Spring City's Top 4 Greatest Victories

On Sunday, January 16, 2022, something happened that, I must admit, I was never expecting to happen. On Sunday, January 16, 2022, a Stony Brook quiz team, consisting of 5 "sophomore quizzers" (quizzers in their second year) scored 155 points in their first 2 matches of the 2022 quizzing year. OK, I must confess that the Lord told me in a dream that the quiz team would score over 100 points in a quizmatch, but I simply dismissed that dream as wishful thinking, not prophetic. Even if I did believe the dream came from God as prophetic, I would have expected 1 quizmatch with exactly 100 points or just over 100 points, not 2 quizmatches of over 150 points. Not don't get me wrong, my disbelief did not come from a lack of faith in the Stony Brook quizzers. All 5 of them got the hang of quizzing by the end of their rookie year, and going into their sophomore year with clear expectations, they came prepared and ready. It's just that scoring over 150 points in a single quizmatch is a big deal for any team, regardless of how many years experience each quizzer has. As a matter of fact, in my 3 years quizzing with Ark Bible, I cannot recall at any point in time scoring over 150 points (I think I would have remembered that because it would have had an impact on me, as you will see), and in my 5 years quizzing with Spring City, only 4 quizmatches exceeded the 150 point mark. Therefore, in this post, I would like to reminisce over Spring City's greatest victories. Now I know a quizmatch called a "great victory" should be a quizmatch that has something like a close win, a comeback win or overcoming a strong and hard opponent, but those are all subjective. Thus, the most objective way to measure a "great victory" would be by the number of points, like a high score. Therefore, the primary determining factor for a "great victory" will be the total number of points scored in the quizmatch because season standings go by points (with that being said, tournament matches will not count, due to the fact tournaments go by wins, and most teams, including Spring City, practice a "mercy rule" by stopping after clinching the win). As a secondary determining factor to figure out any ties, the tiebreaker will go point differential to what the other team scored. And for the fun of it, to build up hype and suspension, let's countdown from 4th greatest victory to 1st greatest victory.

4) 2007 Season Week 3: Spring City - 155, Hopewell 1 - 10.

Spring City had not quizzed against Hopewell 1 since the 2006 season, and in that quizmatch, Spring City lost. In this quizmatch, Spring City would make up for it and then some. On February 4, 2007, on the third week of the quizzing season, Spring City would sit across from Hopewell 1 in Conestoga's sanctuary. I quizzed out on question 6. Tim quizzed out on question 10. Mike quizzed out on question 12. Sometime between my quiz out and Tim's quiz out, Christine got a buzzed in and answer correctly, giving up team bonus. After Mike's quiz out, Chelsea got a question right for another 10 points. Following that, Hopewell 1 throws another bonus in Spring City's direction, and since Mike remains in his seat, he gets the bonus correct. With 4 errors on Hopewell's side, Hopewell 1 was on the brink of either being shut out or losing with a negative score due to 1 more error. Fortunately for Hopewell 1, they did 1 question right, and they kept their errors to no more than 4, avoiding both possible worst case scenarios. Spring City won, 155-10. While the win had a big impact on Spring City, the loss had an even bigger impact on Hopewell 1. When Spring City had a rematch versus Hopewell 1 during the Invitational tournament, when Hopewell 1 entered the room, Hopewell 1's top quizzer, Bryant Burkhart asked, "So, is this the execution room?" It was. We won that match, too, 130-30.

3) 2007 Season Week 1: Spring City - 155, Blainsport - 0.

Blainsport had become quite the formidable foe for Spring City. Spring City had quizzed against Blainsport once in each of the past 2 seasons. Not only did Blainsport win both of those quizmatches by scoring over 100 points, the last match-up had Blainsport winning by a score differential of 100 points. Seriously, Blainsport had become quite the formidable opponent for Spring City. This 2007 Blainsport quiz team, however, looked quite different from the Blainsport team of the past 2 years. The quiz team only had 4 quizzers, 1 of which was a veteran and 3 of which were rookies. This did not necessarily mean automatic win for Spring City. Before quizzing Spring City, Blainsport had a quizmatch versus Paradise 3, which ended in a tie of 75 points each, and Blainsport was 1 away from team bonus. That may have been more of a reflection on Paradise 3 and less of a reflection on Blainsport. During the Spring City vs. Blainsport quizmatch, I quizzed out first, Tim quizzed out second, and Mike quizzed out third. After the three of us quizzed out, Christine got a buzz-in correct, giving Spring City team bonus. After the team bonus, rookie Chelsea, who is at her first quizmeet of her life, who is in her second quizmatch of her career, buzzes in and answer right for another 10 points. Chelsea would also get a bonus sent her way, but she didn't get it because she said houses instead of homes (I now found this ironic because that didn't fly in 2007, but I could see it working in 2022). Christine, after giving team bonus, would also get another question right. By the end of 15 questions, Spring City shut out Blainsport. That was my first time that my team scored over 150 points (at least to my recollection). As we shook hands, I felt weird. I didn't know what to say to them. I almost wanted to apologize. As the week went on, however, my feelings shifted. I had compared the 2005 & 2006 Spring City vs. Blainsport match-ups with the 2007 Spring City vs. Blainsport match-up, and an interesting stat emerged. If you add the scores of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 match-up, Spring City and Blainsport are tied at 240 points a piece! That is because, for each quizmatch individually, the winner has always scored over 100 points, and loser has always scored no more than 55 points. That tie of points would never be broken because, as far as I can remember, Spring City would never again quiz a quiz match versus Blainsport, in either the season, local tournament or Invitational tournament. Blainsport would have a bit of a slump for the next few years, even completely absent for the 2010 quizzing year, but they would bounce back by 2011 with 6th place finish in their league during the season, and then another bounce back in 2012, culminating in 2nd place finish in the Invitational tournament.

