Bible Drill and Speakers

In light of recent CDC, state and national announcements, and with last night’s declaration of school closings through April 24th, we are canceling all of our onsite Regional Bible Drill and Student Speakers Competitions. We will move to our remote/video plan for 2020 Bible Drill and Speakers in Georgia as mentioned in our earlier post:

• Children’s Bible Drillers will participate in a State Drill at their local church with guidelines/materials provided by Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc.  Churches have through May 31st to conduct the State Drill at their church and to submit the names, scores, and 3rd year Bible Drill award recipients to us. This deadline will be extended if needed.
• Youth and High School Drillers will participate in their Regional Drill via video with guidelines/materials supplied by us to their church.  Bible Drill Leaders will submit a video of the drill to us for scoring. 
• Speakers – Speeches will be submitted via video along with a copy of their written speech. Our judges will score it based 50% on delivery and 50% on written content.  There will only be one level of scoring for speakers. The speaker with the top score will be our State Winner.

The cost to register for regional competitions for each driller/speaker will be $10.  The remote registration fee will cover partial cost of administrative expenses, certificates/awards, and shipment expenses. Member churches who contributed $250 or more to Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc., earlier this year will receive special instructions to register each driller at a 50% discount.

We are still hoping to have a State Youth/High School Drill on our original date of May 9.  June 20 is our back-up State Drill date if needed due to Covid-19 issues.

Over the next few days, we will release a series of articles on our website/blog for each age group with specific details regarding hosting your Children’s State Drill at church and Youth/High School Drills Speeches via video.

Get immediate updates from our website by entering your e-mail address on our main webpage.

Thank you for your patience and gracious consideration as events in our state and country are unfolding on a daily basis. Please understand that we may have to make additional future adjustments.

We are pleased to announce that scholarships will be awarded for Youth, High School and Student Speakers Winners in Georgia this year. With the cancelation of the 2020 National Bible Drill and Speakers Tournament, Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Student Speakers, Inc. will award a $500 college scholarship to each of our three 2020 state winners. Earlier this week, the Nationals Committee decided that the 2020 National Bible Drill and Speakers Tournament would be canceled due to the ongoing concern surrounding COVID-19. The majority of State Bible Drills across the country have been cancelled or postponed.

In addition to these one-time $500 College Scholarships to our Youth/High School Bible Drill and Speakers Winners, we have college scholarships awarded each year to High School Bible Drill and Student Speakers Winners. The Waldo and Sarah Woodcock Scholarship is awarded to our High School Bible Drill Winner each year. Our Student Speakers Winner receives the Jenny Rogers Memorial Scholarship and the runner-up also receives a smaller scholarship from this fund. If a Student Speaker Winner chooses to attend Brewton-Parker College, Shorter University, or Truett McConnell University, they will receive an additional $4,000 scholarship to be awarded in increments of $1,000 per year.

Due to the Coronavirus, we find ourselves in unprecedented times.  In addition to national/state guidelines and regulations, we also realize that each family, church, association, and community has different circumstances. We recommend that you follow the advice of your pastor, association, local government leaders and medical advice when making a determination regarding your option for a church and/or associational drill.  

If a Church or Associational Drill has been canceled due to the Coronavirus, we recommend the following:

• Reschedule the drill if time and circumstances allow.  We realize that this will probably not be an option for many churches or associations.
• Hold a small church drill (limit to 10 or less). You may have to schedule on different days and only drill 3-5 at a time with no family in the audience because of the need for judges/and caller.  Option: Limit drillers to 3-4 per drill and livestream your church drill.  
• If an Associational Drill is canceled: Under these special circumstances of the coronavirus, drillers can advance to the Regional/State Drills under one of these options:
  • Apply the Associational standards to your church drill.  Any children’s drillers who scored 16 at the church level may advance to the State Drill. Youth/High School Drillers who score 225 or more may advance to the Regional Drills.
  • Host a second drill at your church (limit attendance as described above) and designate it as your associational drill, using different “calls” and applying the associational standards to advance.
  • If you had a church drill scheduled later and are unable to host a small church drill, contact us at bibledrillspeakers@gmail.com.

Please keep in mind small groups of 10 or less, social distancing, and good cleaning/disinfecting procedures. 

At this point, we have not canceled any of our Regional Drills.  We’ll make individual Regional Drill locations final decisions closer to the dates. 

