BibleQuizzer.net

My story in bible quizzing started in about 4th grade. At this point in time things like junior age quizzing were still a decade away, even Jr. High quizzing didn’t really take off until I was in Jr. High. Our church had quizzing every Sunday night before the evening service and so as a 4th grader every once in awhile I would pass on a football game and go up and watch. Before long, maybe by 5th grade I was able to convince the youth pastor to let me fill a pad every now and then. It didn’t take much before I realized this was something I really wanted to do and would end up doing for the next ten or so years.

I have always been pretty competitive and I had also grown up in a church that encouraged memorizing scripture through AWANA and other programs. So to be able to mix those two was a no brainer for me. Until my 8th grade year those younger than high school did not have the chance in our program to travel to any of the national tournaments. We did have the chance to watch some really good quizzers and I have to say these individuals more than anything else helped to keep me interested in quizzing. They helped model for me both the competitiveness and discipline it took to be a good quizzer, but even more than that the application and understanding of what they were learning to their lives. From my vantage point it seemed that quizzing helped to shape the life decisions they made. This is one of the great benefits of bible quizzing. Yes, it is a competition and we all work really hard to do well at it, but we are putting in effort to learn something that is beneficial long after the quizzing is over.

Bible quizzing provided me with some wonderful memories. I had the awesome chance to get to quiz together with some of my best friends. From 8th grade – 12th grade we had the chance to travel all over the country to Michigan and Illinois, California and Kansas City, Georgia and South Carolina. Sometimes those trips went as planned and sometimes 7 hours turned into 40+ hours driving through blizzards, cancelled flights, missing SCQUANIT and arriving well after midnight the morning AACS started – but we always had a good time. I built some great friendships that I still have – even being separated by thousands of miles – and learned lots along the way. We were also fortunate enough to have some really great success – and some failures – and these were lessons God used to show us what it was that truly mattered. Because as big as AACS or SCQUANIT or the CI are they are tools to help shape character and encourage young people to spend time learning and understanding the Bible.

After I graduated in 2005 I went to college at Northland and studied for a BA in 2009 and a MA in 2010. During that time I also married an incredibly wonderful girl. We certainly don’t know exactly what God’s plan is for us in the future. He has burdened us both to be a part of seeing the Gospel go around the world and so that is what we are living to do. For the past year and a half we have been living overseas and living as believers where we are and helping to see the Gospel reach more people. We have seen God teach us and grow us a lot. I am so grateful for the foundation I have in the Bible that came from bible quizzing. Wherever he leads us – whether full time ministry or another field – the time spent in studying the Bible will continue to be beneficial. Even five or six years removed I still constantly find passages I memorized coming to mind and shaping my thinking in life. In my opinion bible quizzing is a worthwhile pursuit on the way to knowing God and loving and serving Him.

I’m grateful for the chance to learn how to go deep in learning and memorizing the word of God and hope that “by reason of use” we are able to apply it to make wise decisions for life (Heb 5:11-15) living in a way that brings glory to God.

Bible Quizzing! What amazing memories I have. High school would not have been the same without it. I loved being a part of the team. We worked so hard together and had so much fun together. If it were not for Bible Quiz, I would not have gotten to travel the United States. Because of Bible Quiz, I have traveled to Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. One of my favorite memories is when we were driving to Colorado in February of 2003. That year’s section was the book of John. We had all memorized different chapters, and on the drive there we took turns quoting our chapters. We quoted through chapter one to chapter twenty-one. It was as if someone had just read the whole book aloud. It was such a neat experience.

There were so many great plane rides, van rides, late nights, and visits to new restaurants to us such as Waffle House and Cracker Barrel. We became like a family, spending so much time together and working together for a common purpose. We worked very hard, but always tried to make it a lot of fun also. We had amazing coaches. Mrs. Barber even memorized chapters along with us! She would patiently listen to us and check our verses as we quoted them forwards, backwards, sideways, and backwards sideways! Mrs. Barber and Coach Bickley constantly pushed us, encouraged us, motivated us, practiced with us, fundraised with us, and traveled with us. They were the major reason for our success as a team.

Bible Quiz has definitely helped me with my journey into adulthood. Mrs. Barber used to quote Psalm 119:11 to us: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” I think that Bible memorization helped me to stay in relationship with God, committed to Him and His plan for my life. It also helped me greatly in college. I attended Biola University and majored in Christian Education Ministries, with a minor in Biblical Studies. Having knowledge of the Scriptures greatly helped me with all of my classes at Biola. Not only did it help me with college, but just in every day life it has helped. When different situations arise, a verse I memorized years ago may pop into my head, or when someone is trying to remember a reference for a verse, I can direct them to the book and chapter. I have such a frame of reference for the New Testament after having spent so much time memorizing those verses. I can still visualize certain verses and where they were located on the page in my New Testament that I memorized from. I think that Bible Quiz has also helped my memory. I am currently a substitute teacher, and as a sub I am in different classes and different schools all the time. I am able to memorize students names fairly quickly, which greatly helps me and surprises the students. Bible Quiz has helped me in major ways and in small ways, and I am grateful for all of it!

Words of encouragement to current students:

Work hard. Bible Quiz is a sport that will help you reap benefits for the rest of your life. You are memorizing God’s Word-enjoy it! Remember what a privilege and a blessing it is in your life. Get to know the book that you are memorizing. Read a commentary on it; do some research on it. It will help you understand what you are memorizing better, giving you a context and perspective on your chapters. Appreciate and thank your coaches! They really are working so hard for you and are investing in your life more than you can even imagine. Lastly, get to know the quizzers from other teams. It makes quizzing all the more enjoyable.