2) 2009 Season Week 4: Spring City - 170, Weaverland 1 - 10

Spring City did not start out the 2009 season as they did the past 2 years. In the past 2 years, Spring City would start out in 1st place, and they would spend the rest of their season hanging on, trying their best not to slide down in the standings too low, which usually resulted in a top 5 finish in their respective league. The 2009 season started out quite the opposite. In the 1st week, Spring City only scored 135 points, averaging 67.5 points per match, placing them 17th in the league. To put that in perspective, in the past 2 years, Spring City would score 135 in their first match alone! Then, to make matters worse, by the end of the 2nd week, the quiz team had 325 points, averaging 65 points per match, dropping the team to 21st league. Quarter-way through the season, out of the 5 quizmatches, only 1 exceeded over 100 points, and barely with 105 points. It may have been easy for Spring City and its fans to think the quiz team was past its prime, but Spring City would make up for those first 2 quizmeets in a single quizmatch, during week 4 of the season, versus Weaverland 1. Tim, Mike, Robert and I took the starting lineup. I quizzed out first. Tim quizzed out second, on literally the next question after I quizzed out. Mike quizzed out third. Robert quizzed out fourth. Yes, we had 4 quiz outs, with Robert being that 4th quiz out. It was his second quiz out of his career, and the first one of that year. Of course, for all 4 quiz outs, at least question was a correct buzz-in, so we naturally got team bonus for an additional 20 points. Since Chelsea and Alyssa weren't doing too hot, once Mike and Robert quizzed out, they got the opportunity to sit back, relax and watch the rest of the quizmatch play out. Robert looked really confused when the Weaverland 1 quizzer sitting across from him errored, and the quizmaster gave the bonus to him. While the bonus does not go towards his individual score, he did give the team another 10 points. Spring City won the quizmatch 170-10, due to 4 quiz outs, team bonus, and Robert giving the team an extra 10 points on a bonus. Thanks hugely to this giant win, Spring City would shoot up in the standings, which would eventually result in finishing the season 4th place in their respective league and 10th place overall in ACC.

1) 2008 Season Week  5: Spring City - 170, Emmanuel 2 - 0

At the beginning of every year, once I got the schedule, I had a habit of ranking all our opponents from hardest to easiest. When I got the scheduled in 2008, I thought that the quizmatch versus Emmanuel 2 would be the 2nd easiest (no, I don't remember who I picked to be the easiest). I believe I came to that conclusion because the Emmanuel 2 quiz team consisted of 4 rookie girls (they also carried a stuffed emu to fill in the seat if one of them quizzed out because the quiz team's full name was Emmanuel Mennonite Unworthy Servants, or E.M.U.S. for short). Turns out this quizmatch would become the easiest quizmatch of the year. First, I quizzed on on question 5. Second, Mike quizzed on question 7. Third, Tim quizzed out on question 10. Fourth, Bobby quizzed out following Tim. Yes, we had 4 quiz outs in this quizmatch. To make matters even sweeter, all 4 of those quiz outs were all on buzz ins, making it more impressive than the previously mentioned quizmatch versus Weaverland 1. Of course, that also gave Spring City team bonus. Speaking of which, on a related note, Spring City buzzed in on all 15 questions, also making it more impressive than the prior quizmatch versus Weaverland 1. For the remaining 3 questions that were not part of the 12 questions that went towards the 4 quiz outs, Chelsea got a buzz in correct, and Spring City committed 2 errors. Yes, Spring City errored twice, but Emmanuel 2 could not capitalize on it to take some points away from that quizmatch. They dropped both errors with incorrect bonuses. Therefore, Spring City won with a 170 point shutout due to 4 quiz outs, team bonus, and Chelsea giving 10 points extra. This humongous win would send Spring City up in the standings, which, by the end of the year, would result in Spring City finishing 4th in the league and 8th overall, making the 2008 Spring City team the best season performance that I have ever been part of.

