Friends of Quizzing- Seeing WELL OVER HALF the quizzers standing with honors in front of the crowd to receive their Olympic Memory Challenge certificates was touching! Our quizzers probably aren't aware of this world's epic lostness, drifting in a sea of un-truth, bias, slant, spin and error. The older I get, the more convinced I am that the only hope for this planet is a Spirit-born, heart and mind transformation that can only come from Jesus and the Word of God. ...Jesus answered. "For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice." "What is truth?" Pilate asked. (John 18:37b-38) Thank you to the spARCs and Erin for leading us in some worship through caroling-- it's obvious we're a group that also loves to sing. Somebody step up next month and help us do it again! Thanks also to quizmasters, coaches and parents to joined in for the short quizzing feedback meeting held right after the individual round. It sounds like this month ran a bit smoother, but a few more tweaks are in order. As we focus on the goal of being ready for the WBQA Chicago Tournament, let's crank the standards a bit higher in our quizzes-- not to remove the fun and occasional silliness, but here are some suggestions to share with your quizzers as we move forward: 1. Finish style questions will require word perfect responses. This may sound harsh, but believe me-- after doing this for years, you will run into an occasional meltdown when a quizzer gets a super-long verse counted wrong for missing a "the", but overall, the absolute elation and joy in the public and personal reward when perfection is achieved is worth it. You OMC listeners have seen this too: sending a quizzer back to study the verse again until they get it perfect seems hard at the moment, but when the quizzer does get it perfect-- priceless. This may also reduce a few "appeals" and keep quizzes moving along. 2. Help your quizzers perfect a solid jump. Feet on the floor, hands not touching the chair, the best jumpers will twitch up and forward off the pad, rising to a standing position to await hearing their name called. It is fun sometimes to roll off the chair or flop on the floor, but be careful to also give praise, attention and rewards to your quizzers when they demonstrate a tournament-quality jump. Remind your quizzers to wait for their name to be called before answering. 3. Monitor the chatter between questions. If you hear quizzers congratulating a right answer or giving props to quizzers to encourage their great try-- you've won. Quizzers who immediately go self-ward with "I knew that one too" or "shucks" to try to draw attention themselves may need a gentle reminder. Take it slow-- these are kids. Rewarding expressions of selfless attitudes does work if you're watching for it. In fact, at the end of the year we will give away trophies to quizzers who are examples of Christ in a quiz. 4. Lastly, asking questions is strongly encouraged, but if the question is a thinly-veiled trial-appeal, maybe only the captain should be asking the question. There is an innocent impulsiveness to kids and curiosity that we all love-- but balance that with a focus on the quiz and leave some of the questions to a timeout or after the quiz. I don't know about you, but just the memory of the delicious treats at the Christmas Goody break makes my mouth water again. Thanks everyone for sharing! We have a special fellowship activity planned for January, so stay tuned. Can you believe it? We're half-way through the season already! See you on January 14th and have a very Merry Christmas!! Jim Benson Director Rochester YFC Bible Quizzing P.S. Do you have some pictures to share? Send them my way!! http://rochesterbiblequizzing.org/PastResults/2016-2017/standings/03-December.html