Church of the Nazarene

Dallas NYI Bible Quiz
Texarkana, Texas, September 8, 2007

Friends:

What a wonderful event we have just experienced! God meet with us and as we celebrated our studies in Galatians. Eight churches gathered at Texarkana to join them in this celebration. Carrollton, Richardson, Greenville and Sulphur Springs from the west, Longview, and Kilgore from the south, and Pittsburg from the south west all converged at Texarkana First Church of the Nazarene on September 8, 2007.

As usual, Texarkana was the perfect hosts. They greeted us with donuts and milk to meet our physical needs (in my case, “wants” – I like those donuts) Then Pastor David gathered us into the sanctuary to quite us before the Lord, and there we meet with our Lord in worship, and then in communion. What a way to start off a Quiz season! After gathering around the alter, in prayer, we were set for the day, and what a wonderful day of quizzing it was. We were pretty much on schedule most of the day – very unusual, but most enjoyable.

The first round started promptly at 10:00 A.M. We went 5 rounds of quizzing and from this, we had 10 who Quizzed out Perfect in at least one round to qualify for the Jump Master competition.There were 6 “new” Quizzers with us for the event. A total of 31 quizzers competed in the 5 rounds of “individual” competition. One first time quizzer qualified for the Jump Master round, Hope Schufeldt from Longview.Kristin Richey is a second year quizzer, and she too, for the first time, qualified to compete in the Jump Master round.Brendan & Braden Johnson, Hillary Rosenjack, Daniel Tayler, Hanna Brownlee, Noel McDonald, Forrest Walker, and Jamie Grubert were the other qualifying contestants in the Jump Master round. Brenden Johnson made a quick wrap-up of the event proving he was surely the “Jump Master” for September 2007. This is going to be a very exciting year for competition. We have from the Carrollton Church, three brothers who are very competitive, especially with each other. Brookston has now joined his older brothers, Brendan, and Braeden Johnson. There was only a difference of one correct question between all three of them. Very impressive I must say. Especially when they were in a room with 5 other quizzers who wanted and tried to get those same jumps. Hillary Rosenjack, Forrest Walker, and Danial Taylor competed directly against the Johnson brothers in almost every round, and they too scored an average of two jumps each per round. Jamie, Hanna, Noel and Tyler were also in the mix and showed a very respectable placing. You do not see competition of this level usually until you get into District Team competitions. I have never seen a stronger more motivated group of quizzers than we have on our district at this our very first meet of the year. Praise the Lord, for these teens know the Word, at least Galatians 1 through 5.It was so good to have Pittsburg and Longview back with us again. The Mercer brothers of Pittsburg, Zachariah, and Andrew ended in 13th and 17th place. Welcome back Pittsburg. Hope Schufeldt and Jonathan Fitch of Longview ended in 14th and 21st place. Most impressive for new quizzers.The Team Competition for the top three was Carrollton A, Carrollton B, and Richardson.
After the first round Carrollton A lead, and after the 2nd round they sealed their position as the District First PlaceTeam for September 2007. Carrollton B won 2nd place and Richardson place 3rd on our district for September 2007.Also in Olympic Points competition, Texarkana beat out Peniel/Sulphur springs, and Commerce to take the 4th place team position, followed by Peniel/Sulphur Springs.It is always a long drive home for most, after our quiz meets, because we are all scattered across North East Texas. On the way I was just marveling in how wonderful God is to us all, especially to me. I have met new people, and I like them a lot. There are some mighty fine people God has placed here in our part of Texas. One instance that really stuck out to me is this one new quizzer wanted to get a picture of me. I thought she wanted to get a picture of me in the Vegi Tales character shirt of Bob the Tomato, so I posed with my “best face” forward so she could get a good shot of it. She then turned the camera around to show me the picture she took, and it floored me. It was a close up picture of my face, and not my shirt. Oh how this impacted me. Lord, may you always use me to reach the young people you send my way. This is our purpose and prayer. Let us make a difference in the lives of our young people.Yours in Christ
Bob Jackson
Dallas NYI Bible Quiz Director