Sherwood Forest Youth Gearing Up for NYC Competition - 2007

If you see some of our teens walking around with a dazed expression, there may be a reason. They are probably a bit preoccupied with all they have to do. In addition to school, basketball games, church services, and social activities, these teens are working hard to prepare for Free Will Baptist Youth competition. Their goal is to make it all the way to the Nationals in Little Rock, AK this July.
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1. Bible Bowl
This is the first year in many years that our church has had a Bible Bowl team. Bible Bowl is restricted to those in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Robin Howell sponsors our team: Thomas Mills, Stephen Nelson, Caroline Anderson, and Lonni Beth Gaskins.
The format for Bible Bowl is similar to any quiz bowl team. In actual competition, two teams compete at a time. The goal is to be the first person to press the buzzer and answer the question correctly, accumulating points for your team. Team members study certain portions of the Bible, not a pre-written list of questions as is done in Tic-Tac-Toe. In addition to individual study time, Bible Bowl members meet every Sunday night at 5:00 for practice.
2. Truth Quest
Two teens, Melissa Nelson and Paige Nobles, are preparing for Truth Quest. This is an individual rather than team competition. Each participant goes directly to national competition, bypassing any district or state eliminations. To prepare, these girls are studying everything there is to know about the Free Will Baptist denomination: doctrine, home missionaries, foreign missionaries, and the various departments within the denomination, just to name a few. Also, some of the questions will be based upon their Sunday school lessons for the last year.
Upon arriving for the National Association meeting, these girls will take a written test. The ten highest scorers will progress to the second round of competition, similar to Jeopardy that you see on television. The final round of competition will determine the winner.
3. Music, Drama, and Art
The six aforementioned teens will also compete in various music, art, and drama competitions.
4. Truth and Peace
Caroline Anderson applied and was accepted to be part of Truth and Peace 2007. Truth and Peace is a leadership-training program sponsored by Randall House Publishing, an adjunct company of the FWB denomination.
She will fly to Oklahoma City, OK on July 4th and spend the next week and a half at Hillsdale FWB College training with young Free Will Baptists from all over the country to be a part of the support staff at the Nationals in Little Rock. This will be a time of spiritual enrichment as well as a time for personal growth and the development of leadership skills. A few days before the start of the Nationals, Truth and Peace members will travel by bus to Little Rock to begin their work.
Truth and Peace members are essential to the smooth running of the convention. They man the competition rooms, serve as monitors, provide assistance with general sessions and services, and generally do the many jobs necessary to help those in charge of the various activities.
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So, the next time you see some of our “overworked” teens, stop them and tell them that you are aware of what they are doing and that you will pray for them as they work to represent our church in the various activities.