Remembering and reminiscing over those quizmatches, I looked to see how Spring City did in those other quizmatches during the quizmeet. During the quizmeet with the Weaverland 1 quizmatch, Spring City also scored 145 points versus Maple Grove 2 the quizmatch after, but the quizmatch before, Spring City lost to Grace Point 1 55-75. Among those 3 quizmatches, Spring City averaged 123 points per match in that quizmeet. During the season opener of the 2007 season, before that quizmatch versus Blainsport, we scored 135 points versus Good Shepherd 2. Between 135 points versus Good Shepherd 2 and 155 points versus Blainsport, we averaged 145 points per match in that quizmeet, possibly and probably the highest quizmeet point average ever in my 5 years with Spring City and my 8 year quizzing career total. Still, looking back on these quizmeets, I never had a single quizmeet in which my quiz team scored over 150 points twice in the same quizmeet. While I admire Spring City's top 4 greatest victories, I also applaud Stony Brook for doing something the team I quizzed on while a quizzer could never do: score 150 or more points twice in a single quizmeet :)

An Evaluation of the 2022 Bible Quizzing Material

INTRODUCTION

If I understand correctly, every time the Bible quizzing coordinators meet during the quizzing year, not only do they converse about the current quizzing year's topics and issues, they also discuss next year's possible quizzing material. The final decision must take place at the final meeting, the meeting right before the Invitational Tournament begins, so next year's host conference can announce next year's quizzing material. Some years the selection process goes nicely and neatly, while other years the selection does not look so pretty. It would seem that the years that go well are the ones that select a single book to study, whereas the not-so-pretty years have a mish-mash of books and chapters. When the latter happens, I imagine the quizzing coordinators arguing and debating over what to quiz on and what not to quiz on, and the jumbled mess of quizzing passages is the result of an attempted compromise. Some hodgepodge quizzing materials have turned out well, while other hodgepodge quizzing materials have not (I'm looking at you, 2017).

The 2022 quizzing material was definitely one of those mixed bags of material, quizzing Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah (OK, yes, this was supposed to be the 2021 quizzing material until the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the tournaments and abbreviated the quizzing season, which in turn required a shorter quizzing material, but since Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah actually became the 2022 quizzing material, it will be referred to as such). Now don't get me wrong; I felt excited once I heard quizzing would quiz on Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah. Job, Nehemiah and Zechariah had never been quizzed on before (at least, to my knowledge, in my 21 years of involvement), and Joshua and Jonah had not been touched since 2002. I did feel concern, however, on the cohesiveness of the quizzing material. As I thought and reflected on it more, I came to realize that my concern not only came from my past experience as a quizzer and quizzing staff, it also came from my scholarly mind.

Therefore, I would like to explore and evaluate the 2022 choice of quizzing material. Let me set some ground rules here. Let me be clear that I will not be rejecting books and/or suggesting new books in its place, meaning I will never say "They should have quizzed on [insert Bible book name here] instead!" That is for another place and another time. Clearly, Bible quizzing intended to do a "character study" for 2022. Therefore, here I will explore and evaluate the effectiveness of the passages selected from each of the 5 Bible books to study each of the 5 Bible characters. If I set a hypothetical/theoretical situation, this exploration and evaluation will be like if the Bible quizzing coordinators would have approached me and asked me for my scholarly opinion on what passages to exactly quiz on for this character study.

JOB

While I was excited to quiz on Job, I was also a bit surprised. Whenever I hear retellings of the book of Job, from sermons to videos, it usually only covers the first 2 chapters of the book of Job and the last chapter of Job. This is because these are the narrative chapters, and all the other chapters come in poetry. I know quizzing prefers narrative over any other type of writing style, so I did figure that any attempt to quiz on Job would have to come from a study of miscellaneous Bible characters, yet I still feared that Job would end up too short. The Bible quizzing coordinators did an amazing job expanding Job to make it quizzing worthy. The quizzing coordinators decided to quiz on the first 3 and the last 3 chapters of Job. Of course, this keep the narrative parts of Job 1, 2 and 42. That leaves chapters 3, 40 and 41, which are poetry chapters. For chapters 40 and 41, as poetry chapters, they are not too bad. Both Job 40 and 41 relay the grandness of God by portraying these mighty creatures that he has both created and controls. Job 40 is converses about behemoth, a large creature, exact identity unknown, and Job 41 discusses leviathan, a large sea creature, exact identity unknown. To communicate each creature's grandness, the Lord points out how strong each creature's body part is. You can almost imagine God pointing and labeling things for Job. By picturing this in your head, it makes it easier to remember the facts and details of these chapter, despite them being poetry chapters. That leaves Job 3. The English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible titles the chapter "Job Laments His Birth," and the title fits, for Job does exactly that in this chapter. This chapter also serves as a prologue of sorts, for it introduces the reader for the objections of Job's three friends. Despite it being a prologue in nature, it does not need to be attached to Job 4-26 to make sense. It works as a standalone chapter. Now Job 3 does not share the same simple breakdown as Job 40 & 41. Whereas Job 40 & 41 have the main topic of the their respective creature, and the verses break down into subtopics of each creature's body parts, in Job 3, Job goes off in every direction lamenting his birth. Thus, by nature, Job 3 is the hardest chapter to study in the Job quizzing material. Still, I think it was a good choice. It makes the quizzing material on Job nice and balanced, with 3 chapters on each end, instead of lopsided with 2 chapters one end and 3 chapters on another. It also has the important Job of demonstrating how Job can lament about his suffering without sinning with his lips (Job 2:10) or charging God with wrong (Job 1:22). Again, Job 3 does not need Job 4-26 to make sense, yet it insinuates how the dialogue will go between Job and Job's friends without actually reading it. Speaking of textual markers, going back to latter half of the Job quizzing material, Job 40 is most definitely the right place to pick up, as evident in textual markers. Without going too Bible nerdy, most scholar agree Yahweh's final dialogue break up into 2 sections. Each section begins with the Lord calling out to Job from the whirlwind, "Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me." This section marker appears right at the beginning of Job 40, marking the second part of God's argument with Job. The quizzing material respects the boundary markers! In conclusion, the coordinators made an awesome choice with the Job quizzing material. It's balanced. It respects the textual boundary markers, ending where it should and picking up at the start of a brand new section. Besides, all religions attempt to answer the question of suffering in the world, and Bible quizzing should point out the Christian answer to church youth groups. Overall, I will flat out say it right now that the book of Job had the best representation of the 2022 quizzing material. If Job is revisited in the distant future, quizzing should pick these 6 chapters again.

