I have a Black Belt and I’m not afraid to use it! But it is not in Karate (in which I’m only a Green Belt). No, I have a Six Sigma Black Belt. “What is that” you say? It’s a Black Belt in statistics. Geeky, I know. But with it I can do some pretty neat tricks:

• Want to know the probability that 2 people in a crowd of 40 share a birthday? I can tell you (it’s 90%, by the way).
• How many forest rangers are needed on any given shift to have no more than a 1% chance of a fire going undetected while one of them is responding to an issue? Only you - with a little help from math - can prevent forest fires (you need 3 if an average issue takes a ranger away for 2 hours).
• The FDA allows up to 60 insect fragments and 1 rodent hair per 100 grams of chocolate. How confident are you that the 3.3 oz candy bar you just ate is pest-free? (I won’t spoil your lunch by telling you here. But if you really want to know, email me).
• Want to dominate your Fantasy Football league? I’m your guy (although I've learned that you probably won’t be invited back after winning it a few years in a row).

Now, what if I told you that if you study one certain way - in typical districts - you would be practically guaranteed* a Top 10 finish? (*By practically I mean a 94% probability of success). Does this interest you? Here’s how to do it:

As a Bible Quiz Director I am always concerned about how many teens drop out of quizzing during the season. One year we lost so many teams by December I was legitimately worried that we might finish the year with just the teens from my church (and we practically did). I couldn't for the life of me figure out why some teens seem to can't get enough Teen Bible Quizzing while others lose interest over time. But that year I decided I had to do something to break the pattern. After all, if nothing changes then nothing changes.

As I tried to understand this phenomenon through personal observations and candid conversations with the teens and their parents, 3 common factors affecting season-long commitment emerged:

1.    Mid-year Burnout
2.    Lack of Success
3.    Uninvolved Parents

Knowing is half the battle. Armed with new intel, here are my suggestions to combat these 3 adversities:

Perhaps I should explain what, exactly, is Teen Bible Quizzing to the uninitiated. So, if you are already in-the-know, you may now jump to the bottom and hit “Like” on the Facebook button and spend the 5 minutes I just saved you memorizing a new Bible verse. Or two.

Still here? Well then, let’s get started!

First of all, one thing to get straight is that Teen Bible Quizzing is not Bible Trivia.

Teen Bible Quizzing is a dynamic, enriching ministry utilized by a number of denominations and youth organizations with a mission to invite youth into a deeper relationship with Jesus through His Word. It combines a study of the Bible, exciting Christian competition, fellowship and disciple-making into a program that is attractive to youth. Each year thousands of teens spend dozens of hours learning (and sometimes memorizing) an entire book - or books - of the Bible. They compete in quizzing competitions both locally and nationally. Like other team competitions, Bible Quizzing teaches teamwork and self-discipline, but primarily it puts the Word of God in the hearts of young people.

There are very few other areas in which young people are able to socialize with so many other godly youth on a regular basis. And while the ministry helps them mature in intellect, attitude, emotions and spiritually, it is also extremely competitive and exciting!

WHO CAN QUIZ

Teen Bible Quizzing is typically for youth ages 12-18. Check with your local program director to confirm eligibility. Small and large churches alike have Bible Quiz teams. A team can have as many as 5 quizzers or as few as two.

THE COMPETITION

To the casual observer, Bible Quizzing is a sport where 2 or 3 teams square off in a test of knowledge, speed and memory against each other on a prescribed portion of Scripture. But for quizzers it is much more than that – in preparing for competition, young people develop a love and respect for the Bible. The Word is planted in their hearts and unreservedly changes their lives.

Each tournament will have a number of teams that play each other in a bracket or round-robin format with 2 or 3 teams playing against each other, depending on the rules allowed by the style of quizzing. Since each denomination has customized rules, I’ll be describing the Nazarene style of quizzing for simplicity: