On Thursday mornings, seven North Hall Middle School athletes are lured out of bed by thoughts of scratch-made biscuits with a side of Jesus.

As the eighth-grade boys huddle around a small table in the cozy dining room of the Biscuit Delite on Thompson Bridge Road, they gobble down sausage biscuits and Scripture.

Kristian Krebs, 14, plays football at North Hall Middle School. He said he and five fellow teammates plus a North Hall Middle soccer player started meeting at the biscuit house before school this fall after many of the boys attended an inspiring beach retreat last summer with the Lakewood Baptist Church youth group.

Jon Hunt, 14, said the beach retreat featured a particularly inspiring speaker.

"He was a great speaker and a lot of people decided to change their lives," Hunt said. "We decided to keep meeting. That's why we came here. We need to work toward God, and we wanted to grow closer, too, as friends through God."

Hunt said during football season the boys met before school to pray for something they all wanted - to win their upcoming game. But soon the boys' scope widened.

"After we eat, we read Scripture and talk about how we bring Jesus back into our school and help people to know him better," Krebs said.

"It feels a lot fresher," said Will Kendrick, 14. "You get everything off your back and then you can go to school feeling better."

The boys said Matt Babcock, the youth minister at Lakewood Baptist Church, as well as Matt McMillan, a college freshman who interned at the church, have helped them to stay on the right track.

Harrison Patton, 14, said he hopes to inspire others as he has been inspired. He said he's already noticed a few of his friends are starting to adopt Christian morals and are growing kinder in the way they treat others.

"If they see us happy, they'll ask us why we're so happy," Patton said. "And we'll tell them it's because Christ is in our hearts and hopefully they'll follow us."

Carter Pinson, 14, said Matt McMillan has served as a great role model for the group of boys. He said it's been helpful to have someone around who was in his 14-year-old shoes not so long ago.

"If we get off track and are doing stuff we know we shouldn't be doing, he helps us get on track with God," Pinson said.

Hunt said last summer transformed the group. Before they had "a change" in their lives, he said they used to get in trouble a lot.

These days, the boys said they're making better grades and staying out of detention. In fact, Hunt wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to North Hall Middle School principal Brad Brown and teacher Barbara Jenkins for his poor behavior in the past.

"I have a lot of affection for y'all even though I haven't shown it in prior years," he said.

As for staying on track with God, the boys said the Thursday morning meetings won't fall by the wayside once they start high school next year.

"Once you're close to God, your faith is not easily shaken," Hunt said.