In conclusion, Job 1-3 & 40-42 make the perfect quizzing material for quizzing on Job.

JOSHUA

As mentioned above, Bible quizzing did quiz on Joshua back in 2002. After 20 years had passed, it was definitely overdue for reconsideration. Quizzing on Joshua in 2022, however, looked differently than quizzing on Joshua in 2022. For Quizzing 2002, quizzing on Joshua meant quizzing on Joshua 1-6 and 21:43-24:33. For Quizzing 2022, quizzing on Joshua mean quizzing on Joshua 1:1-10:15 omitting 5:1-9. Therefore it seems fitting to compare and contrast the two selections.

Now before I go into comparing and contrasting, let me acknowledge the difficulty for Mennonites to quiz on Joshua. If I were to summarize the book of Joshua in one word, it would be "conquering." If I were to summarize the book of Joshua in two words, those two words would be "conquering" and "dividing." You may have heard of Philip II of Macedonia's (father of Alexander the Great) "divide and conquer." Joshua believed in the opposite "conquer and divide." Granted, these two are not complete opposites, as they come from different contexts. Philip II of Macedonia's "divide and conquer" means that when people are kept divided into smaller groups, they are easier to conquer. Joshua's "conquer and divide" meant that the nation of Israel had to conquer united in order to win over the Canaanites, but once they won the war, the Promised Land could be divided among the tribes. Anyway, this makes the book of Joshua problematic to Mennonites, who traditionally take an anti-war stance, anywhere from pure pacifism to non-violent resistance. No wonder it took 20 whole years for Joshua to get some reconsideration! I imagine with the 2002 material, the quizzing coordinators decided to as much as they could with Joshua without including any war battles. The only reason they kept in the battle at Jericho is because of how famous it is due to the city's big walls. I also imagine that the quizzing coordinators (especially since 3/4 of them are new) were a little bit more open to considering more of the Joshua narrative.

For the first 4 chapters of Joshua, the quizzing material remains the same between 2002 and 2022. The first divergence happens right at chapter 5. Quizzing 2022 decided to omit Joshua 5:1-9, despite quizzing 2002 quizzing on it. In Joshua 5:1-9, the Lord reveals to Joshua that, during the chaos of wandering the desert wilderness, the people of Israel forgot to keep the covenant sign of circumcision! The nation of Israel stops right there to circumcise all the males, and then once everybody heals, they continue on with their plan. For some reason, quizzing 2022 decided to omit this passage, I don't know why. I quizzed on it in my rookie season when I was 13 years old and 7th grader, and I turned out just fine (don't answer that). Everybody who quizzed on Joshua in 2002 read about circumcision, and nobody was traumatized by it (not to my knowledge at least). When quizzing on Genesis 1-30 in both 2009 and 2018, both quizzing materials included Genesis 17, in which God establishes circumcision as part of the covenant. When quizzing on Exodus in 2004 and 2014, both material continued all 3 appearances of circumcision in the book of Exodus. When quizzing on Luke in 2006, two verses talk about circumcision: the circumcision of John the Baptist and the circumcision of Jesus. Jesus talks about circumcision in John 7:22&23, which was quizzed on in 2012. When quizzing on Acts 10-28 in 2008 and Acts 6-28 in 2016, circumcision comes up in 6 different verses (and once more in Acts 7:8), and it actually becomes an important debate in the first century church. All these times circumcision came up without any issue, and all of a sudden, they decided to cut it out (pun intended) of the quizzing material. Seriously, my best guess why it was left was as part of the Safe Church Initiative in order to eliminate sexual abuse in the church, but it's hard to imagine a talk about circumcision would lead to sexual abuse. I will admit that as a quiz coach of a quiz team consisting of 4/5 teenage girls, if one of the ladies did ask, "What is circumcision?" I may feel a bit awkward or embarrassed to talk about it. I may cop out with the easy "Go ask you parents," but I believe it would be age-appropriate and comfortable to say, "The male reproductive organ has extra skin on the front, and circumcision was surgery to remove it." That simple explanation feel safe, comfortable, age-appropriate and definitely not leading to sexual abuse. Besides, omitting Joshua 5:1-9 leaves out an important note about the theology of Joshua. Whether Mennonite or another Christian denomination, an overarching theme of Joshua is the correlation between obedience and blessing. Obedience leads to blessing; disobedience results in curses. The people of Israel cannot consider themselves an obedient people if they will not participate in circumcision, an important sign of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. By all males of all ages receiving circumcision, the men of Israel communicate to the Lord how series they are on obeying him and how serious they are about seeking his blessing. In turn, Joshua 5:1-9 communicates to the reader about the importance of going to great lengths to obey the Lord, especially if seeking blessing. While the re-institution of the Passover in Joshua 5:10-12 does communicate this a little bit, the re-institution of circumcision in Joshua 5:1-9 communicates that a lot.

