what is immediately around him. He had heard of different supposed gods, on TV, in random emails, and even in the form of some missionaries from a church he vaguely remembered to be something along the lines of “”latter day saints”” that had come to his door. He’d paid no heed to them, however- except for this man. This man was unlike those others that he had heard from before; he engaged Jesse in a hypnotizing, almost other-worldly trance. The screen flickered with static, indicative of 1980s filmography, and the man’s voice boomed, pushing to the limit his phone’s diminutive speakers. Jesse spent that whole day watching that man, listening to his words, recording them, and even taking some notes.
The next day Jesse woke up feeling groggy. He’d been watching the mysterious man speak through his screen until he fell asleep watching. The teen brushed his teeth, washed his face, and lumbered out of the house on his way to his local grocery store. Jesse arrived and was in the process of asking the butcher for a specific cut of meat that his mom had asked him for- until he stopped dead in his tracks. Jesse did a double take as he looked to the left and magnified his eyes as if they were a telescope. “”Mate, anything else?”” the confused, and slightly irritated butcher asked Jesse. He replied in the negative and pulled away to the left. An impossibility. The man who he had seen in the videos was there, in the flesh! Surrounded by a few men in suits, Jesse was almost afraid to approach him. What if he didn’t want to be bothered? Surely a man with millions of views on YouTube couldn’t care to be bothered by a normal British teenager. Nervously, Jesse approached. The man directed his gaze towards the boy and outstretched his hand; Jesse reciprocated and started to fumble his words. The man replied in a warm, fatherly tone; Jesse was surprised that he was willing to talk to him.
Jesse stood in that grocery store for an hour and a half, talking to the man who seemed eager to speak to him. He left the conversation, and the store, with one phrase echoing in his head, in a twangy, yet comforting accent; “”Son, Jesus loves you.”” Jesse pulled the business card the man had given him before he left. There was an American phone number, and the man’s name: Billy Graham.
25 years later
Pastor Richardson turned the key in his car’s ignition on a cold Sunday morning. He raced out of his driveway; there was a man that he had promised to pick up on his way to church. Worried that he wouldn’t make it to the 10:00 am service, the pastor gunned it; after all, his congregation was waiting on him.
Pastor Richardson arrived at the man’s home; the man climbed into the front seat. “”Thanks for coming to get me, Pastor; my car is in the shop for some repairs.”” “”Don’t worry, Sam. And by the way, call me Jesse.”””
This story was submitted as part of the Oxford Pilot Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project.
“became intrigued by the seemingly complex” (S126) © 2026 by The Gen Z Role Models Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Leave a Reply