Bible Quizzing - My Personal Journey

Bible quizzing was a whole new idea to me when Heather Gallian, my youth pastor, first suggested it to our youth group. I was intrigued when she explained that this meant studying a book of the Bible as a team and competing against other congregations. When I learned that we got to use buzzers like in real game shows, I was in like a dirty shirt!

Six of us from five Markham area churches began studying the gospel of Matthew. Heather and her husband Shane coached us and fed us as our team took over their basement apartment. We read through Matthew over and over, were quizzed on every detail of Matthew, talked about the theological implications of Matthew, even dreamed about Matthew. On the day of the quiz, we pulled into the parking lot of Listowel Mennonite Church and Shane reminded us, "Alright, team, just go out there and have fun." We all agreed, but inwardly felt much trepidation as we watched veteran teams file in with matching shirts and years of experience. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. After a long day of quizzes, mustering up every last ounce of Matthew knowledge we had, we were surprised to find ourselves in the final match. In the end, we lost to the experienced Breslau Mennonite team, but what a day! We had had so much fun and discovered new things about ourselves and Jesus' teachings. The next year, we studied Joshua even harder, and in 2007 we had two teams studying the book of Acts. We learned when to appeal and used strategy to earn bonus points. Each year, we came close to winning, but it was not the finals that mattered. At the competitions, there was a buzz of healthy competition in the air and it motivated us to do our very best. Each quiz day, we came away with a feeling of accomplishment. Last year, in my first year of university, I really missed Bible Quizzing! I went to the 2008 quiz competition on 1 Samuel and rejoiced with my Markham team when they won the finals! Living at Conrad Grebel University College, I meet other former quizzers and we reminisce about how much we loved the annual competition. This year, I am really excited to be part of the Bible Quiz Task Group, helping to organize the 2009 Bible quiz on the Gospel of Luke. It is really inspiring to see all the work that goes into planning this meaningful day and the energy that Bible Quiz leaders have for the event. I plan to volunteer as a judge and someday become a Quiz Master. I am so happy to continue involvement in Bible Quizzing and am truly excited for all the teams getting to know the book of Luke. Happy Studying!