Voice of Quizmaster: Give the reference and quote the passage about being free...how did Jesus answer the disciples...what did John's disciples testify...?KIM LAWTON: At the Gowanda Free Methodist Church in Western New York, the questions are flying fast. This is the last practice before the National Bible Quizzing Finals.
Quizmaster: The Samaritan woman asked Jesus if he was greater than whom? Yolanda?
Yolanda: "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
LAWTON: It's not exactly "Jeopardy."
Quizmaster: Sorry, I can't accept that.LAWTON: The teams are quizzed not on Bible trivia, but on Bible memorization.
Gowanda Team Member: "They do not realize that it is better for one man to die than the whole nation perish." Finished.
Quizmaster: That is correct.
LAWTON: Competing teams from churches across the nation are assigned the same section of Scripture to study. This year, it's the Gospel of John.
Unidentified Young Girl: Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29.
Quizmaster: That is correct.
LAWTON: Each team has three quizzers and at least one alternate who face off against each other. A "Quizmaster" asks the questions. The quizzers sit on special cushions that are hooked up to a light box. They jump up to answer the question, and the light box indicates who got up first.ERIC YOUNG (Regional Bible Quizzing Director): Obviously, it's very competitive, and that competition aspect is the incentive for kids to study God's word.
LAWTON: Eighteen-year-old Peter Ellis showed me how it works.
PETER ELLIS: So we sit on these chairs; they got little sensors in them. You have to have enough weight on there to put the light out. Your feet can't be touching any part of the chair, nor can your hands. So you have to sit mainly like this. Some people like to go like this, some people, it's weird. It all depends. And you just listen, and you get ready, and you jump.
LAWTON: Every quizzer develops a jumping style for competition.
PETER: Some just like twitch; some jump straight up because they're excited because they know the question. Some people are mad that they jumped because they have no clue why they jumped.
LAWTON: Are there special exercises that you do so that you get the jumping down?
PETER: No, it's all instinct.
LAWTON: It's also a matter of delicate timing. If you jump too soon, you have to complete the question before you can give the answer.
Quizmaster to Gowanda teammate: That's a pre-jump, Gowanda. Finish the question.
LAWTON: Sometimes, you've jumped before there's enough information to even guess what the question might be. If you're wrong, the other team gets a free shot at the answer.
LIZ THRUSH: You can't be too late, but you definitely can't be too early. I have a problem with jumping too early, and I don't get to complete the question correctly, and then it goes to someone else. And it's a simple question that I know.
LAWTON: Fourteen-year-old Liz Thrush says she doesn't care that other kids call her "church girl." She says learning the Bible through quizzing has had a deep spiritual impact.
Reverend ERIC YOUNG (Co-Director, National Bible Quizzing Finals): One of the great things about the quizzing program is that we're developing leaders for the church for the future. Certainly by studying God's word, they have the ability to bring scripture back into situations when they could really use it. And it's because they've studied it, they've memorized it, that they're able to do that, and that's what gives them their foundation for the future.
