In my career as a business leader responsible for the development and performance of those who work for me, I have learned and tried to emulate leadership principles that seem to be the most effective. In my experience, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. Leaders must keep their ego in check. They must embrace simplicity and communicate the mission with clarity. To be effective, leaders must not only prioritize various activities, but also execute each of them well.

I have also learned that leadership is not always one thing or another. There is a spectrum and sometimes contradictions. While leaders do lead, they must also be willing to follow. They must remain calm when under stress, but not be robotic. Aggressive, but not overbearing. They must be brave, but not reckless. Successful leaders have a competitive spirit, but are also gracious losers. There are times leaders must be quiet, but never completely silent. Additionally, leaders should be humble, but not passive.

After all, if no one is following you, are you really a leader?
​
Not surprisingly, these leadership principles in business are also effective for me as a leader in Youth Bible Quizzing.

Challenges, rebuttals, and appeals. Sounds more like words you’d hear on a courtroom drama television show than in a friendly game of Teen Bible Quizzing. But in a way, you are on trial in front of a judge who is handing out a decision based on your testimony! While Quizmasters do their best to make a just ruling based on their interpretation of the Scripture and quizzing rules, they are human and therefore could make an error in judgment (though it is very, very rare, as I have been assured by some of them).

A check to their power exists in Teen Bible Quizzing in the form of challenges and rebuttals. The Captain of any team may challenge a Quizmaster’s decision on a Toss-Up question if there is reason to believe that the Quizmaster’s ruling is incorrect. Before the beginning of the next question, the Captain stands and gives a concise argument regarding why the ruling should be reversed. The opposing Captain is then allowed an opportunity to rebut the challenge, explaining why the Quizmaster’s original decision was indeed correct.

Keep in mind, however, that the team is penalized 10 points beginning with their 2nd overruled challenge in a game! So choose your battles wisely!

To better understand not only when but how to make an effective challenge, I consulted with several experienced Quizmasters to get their perspectives: JD Sailors (Quizmaster at District, Field and National competitions), Darrik Acre (Quizmaster and SNU Field Quiz Director), and Matt Thrasher (Quizmaster and Trevecca Field Quiz Director). 

Effective August 2017, the Nazarene Youth Quizzing Official Rules & Guidelines were revised per the direction of the Quizzing Advisory Council (QAC). And while most updates to this manual are typically minor or clarifying in nature, this time a few rules were changed that could have strategic implications on how you play and coach the game.

​When compared line-by-line against the August 2015 Rules, here are the 3 notable changes made to the 2017 edition of the Official Rules & Guidelines:

​It happened a few years ago, but I still get triggered every time I think about it. 

I am coaching a team comprised mostly of first-year quizzers at an out-of-state mid-season invitational tournament. It has been thrilling for them to travel and meet other Christian teens from across the nation who share a passion for studying God’s Word. And despite our inexperience, we’re not embarrassing ourselves too often. Sure, we lost one game 350-10, but at least we didn’t go negative! In fact, that game was a real eye-opener of what we could accomplish with more experience and commitment to studying God’s Word! Later in the tournament we were put in a division of similar talent and we actually began to win a few games. 
​
But then we played the team from Sassafras (that’s not their real name) who was leading our division at the tournament. Things aren’t looking good. We’re down 110-170 after question #18. I’m already looking at the schedule to see which room we go to next. We’re playing Kentucky? Cool, that’ll be fun.

Are you the kind of person who believes that you are either good or bad at something and there isn’t anything you can do about it? Do you avoid challenges to preserve your dignity from failure? Are you tired of being stuck with whatever virtues and habits you have now? Want to improve in weak areas of your life and quizzing?

Then you need the Renewed Mindset® from the Apostle Paul!

(Your mileage may vary. Conditions apply. Operators are standing by. Batteries not included.)

Your Mindset is one of the most significant factors that determines success or failure in anything you try to do. According to Paul in Romans 12:1-2, there are two basic Mindsets: the World Mindset and the Renewed Mindset®.

By setting your mind to follow these 5 simple steps of the Renewed Mindset® methodology, you will learn that you can not only grow in character and abilities, but that God expects that you will! He designed you that way!

When a task becomes routine, sometimes you need to change it up to keep everyone motivated and engaged. And unfortunately, about midway through the season, quiz practice becomes – dare I say it? – boring. Boring for the coach and boring for the quizzers.

If you are like me, you look for games to play to make mundane jobs exciting again. Jogging? Pretend there is a pack of wild dogs chasing you. Cleaning up your room? Set a timer and try to break your previous record. (The key to this one is to not play with the stuff you find!). For quiz practice, sometimes we’ll play “King of the Hill” or “Bible Baseball”. But even those get repetitive after a while. So I thought: what could we play every week that would encourage every quizzer to be actively involved, provide a different experience each time we play, cover a lot of questions, and use the quiz equipment so we can improve our jumping techniques?

Our answer? A card game designed specifically for Teen Bible Quizzing. 

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: