Starting a quiz ministry typically involves these four steps:
- 1. Recruiting
- 2. Scheduling
- 3. Financing a Team / Equipment & Materials
- 4. Goal Setting
Recruiting
- Coach
- Before you can do anything else, you must find a coach for your team. This person must be actively seeking to glorify God in all that they say and do. They must realize the importance and the benefits of memorizing and understanding the scriptures. They must also have an enthusiasm for working with young people and will need to be able to love and accept all involved, whether they are easily liked or not.
- The coach must also be willing to commit to a schedule and to attend the various matches and
tournaments with the team. They must be willing to pray for and to encourage all the quizzers and not just
those that are doing well. They will be required to exercise much patience and self-control over the course
of the season, especially with those who fail to take the time to study adequately.
- Quizzers
- As with most competitive sports and games, the best way to recruit people into them is to allow
the potential recruits to try it out themselves. You can do this by having someone with a buzzer set come in
(an experienced coach or quizzing representative is usually best) and quiz your group over a small section
of text or another subject familiar to them. If quizzing over a small section of text you will probably want to give them
5-10 minutes to study it briefly. Questions should not be too easy, but should also avoid being too hard as you do not
want to discourage them. Handing out a small prize to the winning team or the high scorer after the quiz would not go amiss.
- Another way is to bring in some experienced quizzers and have them quiz over some of the text
for that year. This one needs to be handled carefully as you will need to avoid discouraging your group. The speed and
accuracy of certain quizzers can be frightening if they are new to Bible Quizzing.
- Typically after hearing a short informative lecture on quizzing and either watching or
participating in a quiz, most groups will have enough interested people to immediately start a team. Be sure to schedule
a follow up meeting with not only the quizzers, but also their parents and the church leadership (1-2 weeks is generally good).
- Written Contract
- To avoid miscommunications later in the year, it would probably be a good idea
to present your quizzers with a written contract detailing what behavior and commitment level is expected.
- Here are a few expectations that should be included:
- A quizzer must attend all practices (unless they have a valid excuse).
- A quizzer must be present at all matches and tournaments.
- A quizzer must be willing to submit to the coaches’ authority with a Christ-like attitude.
- A quizzer must continue to pass all subjects in school.
- A quizzer must be in regular attendance at church service.
- I would suggest having the quizzer sign and date the contract, and also for
the coach and the quizzers’ parents to add their signatures to it.
Scheduling
- Once you have an idea of who will be involved, you will need to determine a
schedule for the year. This schedule should contain all practice dates, tournament and local meet dates,
and also the dates for any special events or fundraisers you may wish to have. It might be a good idea to
include what material will be covered at each of the practices and tournaments.
- Practices should be held at least once a week (some teams meet multiple times)
for about 1½ – 3 hours. Included in this should be time for a small teaching on the text for that week, a
time for quizzers to quote their material to you or to one another, and a time for them to actually quiz against each other.
- The availability of local tournaments varies greatly depending on your location.
The web site http://www.biblequizzing.net contains
a listing of local contacts that should be able to provide you with information on meets in that area.
Financing a Team / Equipment & Materials
- After you have figured out your participants and know your projected schedule
for the year; your next step is to determine the cost of all fees, materials, equipment, and other expenses.
- The ways and means for supporting a quiz ministry should be discussed
with the parents, church and/or school administrators; and a budget for the season will need to be established.
- Equipment
- Not much is required except for some system that can determine who jumps or
buzzes in first. There are many sets available, but probably the most reliable and cost efficient system
is the Quiz-Time box. The boxes are sturdily made and have been known to run for multiple decades as long as
you replace the battery, they are currently priced at $295 - $393.
- Quiz-Time Systems
- PO Box 551
- Benton Harbor, MI 49023
- 1-(888)-925-9255
- http://www.quiztime.com
- A slightly more expensive version of this system (full set: $500) is available
from Quiz Equipment, INC. The set contains many added features not found in Quiz-Time systems, and is
just as easy to use. Most parts are interchangeable. More information can be found at:
http://www.quizequipment.com
- Materials
- These will vary according to what League and association you decide to quiz
with, whether it be WBQA (World Bible Quizzing Association), AACS (American Association of Christian Schools),
AG (Assemblies of God), or something different. If you decide to go with AACS, materials for the current quiz
year may be found by selecting our Catalogue here.
- Tournaments
- Every tournament has different costs to participate and so you will need to contact
the tournament director for information on their meet. Additional costs for out-of-town events may include gas,
tolls, rentals, hotel rooms and meals .
- Awards Banquet/Ceremony
- One last item that you should think about in your budget is an Awards Ceremony
or Banquet to be held at the end of the year. Recognition of various accomplishments of your quizzers at this time is
a great way to end your quiz season, whether it be memorizing a chapter or two, memorizing the entire text, or some
other achievement you believe should be rewarded. If you have any photographers among your group that took pictures
throughout the season, you could put together a slideshow to display to all those attending. It is your ceremony, so be creative.
- Once you have ascertained the costs and devised a budget for the year; you should
approach the pastor and church board and ask them for their support. They may not be able to help you, but as long
as you do it with a Christian attitude, there is nothing to lose by trying. If they are only able to put up part of the
cost or totally unable to help, you might want to consider readjusting your plans, or doing some kind of fundraiser; such
as, carwashes, a quote-a-thon, candy-selling, or something else.
Goal Setting
- The final step before you actually begin is to write out your goals for that particular
year. You will want to sit down with each quizzer and ask them what they wish to accomplish. Do they want to memorize
the whole text? Do they just want to do a single chapter, or a couple? Do they want to try and be the high scorer
for the year? Whatever they do decide, it would be good to put it in writing.
- After the individual goals, you should gather the whole group together and ask
them how far they want to go as a team. Do they want to place in the top three at every tournament? Do they want
to try and win the state championship? How about Nationals? Once they have settled on a goal, make sure to
discuss with them what they will have to do to reach their goal, and figure out a strategy to accomplish it.
These will need to be reevaluated and changed on a regular basis, but whatever goal they have it is definitely
better than nothing; for if you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time.
Now it is time for everyone to jump in and get to work. But, in all the busyness,
take care not to lose sight of the whole goal of quizzing; which is, to learn the scriptures and to draw closer
to the Lord. It would be better to lose every tournament and every quiz, than to win every time and to grieve
the One who gave His life for us.
May God richly bless you all through the study of His Word!
Material for this document came from the following sources:
- a. Winning With the Word: the Complete Bible Quiz Handbook
- b. World Bible Quiz Association: Startup (http://www.wbqa.org/wbqa_startup.htm)
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