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?
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Not surprisingly, these leadership principles in business are also effective for me as a leader in Youth Bible Quizzing.

Have you ever wondered how some churches – regardless of the size of their youth group – continually bring in new Quizzers every year while other churches have not had a Teen Bible Quizzer in several years, decades, or ever? Though a minority regrettably cannot participate for legitimate reasons, I find that the majority of adults and students decline to participate due in part to an inaccurate or incomplete perception of what it entails – despite multiple attempts to highlight the program in newsletters and at Teen Camps, Retreats, Children Quizzes, and Conventions.
 
For them, Teen Bible Quizzing is simply not a part of their church’s culture – and that may be just fine for their unique situation. On the other hand, they could be so much more fruitful if they offered this highly effective youth leadership and discipleship program to their teens. They just don’t know that they don’t know what they are missing.
 
Alternatively, why do some quiz programs regularly produce quizzers who excel in competition while other similarly mature quiz programs do not? The answer is the same: it is their culture.

​Culture is simply the beliefs and values that determine how someone acts. Culture is developed by what we do – or do not do – regularly. When you hear things like, “My church just doesn’t do that”, that is culture.
 
Jesus, too, sought to change the church’s culture of His day. His message was radically different from what they were accustomed:

My family and I love to play board, card, and dice games. There is at least one game on my Christmas list every year. Though we all enjoy the bonding time and delicious snacks, it seems to me that my family has the most fun when they team up against me. While I prefer strategic games like Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Ticket to Ride, my wife enjoys simpler games like Mexican Train Dominos and Yahtzee. And when we play cooperative games like Pandemic or Escape Room the Game, I am often amazed by our genuine selflessness and impressed by our collective ingenuity to solve the challenges of the game.

It is not surprising then that I fell in love with Teen Bible Quizzing. In addition to the Bible study, disciple-making, and spiritual growth this ministry offers, the game appeals to my fondness for strategy and teamwork.

Yet at times home study or team practices can get routine or even boring. And if you are bored, you are not learning. To keep everyone engaged, it is good to add a little variety every now and again.
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With the goal of making reviewing at home and team practices fun and engaging, playing Tribute: The Youth Bible Quiz Board Game just might do the trick (assuming, of course, you enjoy board games as much as I do). Now you can review at home without it feeling like you are studying. Or play it during a team practice to keep practices from getting stale. In addition, the beauty of this game is that it is different every time you play. The types of questions are in a different order every game and you decide in advance from which chapter or chapters you want questions asked. There are 2 versions available: physical game board or a print-your-own version.
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While some of the board games I like to play are so complicated that they take hours to learn, this game is so simple that you can learn how to play almost faster than you can set it up.

​​In my business, I’ve observed that a solid strategy to recognize outstanding achievements results in stronger engagement, increased employee morale, and lower turnover. In quizzing terms, think of those as stronger relationships, increased enthusiasm, and fewer dropouts. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, it’s not as easy as it seems. You need to find the right recognition program that fits the values and culture for your church or District quiz program - and it can change each season.

Given that more than half of my District is brand new to quizzing this year, I decided to focus less exclusively on rewarding performance and to start celebrating accomplishments. We aren’t quite large enough to have separate Novice and Experienced divisions, so finding a way to encourage the new quizzers while the Experienced quizzers likely dominate the standard awards was imperative.

​The aim of Bible Quizzing is to become an avenue of meaningful Bible study, fellowship, discipleship, mentoring, mission, and exciting Christian competition. So this year we are celebrating quizzers and teams for their spectacular effort, great results, and inspirational support in ways that align with these values.
 
Celebrating success is fun and energizing and shows students that their efforts are being seen by the leaders and by their peers.
 
Your quizzers are your best recruiters. If they come home excited and equipped with fun stories and loot in honor of their accomplishments, you can be sure they will tell others either in person on their social media accounts.
 
So if you are looking to modify or refresh your own quizzing program, here are some award ideas you can use.

As a teen, I attended a church that did not offer any sort of Youth quizzing program. I didn’t even know such things existed, otherwise I would have jumped in wholeheartedly. I just needed an adult willing to lead.

It wasn’t until I started attending a church in Louisville, KY in my early 20’s that I first witnessed Nazarene Youth Bible Quizzing in action - and I was immediately hooked. A nine-month Bible study that encourages youth to learn scripture, develop a devotion to God’s Word, go on road trips for competitions, make friends and fellowship with like-minded teens across their community and the nation, fortify their ability to witness, and equip them to be effective leaders in the church? Um, yeah! Youth Bible Quizzing is unquestionably the most effective youth discipleship program the church can offer.