The rest of chapter 5 and chapter 6 continue as normal. Once Joshua 6 concludes, the 2022 quizzing material takes a break, bu the 2002 quizzing material continues onto Joshua 7-10:15 Now, from a Mennonite perspective, I understand why Joshua 8 and 10 were left out of quizzing 2022. Both chapters discuss a war battle, and it's easy to consider those chapters glorifying violence. I don't get, however, omitting chapters 7 and 9. Joshua 7 talks about Achan's sin preventing victory against Ai, so Achan's sin needed to dealt with harshly. Joshua 9 tells how the Gibeonites deceive Israel into covenant instead of annihilation. These chapters have nothing to do with war. My best guess for Joshua 7 and 9's omission from the 2022 quizzing material is because annihilation of a a whole family in Joshua 7 and the possible slavery of a people in Joshua 9 (if you interpret "cutters of wood and drawers of water" as a form of slavery). The omission of chapter 9 could also be due to it feeling awkward to drop out chapter 8 and leave chapter 9, especially when chapter 9 draws back on the context of chapter 8 a couple times. Again, omitting Joshua 7&8 do a disservice to the theme of Joshua. Israel is disobedient to the Lord's commands due to Achan's sin, so they are cursed with defeat to Ai in Joshua 7:1-5. In their desire to pursue obedience and blessing, the Israelites discover and deal with the sin of Achan in Joshua 7:6-26. Now, finally, the people of Israel can be blessed with victory over Ai, as seen in Joshua 8. By omitting Joshua 7&8, the book of Joshua has less emphasis on its theology. Even Joshua 9 drives home this message even more. While their deceiving is frowned upon, one has to praise Gibeon for recognizing that if they want blessing and not curses, they too must obey the Lord and his people Israel. The Gibeonites go through great lengths to secure this obedience and blessing, and that greatly contrasts to the 5 Amorite kings in Joshua 10. Quizzing 2022 did a disservice to Joshua by omitting Joshua 7-9, and I'm glad quizzing redeemed itself in 2022 by putting Joshua 7-9 back into the quizzing material.

Now I left out Joshua 10 because even quizzing 2022 did not put the whole chapter into the quizzing material, I want to talk more in-depth about its selection of verses. Of course the material had to include the first 15 verses of the 10th chapter because that has the famous story of the sun standing still, but that's where they leave the 10th chapter. I will say that to some extend I understand the omission of Joshua 10:29-43. Sometimes quizzing material needs to be omitted because it is too hard to ask questions from or it's expecting too much for the quizzers to learn. Joshua 10:29-43 definitely falls under both categories. Joshua 10:29-43 is very repetitive, with very little to nothing distinguishing one verse from another. This indistinguishable repetition would make question writing a nightmare and learning impossible. Now for Joshua 10:16-28 I don't understand the omission. Joshua 10:16-28 is narrative, and I would even say a continuation of the same episode as Joshua 10:1-15. My best guess to the omission of Joshua 10:16-28 is that the passage comes off as a little brutal, especially in the Mennonite mindset. The 5 kings of the Amorites retreat from Israel and go into hiding. Joshua leads Israel into pursing the 5 Amorite kings. Israel traps them and then hangs them. Like I said, this sounds brutal, especially according to Mennonite standards. As brutal as the passage sounds, it contributes to the overall theme of the book of Joshua. Israel stands in the favor of the Lord due to their obedience, so the Lord blesses them with victory. The 5 Amorite kings stand in opposition to God and his people Israel, so God curses them with defeat. This theology is driven home even more when Joshua says to the chiefs of the men of war in Joshua 10:25, "Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous." These words point back to the commissioning words given to Joshua in the first chapter of the book. The reason Joshua can be strong and courageous is due to his obedience to God's commands in his life, for they will always result in blessing. Likewise, Joshua can tell his chiefs the same thing because he knows that they too will reap blessing if they still obedient, and that alone gives reason to be strong and courageous. By omitting Joshua 10:16-28, quizzers miss out on how Yahweh consistently blesses Israel out of their obedience. Furthermore, while they repetition in Joshua 10:29-43 makes it a nightmare to learn and almost impossible to write question, the repetition communicates the message that Israel's victory is easily guaranteed as long as they remain obedient to the faith. Therefore, I would ultimately conclude that all of Joshua 10 should have been part of the quizzing material. While I applaud quizzing 2022 over quizzing 2002 for at least including some of Joshua 10, quizzing 2022 should have included Joshua 10 in its entirety.

