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COLLEYVILLE—Brian Beto of Esperanza Del Rio Community Church emerged victorious in a drill-off to determine the winner of the high school division at the National Invitational Tournament for Bible Drill held at First Baptist Church in Colleyville on June 16-17.
The Friday evening drill-off concluded this year’s National Invitational Tournament for Bible Drill and Speakers’ Tournament attended by some 200 participants and families from across the country and hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
The tension-filled drill-off was held at the banquet the evening of the competition, said Emily Smith, SBTC associate over women’s and children’s ministries. Smith, with representatives from three other state conventions, served on the NIT planning team.
Bible Drill has long been a staple of Southern Baptist churches, with associations and state conventions holding competitions. Children grades 4-6 participate in the Children’s Drill. Young people in grades 7-9 take part in the Youth Drill, while older teens, grades 10-12, compete in the High School Drill and Speakers’ Tournament.
Only youth and high school competitors advance to state and national levels. The children’s competition terminates at the regional level.
SBTC began sponsoring Bible Drill competitions in 2002. Since the Baptist General Convention of Texas also holds competitions, nationals featured two teams from Texas. This year, Beto defeated the BGCT national finalist in the drill-off.
Bible Drill requires students to memorize Scripture and locate Bible passages. Competition is intense as a caller issues a command and students have only eight seconds to locate chapter and verse in their Bibles. Contestants must earn certain scores at their local association or church level to qualify for regionals. In the Speakers’ Tournament, students prepare and deliver 4-6 minute talks on assigned topics.
“A total of 270 participated at the regional level, representing 38 churches,” said Judy Van Hooser, assistant to Smith.
In the state Bible Drill competition, 12 youth and 12 high school participants advance from regionals, with each region’s first place winner progressing automatically and the other qualifiers determined proportionately, Smith explained.
State finals were held April 30 at the SBTC offices in Grapevine, where they have taken place 14 of the last 15 years, Van Hooser added.
“It’s very impressive,” Smith said. “It’s exciting, and it will put you to shame to see how much the kids know.”
Bible Drill participation runs in families. Brian Beto, representing the SBTC, has gone to nationals in both youth and high school divisions, while his sister Janice won the SBTC state youth drill competition two years in a row and placed second at nationals in 2015.
Anna Moreno, Bible Drill sponsor at Bethany Baptist Church in Breckenridge, is a veteran winner of both drill and speaker competitions at the regional and state levels.
“My mother is a huge proponent of Bible Drill,” said Moreno. Moreno’s mother, Tami Wood, a children’s minister often invited to call drills at competitions, helped start the program at Bethany.
When Moreno and her husband, Bethany’s associate pastor of youth and family, came to the church nine years ago, Anna volunteered to coach Bible Drill, with impressive results. Bethany’s Riley Tatum placed second at nationals last year in the high school drill while her brother Kole was second in state in the youth division this year, said Moreno.
When asked about the value of Bible Drill, Moreno said, “Memorizing Scripture and hiding God’s Word in your heart will never return void. It encourages children in a fun way to learn Scripture. I have found personally that a lot of those scriptures I learned as a child come back to me. Besides, I just loved the competition.”
SBTC awards college scholarships to those placing first ($1,000), second ($500) and third ($250) at the state level in the youth, high school and speakers’ competitions.
For more information and published results of SBTC regional and state competitions, see http://sbtexas.com/church-ministries/preschool-and-children/bible-drill/.
State Winner Perfect for Children’s Division (Achieved a Perfect Score of 24)
Jack Applegate (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Sarah Grace Becker (La Junta Baptist Church)
Hagan Berridge (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Megan Canfield (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Brandon Chee (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Caleb Christopherson (First Baptist Church, Euless)
Cooper A. Cobbs (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Brooke Criner (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Kevin Dixon (Cornerstone Baptist Church, Arlington)
Jonathan Duhon (First Baptist Church, Keller)
Maddie Duncan (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Jack Franklin (First Baptist Church, Keller)
Hope Hale (First Baptist Church, Keller)
Mason Harris (First Baptist Church, Stinnett)
Colin Hautmann (Lake O’ the Pines Baptist Church)
Stephen Hemsworth (First Baptist Church, Euless)
Abigail Higginbotham (Lakeview Baptist Church, Ore City)
Skylar Iversen (Memorial Baptist Church)
Jayden Jones (Forest Home Baptist Church)
Clayton Kelly (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Darcy E. Lessert (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Finn Limer (First Baptist Church, Euless)
Zakrey Mayfield (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Zak Mikes (First Baptist Church, Forney)
Hannah Moreno (Bethany Baptist Church)
Hannah Patterson (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Joshua Patterson (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Anisa Payen (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Toby Pike (First Baptist Church, Keller)
Samuel Snyder (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
Olivia Stukey (First Baptist Church, Springtown)
Nathan Thompson (Tate Springs Baptist Church)
Zacchea Torres (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Jayden Vaught (First Baptist Church, Odessa)
Daunte Ware (Cornerstone Baptist Church, Arlington)
Courtney Wittrock (First Baptist Church, Keller)
London Yount (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