So why do so many churches not offer it? While there are many reasons (dare I say “excuses”?), the most common barrier to entry is “I wouldn’t know where to begin.” And I get that. From the outside it can seem scary and intimidating. I didn’t know where to begin when I began, either. I had to figure it out - and make mistakes - along the way. There was no guide. But, IT WAS WORTH THE COST.

So, if you are considering starting a Youth Bible Quiz program at your local church - or you know someone who would be willing to do so - my goal in this article is to make getting started as easy as following a recipe. It is a checklist, so print it out (front and back) and post it on your mirror or refrigerator. Or make it the lock screen for your phone. Let it be as much an inspiration as it is a reminder. The second page, especially, could be used all season long. But the biggest value of the guide when opened on a computer are the links that connect you directly to a wealth of incredibly useful resources.

In time, tailor this for your specific program - and pass it on to your next Bible Quiz leader when the day comes for you to “quiz out”.

​While there is never really a bad season to participate in Teen Bible Quizzing, the common perception is that a Gospel year is preferable. Especially to new quizzers, the Gospels seem easier to grasp as they tell a story. In addition, among the Gospels in the quiz cycle, John is by far the shortest.

The Book of John contains 878 verses, which is 18% fewer than Matthew (1,071 verses) and 24% fewer than Luke (1,151 verses). Also, of the 18,635 words in John, 3.7% of them (697 words) are used only once. Called unique or key words, they give quizzers the edge needed to be the first to jump and know from exactly where in the scripture the question was taken. For example, if a question began with “Who confessed…”, you would know that the question could only be: “Who confessed freely?” The word confessed is only found in John 1:20, so you know the answer is “John”. If you know these unique words and enough of the associated verse, you will be able to jump well before the complete question is read.

You can find a list of these words on the YouthQuiz web site or in the concordance at the back of your spiral-bound scripture portion. They are also in bold italics in the Nazarene Youth Bible Quizzing pocket scripture portion. A good study technique would be to highlight these words as well in your scripture portion so they will stand even more out as you read and re-read the material.

While I'm not a rocket surgeon, as you can tell I like to pretend I am one. So here is a brief statistical analysis of the Memory Verses for the upcoming quiz season covering the Gospel of John:

Reflecting on the Field and National Quizzes I have attended the past dozen or so years, I can confidently say that the most successful teams always have a skilled According To question person.

For those who may be unfamiliar, every quiz match asks four According To questions. The preamble of these questions supply the quizzer with the chapter and verse for the subsequent question. The intent of this type of question is to direct the quizzer toward a certain passage of Scripture which may be similar to other passages being studied. While the answer does not have to be word-for-word from the verse, the answer must be contained to just that verse and be precise enough to distinguish it from other verses. An example would be: According to John chapter 5, verse 1, where did Jesus go? Answer: Up to Jerusalem. Jesus went to many places in the Book of John, but in John 5:1, he specifically went up to Jerusalem.

Since answering an According To question as a multiple is permissible, it is common for these quizzers to get the jump (pun intended) on everyone else by interrupting the reading of the question as – or before – the Quizmaster is announcing the verse number. The quizzer rattles off several possible questions and their respective answers within 30 seconds in the hopes that one of them was the intended question.

Seemingly, According To quizzers appear to have not only memorized the entire study scripture, but can recall a specific verse instantaneously. In awe of this apparent superpower, I asked three former According To quizzers who have competed multiple times at the national level to share their stories and study methods: Cole Hodge and Leah Augustine from the MidSouth District, and Lydia Hutchison from the Florida District.

​Though this topic was recommended to me by a subscriber to this blog, I am writing it as much as a reminder to myself as I am writing it to share with all of you.
 
After our November quiz, the weekends get very busy. First up is Thanksgiving. A week later, my District participates in the St. Louis Top 10 quiz tournament. Not too long after that is Christmas followed one week later by New Year’s Day. So, like many of you, our District does not have a December quiz. For our small District, the St. Louis Top 10 quiz is our December quiz. But as God continues to bless our ministry, we continue to grow in numbers. So much so in fact that for the first time ever we will have more teens not quizzing at the St. Louis tournament than those who will be 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).