While quizzing 2022 drops off the conversation at this point, quizzing 2002 re-enters the discussion, for it included Joshua 21:43-24:33. For those of you not familiar with Joshua 21:43-24:33, let me give a quick summary. Joshua 21:43-45 reminds the audience that Yahweh ultimately gave victory to Israel and gave the Promised Land to Israel. In Joshua 22, Joshua dismisses the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, so they can claim the land east of the Jordan, as Moses promised them. In return, the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe build an altar of witness, not to create a rival religion, but to serve as reminder that they are family with the rest of Israel and must be treated as such. In Joshua 23&24, the book of Joshua concludes very similar to how it was opened. Joshua commissions the future leaders, renews the covenant between the Lord and Israel, and then dies. I honestly don't know Joshua 21:43-24:33 was omitted from the 2022 quizzing material, and I don't have a guess why From a quizzing perspective, it would have helped if quizzing 2022. Technically "Reubenites" and "Gadites" were key words in the 2022 quizzing material, despite the two tribes regularly appearing throughout the material. If quizzing 2022 would have included Joshua 21:43-24:33, they would no longer be keywords because they appear in Joshua 22. Also, Joshua 22 mentions the sin of Achin, which would have been a nice callback to Joshua 7. From a theological perspective, it would have helped quizzing 2022 to include this closing that quizzing 2002 included. The reason Israelites are ready to engage in war against the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh is because they fear the altar the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh built is to start a new religion, which is sin, which is disobedience, which will bring upon them curses. In Joshua's commissioning of new leaders in Joshua 23, Joshua reminds the leaders that the Lord's blessing is dependent on Israel's obedience. Therefore, he encourages them to encourage obedience, so Israel may reap blessing. When Joshua renews the covenant between the Lord and Israel in Joshua 24, Joshua gets the opportunity to remind the people of Israel what he reminded the leaders of Israel in Joshua 23: obedience results in blessing and disobedience results in cursing. Again, Joshua 22-24 emphasizes this dichotomy of obedience and disobedience and the dualism of blessing and curse, and without it, it's easy to miss out on it. I do admit that Joshua 21:43-45 was really needing for quizzing 2002, but that's the only part I would be wiling to omit. I applaud quizzing 2002 for recognizing the importance of this quizzing material, and I wishing quizzing 2022 would have seen the significance of keeping it in the quizzing material.

In conclusion, Joshua 1-10 & 22-24 would have made the perfect quizzing material for Joshua.

NEHEMIAH

Like Job, Nehemiah was also uncharted territory. Nehemiah had never been quizzed on before (at least in my 21 years of involvement), so this was the quizzing coordinators' first attempt at dissecting Nehemiah down to quizzing-worthy material. Quizzing determined that quizzing on the life of Nehemiah would mean quizzing on Nehemiah 1-6, which 2 omissions within those boundaries. For quizzing on Nehemiah, I will break into two parts: the omissions and the missed opportunities.

Let's start with the omissions of the material. Reading through Nehemiah, the first omission is Nehemiah 3, and it's fair omission. This chapter lists all the tribes, clans, families and people involved in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. While important to original audience of the book of Nehemiah, quizzers would see chapter 3 as headache-inducing lists to memorize, so quizzing made the right decision to omit it. The more head-scratching omission is the omission of Nehemiah 6:17-19. I have no idea why the last 3 verses of the 6th chapter got omitted? Maybe it was just too much genealogy/lists. Perhaps quizzing thought that Nehemiah 6:16 was a nice conclusion to the story of Nehemiah, and Nehemiah 6:17-19 was an unnecessary epilogue. Whatever the reason, I personally feel like the genealogy/lists are not too hard, and the epilogue displays the opposition Nehemiah and the Jews continues to face, which makes it necessary, so I believe they should have kept that chapter intact for quizzing.

Now I will move onto the missed opportunity, which may look like I'm cheating at my own rules. See, I think quizzing should have added Ezra chapters 1, 3 to 7 and 9. I know I said at the beginning that I would not I will not be rejecting books and/or suggesting new books in its place, hence why this looks like it's cheating, but it's not really cheating. In the original Hebrew text, Ezra and Nehemiah are a single unified book, called Ezra-Nehemiah. In a way, by quizzing on Nehemiah, quizzing has jumped in at the midway point of the book. There's more important reasons to include Ezra into Nehemiah, though. Ezra 5:1 reads "Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them." Yes, that's the same Zechariah from the other book quizzed on this year! On the surface level, quizzing on Ezra 5 would have given context to the book of Zechariah, but it goes deeper into that. In Zechariah 2:4b, Zechariah prophecies, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. Putting together Zechariah prophesying in Ezra 5:1 with Zechariah's actual prophecy in Zechariah 2:4b with Nehemiah building the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah 4-6, it should lead to some head-scratching pondering. If Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesying a Jerusalem without any walls, then why is Nehemiah building walls? This question is further compounded by a missed opportunity within the book of Nehemiah itself.

