(10–15 minutes, moderate set-up)
For each group of two to three students, provide a flashlight and several pens. Download the “Scripture Tag” PDF. Print a copy, and cut apart the Scripture references. Before the lesson, hide the Scripture references throughout the room. Or, if you have purchased the Becoming Student Book, turn to page 8. Make sure your students have Bibles.

PDF Option: If you have hidden the Scripture references, divide students into groups of two or three. Give each group a flashlight and several pens. Explain that students will search the room for Scripture references. The first team to find all five wins. Turn off the lights, and begin the game.

Book Option: If you have the Becoming Student Books, divide students into groups of two or three. Give each group a flashlight and several pens. Explain that students will be racing to find five Scripture references in the margins of the Student Book. But, they will have to do so in the dark using their flashlights. Say: The verse references are backwards! To read one, you’ll have to find it, turn to the next page, and shine the flashlight from behind that page. Explain that the first team to locate the verses and record them on page 8 wins. Turn off the lights, and start the contest.

When you have a winner, end the contest, but don’t turn on the lights. Instruct a student with a flashlight to read aloud the first Scripture passage. Ask another volunteer to read the next passage, letting students pass around flashlights as necessary. Continue until all passages have been read. Then, ask: Has anyone figured out the theme of the verses? (Light and darkness in Scripture) (If you have purchased the Becoming Student Book, instruct students to write the theme in the blank space provided on page 8.) Explain that when Paul encountered Christ in a blinding light, he experienced a metaphor of what his life was like before Christ: Paul was living in darkness. Christ brought him into the light.

Ask: Could you have found the verses without flashlights? What did the light do to the darkness? (It chased it away.) Say: Wherever the light is, darkness vanishes. Read Matthew 5:14–16. Say: Because of Christ’s love in you, you are light in a dark world. Remember this activity as we think about our identities. No matter how dark your past, God takes a broken story and brings life and hope to it. Paul is evidence of that.