Quizzing

Saturday March 14, 2010 marked my last district quiz round ever (as a quizzer anyway). To a lot of people Bible quizzing is just too weird. They wonder why people spend hours studying and days quizzing over books in the Bible. I would say competition is definitely a motivation, but once you really dig into the Bible, you find so much more than what you need to answer questions.
I grew up in a family that was involved in Bible quizzing with the Church of the Nazarene. From top to bottom all six kids in my family have quizzed at least one year. When the fall of 2004 came, I was ready to jump in and quiz for my local church team, Ferguson. At first it was pretty difficult. I had a hard time pre-jumping as well as studying correctly. Ben, our coach, was very dedicated to the quizzing program and he gave and still gives us a lot of his time. He has been my coach for all six years I quizzed. He as well as the competition helped me improve. Throughout my years of quizzing I have managed to make the top ten in the district multiple times despite my small reputation for getting errors. Success, however, was not what made quizzing so great to me. Yes, my team does really well and winning is definitely fun, but the things I learned and the people I got to know through quizzing have been a big part of carrying me through high school.
In quizzing, I always see the same people every month. Along with other district and regional events I eventually got to know people. The people I got to know the most were my teammates. My freshman year we had two new quizzers join our team, Christina and Rebekah. They had moved all the way from New York. Getting to know them was fun. It is amazing to me how people in our own country have different ways of saying things and adressing different situations. They are good friends and also are really good quizzers. Them getting better motivated me to get better. It was also cool to see how their whole family supported each other in different things. Other people you get to know are the adults that take time out of their busy lives to be officials at our quizzes. J.D., Randy, Janine, and Patrick were some of the officials that volunteered from our church. Patrick even became the District Quiz Director which was really cool. I met different coaches and officials everywhere we quizzed and it was amazing to see them work with the quizzers. I know they are giving time to support a ministry that they know means much more than success.
In everything I do, I want God to be at the center. And it is very difficult to acheive that goal. Bible quizzing to me was a motivation to dig into what God is saying through His Word. From Paul's sometimes confusing letters to Matthew's Old Testament-filled gospel, I learned how to dig into God's Word. One thing I learned is that being a representative of Christ is not easy. I should always be digging deeper and searching for God's will in my life. For a long time I was putting walls around me. I was not a big fan of opening up to people. Quizzing, among other things, helped me break down my walls and get to know people, strengthen my relationship with Christ, and be appreciative of what God has given me.

To those who are thinking about quizzing:

1. Just study (really study) and quiz one year and if you don't like it, fine. Just remember
that the more you study the more fun you have.
2. Don't let the jump seats intimidate you. It won't take long for you to be flying off the seat.
3. As far as Nazarene Bible Quizzing goes, you do not have to attend a Church of the
Nazarene to participate.
4. Don't let other people deter you from not doing it.


Thank you to all of those who have volunteered your time this year. Thanks to all my fellow quizzers for your support, especially my Ferguson team and coach. We still have MAX and Q2010 left!