In the event Regional/State Drill Events are canceled:

• Children’s Bible Drillers will have the option to attend a later Regional/State Drill (if this option is available) or participate in a State Drill at their local church with guidelines/materials provided by Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc., with an extended timeframe.
• Youth and High School Drillers will have the option to attend a later Regional/State Drill (if this option is available) or local churches will conduct the Regional Drill with guidelines/materials supplied by us and submit a video of the drill to us for scoring.
• Speakers – Speeches will be submitted via video along with a copy of their written speech and have our judges score it based 50% on delivery and 50% on written content.  

Registration for Regional Drills will now probably not open until the first week of April. We may only open an event or two at a time in order to closely monitor the current situation and make the best decisions possible.  Get immediate updates from our website by entering your e-mail address on our main webpage.

If we are able to host our Regional Drills as planned, the cost per driller/speaker to register will be $20.  If we move to the remote/video option, the cost to register for each driller/speaker will be $10.  (The remote registration fee will cover partial cost of administrative expenses, certificates/awards, and shipment expenses.). Member churches who contributed $250 or more to Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc., earlier this year will receive special instructions to register each driller at a 50% discount.

We are still hoping to have a State Youth/High School Drill on our original date of May 9, but are also looking at a possible back-up date in June that we will announce in the near future.

Thank you for your patience and gracious consideration as events in our state and country are unfolding on a daily basis. Please understand that we may have to make additional future adjustments.

Please continue to prepare for Bible Drill and Student Speakers.  While Regional/State drills and competitions (if needed) may be in a different format such as a remote format possibly using technology, the Drills and Competitions will continue.  We’ll provide future updates no later than April 2 regarding Regional/State Drill dates and locations.

Regional Drills and Speakers Competitions:

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 – Tom’s Creek, Martin

Thursday, April 16, 2020 – FBC Douglas

Sunday, April 19, 2020 – West Rome Baptist

Monday, April 20, 2020 – FBC Lawrenceville

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 – FBC Cochran

Thursday, April 23, 2020 – Warren Baptist, Augusta

Sunday, April 26, 2020 – FBC Douglasville

Schedule for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday Drills

• 3:30 pm – Registration for Children’s Drills
• 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – Children’s Drills 
• 6:30 pm – Registration for Youth/High School Bible Drill and Speakers 
• 7:00 pm – Youth/High School Bible Drill/Speakers Competition Begins

Schedule for Sunday Drills

• 1:30 pm – Registration begins for Children’s Bible Drill
• 2:00 pm – Children’s Drills begin
• 3:00 pm – Registration for Youth/High School and Speakers
• 3:30 pm – Youth/High School Bible Drill/Speakers Competition Begins

Please Note: Churches will receive their Assigned Children’s Bible Drill Times after they register for Regional/State Drills.

* To qualify for the Regional/State Drills – Children’s Drillers must score 16 or higher, Youth/High School Drillers must score 225 or higher

Saturday, May 9, 2020 – State Youth/High School Bible Drill and Student Speakers Competition – First Baptist Church, Loganville

June 18-19, 2020 – National Youth/High School Bible Drill and Youth Speakers Tournament – Dallas Baptist University – Dallas, Texas 

Registration for Regional/State Drills Coming Soon! Registration fee is $20 per Driller or Speaker for the 2020 Children’s State Drills and Regional Youth/High School Bible Drill and Student Speakers Competition. 

Churches donating at the Member of Bible Drill Fellowship Level for Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc ($250) will receive a 50% discount on the registration fees for each driller and speaker at the Regional/State Drills if the donation is received by January 31, 2020.

This month we are beginning a new year, a new decade, and in the process of developing a new ministry with Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers. We would like to ask you to join us for 10 days of prayer January 22-31. If these dates don’t work for you and/or your church, feel free to adjust them. Download this prayer guide below and print it out (double-sided). We recommend to print it on card stock. Use it for your personal use and/or to distribute to your church family.

