WVN. It changed my life.

A couple weeks into the school year, my roommates and I got a call from our new Home Evening brothers inviting us to “watch a church movie thing.” We didn’t know then that we were being invited to the world renowned WVN — the best thing to hit Sunday night since the Wonderful World of Disney.

We made our walk to Somerset apartment lounge at 9 p.m. that first night and have been faithfully trudging there every week since.

So what exactly is WVN? Weekly Values Night is a chance for fellow students to gather in a spirit of friendship, watch an award-winning church movie produced by BYU before many of us were born and help each other with problems and concerns that we all have. In fact, of all the concerns expressed, the movies we have watched have solved 100 percent of them. I repeat, 100 percent.

The movies have helped other students and myself solve problems like how to avoid a stalker, how to help and encourage a less-active friend, how to avoid the “bad boy” motorcycle image, how to deal with family over the holiday break and how to stand up to your girlfriend.

WVN helps us to “surge forward in the week with an extra pocket of values,” said Sam Barker, a BYU-Idaho graduate from Bountiful, Utah, and one of the founders of WVN. “WVN isn’t just a bunch of old out-of-touch people trying to make your life miserable. It’s young people helping young people. It’s not us, it’s you — you and the video helping you,” he said with trademark sarcastic seriousness.

Not only do we become better people spiritually, we also get to know each other, enjoy one another’s talents and learn valuable skills during SSS: Spotlight, Safety, Skill.

I have witnessed six guys perform the amazing and death-defying walking pyramid, learned how to save an injured roommate from a burning building and how to overcome oppressive lines of people.

Joe Strickland, a sophomore from Martinez, Calif., takes credit for the birth of this one-of-a-kind event. “Sunday just didn’t feel like Sunday because there was always football on TV. It was actually the night of the Super Bowl that I decided we needed to do something about it,” he said.

So Strickland, Barker and Paul Dean, a senior from Samamish, Wash., decided to gather friends to view a more uplifting program. In February 2004, it started out with only 15 people gathered in one apartment, but it has grown to a record of 54 people.

One unforgettable evening I had the privilege to play the prestigious part of “Rally L,” opposite my counterpart “Rally V.” In other words, we got to turn the lights and VCR on and off, respectively.

We are entertained, we solve problems, we gain values, but that’s not all. Dean said it’s more than that: WVN means family. “F=friendship, A=accountability, M=motivation, I=Ingenuity, L=Love, Y=Why not?”

And this spirit of family has spread all over the country. WVN has “branches” in Nevada, Texas, Ohio, Utah and California.

But here in Rexburg, for whatever reason, WVN has staked out a corner in my heart — the values and skills I have learned have changed me beyond ever going back. And it’s such a magnificent event, as Barker said, “it just shows that people don’t come for the treats.”

So, the next time you need help. skip the shrink and give WVN a try.