For the most part, I agree with the quizzing coordinators' decision to stop at Nehemiah 6 (although they could have kept all the chapter included, as mentioned above). Chapters 7, 11 &12 are solely lists of genealogy, and chapters 8, 9 & 10 have a long list of genealogy contained somewhere within the chapter. I imagine quizzing didn't want to have spotty quizzing material, so to avoid spotty material, Nehemiah 7-12 needs to be omitted. The book of Nehemiah, however, has 13 chapters. Nehemiah 13, the final chapter of the book, is narrative just like Nehemiah 1-2 & 4-6, so Nehemiah 13 could have been just as easily quizzed on as Nehemiah 1-2 & 4-6. More importantly, Nehemiah 13 should have been quizzed on for theological reasons. The English Standard Version (ESV) calls this chapter "Nehemiah's Final Reforms," but I would slightly rename it to "Nehemiah's Final Reforms?" That question mark does make all the difference. Throughout the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah work together to bring reforms to post-exile Judah. Zerubbabel made sure a rebuilt temple could worship Yahweh as commanded, Ezra made sure the Jewish people followed the Law and Nehemiah made sure the city of Jerusalem had walls again. Nehemiah 13 reveals that the temple has been neglected once again, the Jewish people are working on the Sabbath & intermarrying again, and the Jews are also living and working outside the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah have reformed has fallen apart, and the post-exile people are living like pre-exile people! Nehemiah's closing words of "Remember me, O my God, for good" could be best paraphrased as "Well, God, I tried!" This falling back into old patterns reveals a deeper need, which is need to get rid of the old, sinful heart and to replace it with a new heart, which can only be done by the Messiah, which further emphasizes the need for a Messiah. Thus, for A.D. people living in the church age, the book of Nehemiah ends with invitation to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, for all other attempts to reform your life will lead to backsliding into old, sinful patterns. What a powerful message that the quizzers need to hear, especially those who have not made a decision to follow Jesus. Quizzing would have had an awesome opportunity to extend an invitation to the gospel, if they would have only kept in Nehemiah 13.

Ultimately, I would want to say that the best quizzing material on Nehemiah is not just Nehemiah itself, but Ezra-Nehemiah, which would consist of Ezra 1, 3-7, 9 & Nehemiah 1-2, 4-6, 13. Still, I imagine some of you are still irked believe you still think I broke my own rules, so I will settle with saying that the better quizzing material for Nehemiah is Nehemiah 1-2, 4-6 & 13.

JONAH

Not much to say on Jonah because quizzing quizzed on the book of Jonah in its entirety. I guess the temptation would be to remove Jonah 2 because the second chapter of Jonah is poetry instead of narrative, but Jonah does such a good job poetically depicting his position that this poetry pretty much functions like narrative. Just like Joshua, Jonah had not been quizzed on since 2002, so it was well overdue. It's actually quite ironic that Joshua and Jonah always get quizzed on at the same time. If Joshua is the most problematic for Mennonites to quiz on, then Jonah is one of the least problematic for Mennonites to quiz on, for the book of Jonah teaches to love your enemies, just like Jesus did in Matthew 5:43-48. Jonah does indeed give a nice balance to Jonah, at least in terms of that theology. It was nice this year to not only teach Christian teen Christian theology but to also teach Mennonite youth Mennonite theology. Don't be a stranger, Jonah. Don't feel like you only need to come around every 20 years. Jonah is definitely worth reconsider at least after 10 years.

In conclusion, the book of Jonah, in its entirety, makes the perfect quizzing material.

ZECHARIAH

When I heard Zechariah made it as part of the quizzing material, I had the same feelings as Job. While I was excited to quiz on Job, I was also a bit surprised. Minor prophets are rarely touched in the church. While there is probably a plethora of reasons why, I imagine that it's in part due to the prophets using Hebrew poetry to communicate their prophetic message. Similarly, I would have said in the past that quizzing on Zechariah would be the same horror trying to quiz on the Zechariah, trying to remember the Hebrew poetry. I also the other reason churches tend to avoid the minor prophets is because they struggle to find relevancy to the prophets' messages, which seem to address a specific ancient audience, who have a specific history, geography and culture, in order to address a specific history occasion. Similarly, in the past, I would have said quizzing would have the same problem trying to make it relevant to the quizzers, which in turn would make it harder for them to learn. Quizzing proved all these assumptions wrong in 2022. The book of Zechariah actually turns out to have more narrative structure than poetic structure. The sections with poetic structure, chapters 9 to 11, were omitted from the quizzing material. While the narrative sections did not necessarily tell a story, Zechariah fills them with very depictive imagery, which the quizzer can imagine in his or her head. Personally, I encouraged my quizzers who did have artistic talents to draw these visions to help them learn and study. My only regret towards this material was the omission of Zechariah 9-11. Again, I understand quizzing omitted this section because of the difficulty to remember poetry over narrative, but Zechariah 9-11 contains a lot of prophecies about the first coming of the Messiah, including Zechariah 9:9, which prophesies the Christ riding on a donkey. Now don't get me wrong, prophecies about the first coming of Jesus does happen outside of the omitted material. Indeed, some of my quizzers remember Jesus quoting Zechariah 13:7 in Mark 14:27. The prophecies in Zechariah 12-14, however, prophesy over the second coming of Jesus. Something tells one of the quizzing coordinators (or more) really felt like the last days were coming soon, so the quizzers had to be prepared. Whether Jesus returns now, soon or later, which he definitely will return, Zechariah has prepared the quizzers, for they see how the Lord has fulfilled his promises in the past, so surely God will fulfill his promises in the future.

