Story last updated at 8:36 a.m. Tuesday, May 6, 2003

Teenagers find fun at church by playing war games on imaginary battlefield
BY PAUL BOWERS
Ink contributor

A battlefield is set up in the fellowship hall. Tables are turned over, cardboard boxes are set up, and chairs, pillows, chalkboards and other creative barriers are strewn about the room. I crouch behind a table, my heart pounding as I squeeze the safety on my pistol.

Of course, we're not using real guns. They're airsoft guns, which shoot plastic pellets. And we're not trying to inflict serious injury, either.

FORD ADAMS/INK CONTRIBUTOR

Paul Bowers takes cover as he participates in the airsoft wars at his church.

We have these "wars" most weekends at my church, the Fellowship of Oakbrook.

The rules are simple. Two teams stand on opposite sides of the room, wait for the signal to go and then fire away. One hit and you're out. The team with the last men standing wins.

Some stay hidden behind barriers the whole time, while some are brave (or stupid) enough to charge into the other team's base, hoping to hit someone with a barrage of BBs. My strategy is to dive from barrier to barrier toward the other end of the room, then peek up every once in a while to squeeze off a few rounds from my semi-automatic pistol. I'm not very good at it.

While it's perfectly safe, everyone has to wear protective goggles or paintball masks to protect their eyes. No other protection is used. Sounds like a sissy alternative to paintball, right? Not exactly. You'd have to feel a plastic BB smacking your forehead at around 300 feet per second to understand.

People bring all kinds of airsoft guns: pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles and everything in between. While a low-end, $15 pistol is plenty of firepower for the medium-sized room we play in, it's a point of pride to own a gun that leaves welts. For the guys who play airsoft, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Then the bragging begins. It's always fun to show off your scars on Sunday morning. It might sound kind of weird that a bunch of guys get together at church to shoot each other, but it's just a fun thing we do to hang out as a youth group. It's not a Bible study or a worship service like we have on Friday nights. It's just a chance for fellowship, as our church's name suggests.

Paul Bowers, 14, is an eighth-grader at Rollings School of the Arts.