The Bible Bowl

 

Every year, an annual Bible Bowl Competition is held in mid-May. On May 17 th 2008, the third Bible Bowl Competition was held in Woodlake, California during the Special Meetings. The competition involves four branch churches in California. This includes Richmond, Sacramento, Woodlake, and Los Angeles. Each year, new chapters are selected from the Bible and a series of challenging questions are asked. The team with the most correct answers overall, takes the trophy home. For the 2008 Bible Bowl Competition, the trophy went to Los Angeles. Each team really worked hard, and despite who the real winner was, we all still felt like winners!

 

For many months, prior to the competition, contestants on each team put lots of work and effort into the preparation for the competition. The biggest factor was to study, study, and study. Many hours were put by individual efforts, and by team efforts. The chapters selected for this year were Genesis chapters 1 through chapter 11. The book of Genesis provides an essential foundation for the remainder of the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and all subsequent Biblical revelation. The chapters chosen preserve the only trustworthy record about the beginnings of the universe, humankind, marriage, sin, cities and languages. These foundational teachings were particularly beneficial to the youths.

 

Just how challenging was the competition? Just think of being in front of a large audience, sitting at a table with two people next to you, and a buzzer for each of you. The types of questions that were asked included multiple choice, fill in the blank, complete the verse, and true or false. There were several rounds, and the winner was determined by the number of accurate answers supplied. Some teams were eliminated and the remaining two teams entered into the final round. This year, it was the Sacramento and the Los Angeles teams. Finally, Los Angeles proved to the impartial judges that they were worthy of the trophy.

 

Woodlake team members were very colorful in being called the “Coats of Many Colors.” With only a four man team, we, the Richmond “Gideon Knights” were “few but mighty!” The Sacramento team was the “Sacramento Aviators” and they soared into second place this year. Los Angeles, or “God's Young Souljaz” proved their victory, in being the champions. Each and every team endeavored till the end and realized that it was not just about the victory. The most important thing was that we all learned new things from God's word and we are praying that God should hide his word in all of our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

 

Read about last year's Bible Bowl here.