I would love to hear from any quizzers past or present! You can find me on facebook or email me at justine.cassaro@gmail.com.

Justine Teixeira, now Justine Cassaro Valley CA Class of 2004 The Bible Quiz through the Eyes Series

Late in the tournament, question 19, the score is 130, 130, 130. As a quizzer these are the types of situations that I both hate and love. It’s great to be in those situations and survive. Even if you win, the nerve-racking nature of the situation is terrifying, and to be so close and yet still lose is utterly depressing.

While it is quite enjoyable to win, I think my best memories of Bible Quiz come from the fun and fellowship surrounding practices and tournaments. Long car rides, mental exhaustion combined with lame jokes, card games, inordinately large piles of flash cards, interaction with other quizzers, and intense theological discussions all contribute to my favorite memories of Bible Quiz. In fact, these memories and experiences are closely linked to the motivation of Bible Quiz. Without the element of competition I would have memorized very little, and if it were not for dedicated teammates, parents, and coaches who provided accountability I would have memorized even less.

The most important and most extensive benefits of my Bible Quiz experience have risen from consistent contact and familiarity with the Scriptures. At the very first Bible Quiz meeting at Calvary I remember Mrs. Warren, who at the time was introducing some at Calvary to Bible Quiz, stressing the phrase “quiz to memorize.” Due to my godly parents I knew God’s Word was important, and as a competitive individual Bible Quiz motivated me to memorize. Consequently, through the accountability and competitive incentive of Bible Quiz I interacted with God’s Word on a level and to a degree which I doubt I could have duplicated through participation in any other program.

Though memorizing God’s Word guarantees very little, it provides extreme opportunities for growth. The ability to perfectly quote a passage of Scripture at a given moment guarantees practically nothing—not even the certainty of correctly answering “quote this verse” questions in a quiz. Scripture however does guarantee that God’s Word will not return void, and entrusting Scripture to memory provides interaction with God’s Word that stimulates spiritual growth.

The Lord used Bible Quiz in my life in many ways, especially to strengthen and purify my thoughts and to increase my understanding and knowledge of God and His Word. This occurred not only on an intellectual level but also a personal and relational level. The sheer demand of Bible Quiz aided me in controlling my thought life. When an individual strives to memorize verses, chapters, and books of Scripture any concept of mental free-time rapidly disappears. Even under these circumstances I constantly battled wrong thoughts, but I cannot imagine how much worse the battle would have been if I had not participated in Bible Quiz. Beyond occupying mental capacity, Scripture memorization armed me to combat wrong thoughts and unbiblical worldviews. Knowledge of specific locations in Scripture where God has revealed His truth decreased my efforts to justify sin and increased my motivation to obey God.

David Tyrrell Calvary FL Class of 2010 The Bible Quiz through the Eyes Series

As a seventh grader, my parents informed me that I would be in the Bible­-quiz class at Faith Christian School in Clinton Township, MI. I proceeded with mixed emotions. I loved competition but was a little unsure about the “write 10 or say 20” verse memory policy in the class. Nonetheless, my parents had made their decision, and so I found myself in a position in which I would need to learn to memorize, and memorize quickly! It was not long before I realized that Bible Quiz was really fun and that the fun increased in direct proportion to the amount of time that you studied and the amount of verses that you had memorized.

That first year, I quizzed on our school’s Jr. High B team. My coach, Mrs. Lee (an incredible lady!), always pushed me harder and encouraged me that I could be a good quizzer if I would just take it to the next level, learn references, and memorize more chapters. I took her up on the challenge. I went on to quiz in high school for Coach Matt Fenton. My freshman and sophomore years, our team won several tournaments throughout the season: State, Marquette Manor, and our own tournament in Michigan. We made the trip to SCQANIT and AACS those years and finished in the top-­3 in both tournaments for two consecutive years (I distinctly remember getting absolutely annihilated by Woodside in the finals at Nationals my sophomore year)! Second, was the best any other team could have hoped for!

At that point in my life, Bible Quiz was life! At the start of my junior year, our state pulled out of the AACS. Naturally, that decision meant no more Nationals for quizzing, and left our team devastated and without much motivation for study or practice. Quite honestly, this situation revealed that I had not participated in quiz with the best motives. I loved competition. I loved winning. I loved going on trips. I loved spending time with our team and coach. Sadly, loving to quiz on the Word of God did not flow from a love for the God of the Word. When God took Nationals from our team, God was actually lovingly removing an idol from my life. I’m thankful for the wisdom and grace of God!

Even though my motives for quiz were fairly self-­centered, I rejoice that God providentially placed me in quizzing and, more importantly, that His Word was poured into my heart and simultaneously burned into my memory. During my senior year of high school, God got a hold of my heart through the godly friendship of a great friend. I was amazed at how all the memorized Scripture starting coming to life to me and how God began to transform my desires from the inside out. After graduation, I went off to Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, WI. I finished my B.S. in 2007, my M.A. in 2008, and joined the staff as the Director of Student Activities and Ministries.

During that time, the Lord directed my wife Emiley and me to plant Lakewood Baptist Church in Delafield, WI (a Milwaukee suburban community). As a scared 22 year old, when we first started Bible studies in our community, I taught the book of Philippians, a book that I had memorized well in Bible Quiz. We have served here for just over 2 years and have seen God work through His Word in some amazing ways. As a young pastor, I thank God that the Word of God became part of me as a high-­schooler. I cannot begin to count the number of times that the Holy Spirit has brought the Word of God to my mind in the midst of a sermon, a counseling session, or an opportunity to speak the gospel. Jesus prayed in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” I’m thankful for the Word’s power to sanctify!

David Marriott Faith MI Class of 2003 The Bible Quiz through the Eyes Series

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