>The Real Purpose of Bible Quizzing

>As most who read this blog know, Bible quizzing has been a huge part of my ministry for three decades. As I say too often, it is the only thing I do in which I can not lose…God’s Word hidden in hearts and minds does God’s work.

A New York quizzer who graduated last year posted this on his blog. My prayer is that every quizzer from every ministry recognizes the truth of Micah’s words:

“Nationals team selections happened a few days ago. This is the first year in six that I’m not quizzing. It’s sort of weird; only after graduating from quizzing do I grasp the sheer value of Scripture memorization and want more than ever to be at Nationals.

It hit me at some point in Minneapolis last year that the end goal is not quizzing. Quizzing is a tool that motivates people to study closely that which they would otherwise ignore. It was sort of a late revelation, but I’m happy that it came at all. All of a sudden, I truly didn’t care how I placed in the stats; the important thing was that I was equipped with several books of the Bible, and it was up to me to make sure I didn’t forget them. It seems obvious, the kind of thing that every good quizzer knows–I mean, I knew it, but somehow it never clicked until late April. It’s not the sort of thing you can beat into someone’s head by telling him over and over and over again. Once a quizzer graduates, he has to decide whether to keep on memorizing because there’s nothing more important to know than God’s Word, or to forget all that stuff because he’s too old to quiz–it was fun while it lasted.

I hope and pray that the buses home this year will be filled not with students happy that they won or bummed that they lost, but students absolutely joyful because they finally realized the blessing and power that is Word of God hidden in their hearts.”