Yesterday we celebrated the life of Waldo Woodcock – a life-long champion for Bible Drill and Student Speakers in Georgia.  I first met Waldo Woodcock when I was in Children’s Bible Drill.  During my teenage years, as a Bible Driller and as a Speaker, Waldo Woodcock had an impact in my Discipleship Journey.  As a State Missionary, he faithfully served – championing the importance of hiding God’s Word in our hearts and sharing our faith. He retired in 1996 after serving for 28 years as a State Missionary in Discipleship Training at the Georgia Baptist Convention.  In March of 1998, before I began at the Georgia Baptist Convention, Waldo Woodcock, called me at the church where I was serving on staff and encouraged me with my upcoming journey of serving as a State Missionary with the responsibility of Bible Drill.  For many years after his retirement, Waldo continued to serve as a Bible Drill judge and presider.

Earlier this year, Waldo called me from the Georgia Baptist Retirement Community where he lived in Waycross and expressed his support and encouragement for our new Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Student Speakers, Inc. ministry.  He was pleased that this vital ministry to our Georgia Baptist churches was going to continue!

Waldo made a difference in so many lives and invested in multiple generations through Bible Drill and Speakers.  I am thankful to have been impacted through his life and ministry.

This week our Youth and High School Drillers are having their Bible Drill Christmas Party and we were looking for a fun, Bible Drill Christmas Game to play at the party.

Thank you to LifeWay Kids for sharing a customizable Christmas Bingo template that can be used for a Bible Drill Christmas Activity. To download the template, click this link for the article sharing the Christmas Tree Bingo Board: Christmas Bingo

Items needed:

• A copy of the Christmas Bingo Card for each driller
• Permanent Marker (ultra fine point)
• Christmas Candy (We like to use Christmas M&M’s)
• Bible Drill Card

Prepare:

• Print out a copy of the Bingo Board for each driller
• Using the permanent marker write Bible Drill references in each square. (Make each card individually so that the references are in a different square on each card)
• Put Christmas candy in a small cup for each driller to use as the markers for their card

For Children’s Bible Drillers:

Call out the underlined portion of the card (like in a completion drill) and the drillers must put the candy marker on the correct reference.  

For Youth Bible Drill:

Call out a phrase of an Identifying verse, a Doctrinal Statement, or a Bible Answers Question and the youth must put the candy marker on the correct reference.

For High School Bible Drill: 

Call out a Key Biblical Passages statement or a What We Believe Question.  Drillers must put the candy marker on the correct reference.  For the rest of the squares – you may want to repeat some (that is what we did) or come up with your own options of what to put in the remaining squares.

We’d love to hear what Christmas Bible Drill activities you are using for your group.

Seeing millennials, Gen Xers, and Boomers investing in the Next Generation through Bible Drill this month during our October Challenge has been a blessing. To hear from a former driller from a few years ago about their gratefulness for Bible Drill and to see what God continues to do through this ministry is incredible.

Our October challenge is to raise $1,500 for the ministry of Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Student Speakers, Inc. Due to the generosity of former drillers, speakers, parents, leaders, and Bible Drill Champions, we are half-way there. A big thank you to to everyone who has donated this month!

If you would like to be a part of the October Challenge, there is still time to donate. During this challenge, we are encouraging Bible Drillers, former Bible Drillers and Speakers, parents, and other Bible Drill champions to donate $10 or $20 this month to invest in the discipleship and Biblical literacy of the next generation of kids and students through Bible Drill and Student Speakers. You can donate by clicking this link: Donate

For the month of October, we would like to raise $1,500 for the ministry of Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Student Speakers, Inc. We are encouraging Bible Drillers, former Bible Drillers and Speakers, parents, and other Bible Drill champions to donate $10 or $20 this month to invest in the discipleship and Biblical literacy of the next generation of kids and students through Bible Drill and Student Speakers. You can donate by clicking this link: Donate

Will you take the challenge to do one of the following?

• Collect your change for the month of October and donate to Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers, Inc.
• Donate the amount you would spend on coffee in a week
• Donate $10 or $20
• Encourage your friends and family to match what you donate

The ministry of Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers has transitioned to a separate non-profit ministry and is led by a team of individuals from across our state that is committed to investing in and nurturing the next generation of kids and students in Biblical literacy and scripture memorization.  LifeWay Research shared in the book Nothing Less – Engaging Kids in a Lifetime of Faith by Jana Magruder that the number 1 predictor of Spiritual Maturity as Young Adults is regularly reading the Bible as Kids.  Through Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc, we will continue to provide resources and events/Drills to encourage a love for God’s Word and a growth in Christian Discipleship.