The First Assembly of God Church in Great Bend sent its Bible Warriors to the National Bible Quiz tournament this past weekend at Ceder Hills, Texas.
“The children really get a very good, well-rounded knowledge of the bible,” coach Janine Burton said. “These kids work really hard and study for many hours in preparation for the tournament.”
Bible Warriors are five children on the church’s advanced Bible quiz team. The team consists of Makayla Burton, fifth grade; Ella Krier and Morgan MacKinney, fourth grade; Addy Dougherty, sixth grade; and Cole MacKinney, second grade.
Over two days at the tournament the children were asked 576 questions that are related to the Bible. Some questions could be answered with a word or short phrase, but some questions and to be answered word for word.
The teams where broken up into eight levels each containing 10 teams. The Bible Warriors were placed in the 4th level where they placed seventh and they placed 37th overall out of 80 teams.
In order to make it to the national level, the kids have to participate in local, state and a regional event throughout the school year. Only four Kansas teams got an invitation to the national event and the Bible Warriors placed highest out of all four teams.
“These kids did very well throughout the school year at all the events,” Burton said. “Competition is tough and sometimes the quiz host doesn’t even get the whole question out before someone buzzes in.”
The First Assembly of God Church has three other teams, one for beginners team and two intermediate teams. Only the advanced team can go to the national event.
This is not the first time the church has sent a team to the national tournament, Burton said. They also at participated in the 2012 tournament.
To help with the cost of the trip the children held a 13-mile Bike-A-Thon where community members could make a straight donation or pledge a donation for every mile the kids rode.
“The children were so happy with all the help they received from the community to help with the cost of the trip,” Burton said. “We want to thank the community for all the support.”