Serving God with His people at Faith OPC has been a great joy and blessing. When I grow up, I want to umpire Little League Baseball. I will revel on that day when I can say to a 10-year-old boy after four pitched balls, "Take a walk in the sunshine."
My wife of 30+ years, Peggy, consistently demonstrates the love of Christ and remains my very best friend. Our six children, our four lovely, sweetie-pie daughters-in-law, and our four grandchildren serve as resident theologians.
“Change your life from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:20.
With the immediacy of Internet searches and ease of handheld devices, the custom of memorizing Scripture may not seem necessary, but best-selling author Robert J. Morgan makes an airtight case for reviving this rewarding practice in 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.
It's vital for mental and emotional health and for spiritual well-being, he writes. It's as powerful as acorns dropping into furrows in the forest. It allows God's words to sink into your brain and permeate your subconscious thoughts. It saturates the personality, satiates the soul, and stockpiles the mind. It changes the atmosphere of every family and alters the weather forecast of every day.”
The example of Bible Bee students Romans 1:1-7 has caught my attention for memory work. I landed there thinking about the students of the up-coming Rogue Valley Bible Bee on August 28th. The near-30 children and young people are breathing out the verses to the glory of God. It’s amazing—in many cases, these students are memorizing 5 to 7 verses each day. Some are well up to 200 verses that they’ve mastered.
We're thinking that 25,000+ children and students, along with their households, will be memorizing Scripture this summer!
This article says a ton about in-graining the brain and getting the body all buff with truth.
Here in Grants Pass, we're up to 25 students in the local contest of the National Bible Bee. It's to be held on August 28th at the building of one our own local churches of the Rogue Valley--Parkway Christian Center.
May God paint our churches with the demonstrative flair, eye-riveting sparkle of black and white as a result of churches knee-deep in 5 gallon cans of His truth!
What memory work in God's Word are you enjoying right now?
“Researchers George Gallup and Jim Castelli put the problem squarely: ‘Americans revere the Bible--but, by and large, they don't read it. And because they don't read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.’
How bad is it? Researchers tell us that it's worse than most could imagine.
Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments. ‘No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don't know what they are,’ said George Barna, president of the firm. The bottom line? ‘Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate.’
Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. According to 82 percent of Americans, ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ is a Bible verse. Those identified as born-again Christians did better--by one percent. A majority of adults think the Bible teaches that the most important purpose in life is taking care of one's family.
Some of the statistics are enough to perplex even those aware of the problem. A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.”
Registration is now open for the 2010 National Bible Bee competition.
If you’re in the South Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, Northern California areas, and would like more information, see our link right here.
Email us, Mark and Peggy Sumpter here: mpsumpter@gmail.com. To register for the Grants Pass Bible Bee, go here.
What is the Bible Bee?
The National Bible Bee Competition is a series of events designed to help parents encourage diligence in Bible study, Scripture memorization, and prayer in their families. There are two focal points: 1) Bible memorization and Bible knowledge competition held at Local Bible Bees organized by volunteer Hosts and Local Event Teams in various locations throughout the United States. 2) The National Bible Bee competition for the 300 top-scoring contestants from the Local Bible Bees. Family discipleship is reinforced during the time leading up to these events through planned voluntary social interactions around the Word, memory verse games, and Christian fellowship.
Where are the Bible Bee Contests held?
Local Bible Bees will be held in churches, schools, universities, and community centers across the United States on Saturday, August 28th, 2010.
The National Bible Bee Contest will take place at the Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, on November 11-13, 2010.
Who can participate in the Bible Bee? On May 1, 2010, families may begin to register their children and youth who will be 7 to 18 years of age as of November 13, 2010. Contestants will compete in one of three age divisions: Primary (ages 7-10), Junior (11-14) or Senior (15-18).
How is the Bible Bee set up?
Contestants at the Local Contests will participate in a Preliminary Oral Round in which they have 10 minutes to recite up to 30 Bible verses or passages from their age division’s level(s) in front of two judges. They will also complete a 200-question Written Test Round, which tests their comprehension of the memory verses as well as their understanding of a specified book of the Bible.
The scores from the Preliminary Oral Round and Written Test Round determine which contestants move on to the Final Challenge Round, an onstage, sudden-elimination oral round. The winners of the Final Challenge Round in each age division win their Local Bible Bee.
The scores from the Local Preliminary Oral and Written Test Rounds are also tabulated to determine the top 100 contestants nationally in each age division, who are then invited to compete in the National Bible Bee Contest.
The contestants’ ranking in the Local Final Challenge Round does not affect this selection.The National Bible Bee Contestants are challenged with another Preliminary Oral Round and Written Test Round, structured just like the Local Contests; the top-scoring youth from these two rounds move on to the Semi-Final Challenge Round, another onstage, sudden-elimination oral event.
The final five contestants from each age division who remain standing in the Semi-Final Challenge Round will advance to the Final Challenge Round; this exciting, sudden-elimination oral round in front of thousands of Bible Bee family members will determine the 2010 National Bible Bee winners.
What are the rewards for being in the Bible Bee?
The greatest reward is your family drawing closer to the Lord and closer to one another as you study God’s word together, memorize Scripture and pray together. Local Event Teams may choose to arrange awards and/or prize money for their Local Bible Bee winners. The top National Bible Bee winners are awarded from $5,000 up to $100,000 according to their Final Challenge Round rank and age division.
I went to Multnomah Bible College (MBC) in the late ‘70s. The professors drilled you, and then drilled you again. And then guess what? They drilled you again. It was English Bible upside down, with a reverse lay-out, in full-tuck position, barrel roll and a combination triple lutz, triple axel and triple toe loop.
One of the things I really appreciated about MBC is that you came out knowing your way around the chapters of the Books of the Bible. OK. Drum roll.
The Sumpters are the host family for the first-annual Bible Bee for Southern Oregon!
Here are the basic facts:
What is the Bible Bee?The National Bible Bee Competition is a series of events designed to help parents encourage diligence in Bible study, Scripture memorization, and prayer in their families. There are two focal points: 1) Bible memorization and Bible knowledge competition held at Local Bible Bees organized by volunteer Hosts and Local Event Teams in various locations throughout the United States, and 2) The National Bible Bee competition for the 300 top-scoring contestants from the Local Bible Bees. Family discipleship is reinforced during the time leading up to these events through planned voluntary social interactions around the Word, memory verse games, and Christian fellowship.
Where are the Bible Bee Contests held?Local Bible Bees will be held in churches, schools, universities, and community centers across the United States on Saturday, August 28th, 2010. The National Bible Bee Contest will take place at the Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, on November 11-13, 2010.
Who can participate in the Bible Bee?On May 1, 2010, families may begin to register their children and youth who will be 7 to 18 years of age as of November 13, 2010. Contestants will compete in one of three age divisions: Primary (ages 7-10), Junior (11-14) or Senior (15-18).
