Four Bible quiz teams from the Magnolia Apostolic Tabernacle will compete in national Bible quizzing competitions this summer, hoping to place in the event and bring home a trophy.

This marks the first time in seven years that all four teams will be attending the national competition.

Stacey Lynn, administrative assistant at Magnolia Apostolic and one of the team coaches, started up the fledgling program at the church seven years ago, and has seen it grow and kids win awards ever since.

At left, members of Beginner Team 2 and first year Bible quizzers Branda Smith (left) and Colten Dorow (right) at their state finals banquet.

Lynn was even voted Coach of the Year by other Bible quizzing coaches in Texas.

Lynn, the daughter of Steve Wehrle, Pastor of Magnolia Apostolic, has attended the church her whole life, and even competed in Bible quizzing when she was younger.

But it wasn’t until seven years ago that she jumpstarted the program and got it going in “full-swing,” she said.

“I never really thought I would coach,” she said. “It’s a lot of work and takes up a lot of time, but it has paid off. I see the kids go on to graduate and know I had a small part in what they’re doing.”

Now there are 12 quizzers on four teams, ranging in age from 4 to 18 years old. Quizzers are required to memorize a certain number of verses a year from a chapter in the Bible and be able to answer different types of questions about the verses.

This year, it’s the Book of Luke, and beginners are required to memorize 182 verses while seniors must memorize 520 verses.

With the amount of memorization and discipline it takes, many children join at the beginning of the year and then drop out because of the difficulty, Lynn said.

“It gets a lot harder as they get older; in the senior material they have to start grammatically breaking stuff down to answer it,” she said.

Overall, the kids spend about 30-45 minutes a day studying by themselves, practicing quoting, referencing and flash cards, and three hours collectively as a team during the week, Lynn said.

“I’ve got such a good group of kids, I could go on and on about how proud I am of them,” she said. “When people see Magnolia walk through the door they say ‘Oh, I don’t want to play them.’”

“Everybody loves them because they have such a great attitude but they don’t want to play them because they’re so good.”

One standout quizzer, Chancellor Huffman, 9, of Magnolia, who has been quizzing for four years, won runner-up quizzer of the year in Texas this year.

There are Bible quizzing teams in nearby towns such as Conroe, Montgomery, New Caney and Porter, which are all part of the United Pentecostal Church.

In state competition, there are 15-20 teams in their division. At nationals, it goes up to 50-80, with teams from every state attending the weeklong event.

Lynn said the church had a quiz tournament in Magnolia in May and “people were blown away by their dedication.”

“They walk away every tournament having placed,” she said, “which is almost unheard of.”

Lynn said she has seen her students grow through Bible quizzing in their team skills, personal discipline and academics.

“Overall their character development is so much better because of Bible quizzing,” she said.

As for the national competitions coming up in July and August, Lynn said she hopes the teams will place, and she believes if they play their best, they should.

“To win a national competition is so hard, to even place is hard, so when you do the satisfaction is enough,” she said. “It’s a big honor to even get to nationals; the recognition throughout the quiz world is worth everything.”

“That’s just the ultimate for the kids to win there.”

Lynn, who has two children ages 2 and 5, said she would someday like to coach them in Bible quizzing.

Beginning and junior Bible quiz teams will compete in Branson, Mo., July 19-24, and the senior team will compete in Nashville, Tenn., August 1-5.

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