In conclusion, Zechariah 1-8 & 12-14 makes the perfect quizzing material.

CONCLUSION

When I first heard the announcement of the then-2021 now-2022 quizzing material of Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah, I was super excited and could not wait to quiz on it. After actually quizzing on Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah, my feelings have not changed. Despite some difficulties in learning and studying, I'm glad quizzing choose these books. Even though I think quizzing could have chosen a better selection for a majority of these books, I'm still glad they chose these books. To summarize, if I had to rank the five books in order of best selection to worse selection, it would be: Jonah, Job, Zechariah, Nehemiah, Joshua. If I am allowed to use my "cheat" of including Ezra, swap around Nehemiah and Joshua, but if not, keep it the same order. I do want to make one more nitpick here. If quizzing on those 5 books, it should have gone in this order: Job, Joshua, Jonah, Nehemiah and Zechariah. Not only is this in alphabetical order (well, at least by just the first letter), it also goes in chronological order of when the stories took place. Chronological order would have helped the quizzers learned the material better. Finally, since the quizzing conferences typically break the season down into 8 weeks of quizmeets, let me propose what the 8-week quizzing schedule would look like with my suggested chapters for each of the books, which will also go in the order I just nitpicked. Before I go, though, let me reiterate how excited I was to quiz on these 5 books. I was super excited, so excited that I hope these books get considered again in the mid-2030s (I think that books should have a 10-year cool down period before reconsideration).

WEEK 1: Job 1-3 & 40-42
WEEK 2: Joshua 1-4
WEEK 3: Joshua 5-7
WEEK 4: Joshua 8-10
WEEK 5: Joshua 22-24, Jonah 1-4
WEEK 6: Nehemiah 1-2, 4-6 & 13
WEEK 7: Zechariah 1-8
WEEK 8: Zechariah 12-14

This is the account of the 2022 Stony Brook quiz team

As I prepare to testify about the Stony Brook quiz team, the 2022 testimony does not feel as grand as the 2021 testimony. Despite feeling this way, the Holy Spirit reminded me a chapel speaker during my undergraduate college years, who preached "Big testimony or small testimony, if it glorifies God, it is a good testimony." Therefore, this testimony may not be as grand in quantity, but it is as grand in quality as it glorifies God.

While a majority of the thank-you cards I received in 2021 did say something along the lines of "I can't wait until next year!" I felt worried that the quizzers of last year would not want to reconvene to form the quiz team in 2022. I worried that I would hear something along the lines of "Quizzing was a great distraction from the coronavirus pandemic, but now that the COVID-19 pandemic has died down, my favorite co-curricular and extra-curricular activities have returned, so I will return to doing them." Surprisingly, that did not happen at all. Now I was a good boy and waited until November to say something (well, ok, maybe we talked about it during the church camping weekend in August, but they brought it up to me, not vice versa). I remember it was after church at a fellowship meal. Caleb, Kate and Lauren had withdrawn to a classroom away from the adults. At that time, I approached them about quizzing 2022. All of sudden they are throwing questions at me like what the quizzing material is on, what's the quizzing material breakdown, what's the first week's material, when's the first practice, when's the first quizmeet, when they are getting their quizbooks, etc. I almost lost my train of thought in the questions! After the questions had died down, I got back on track and asked, "So is that a yes?" Pretty much, they all almost said unanimously, "Yeah, we're in." Boy, that went easier than I thought! Even more impressive, they all told me that they had already begun looking at the material! Even better! Once I got home, I immediately opened my laptop and sent an e-mail out to Kaylee and Olivia saying, "The quiz team is getting back together! You in?" Olivia affirmed by that evening, and Kaylee said yes the following Monday morning. Indeed, the quiz team was back together!

Now I will confess that I did not do the best recruiting during the month of November to look for rookie quizzers. I merely gave our veterans the opportunity to invite friends. At first, by that method alone, it looked like Stony Brook would have enough for 2 teams! By the end of November, however, all other interest had fallen through, and all Stony Brook would have is the same 5 returning quizzers. I was quite OK with that, though. For me personally, the last time I had a repeat of the same exact team, it was my last 2 years as a quizzer. While that team did not win any championships, it had done the best it had ever done, and the Lord taught us some powerful lessons, so I was excited to see what the Lord would do with this 2022 Stony Brook quiz team.

The Stony Brook quiz team was registered on December 1. That following Saturday, I went to the quizzing coordinator's house to drop off the registration fee and pick up the quizbooks. I texted the quiz team when I got back to my home to let them know their quizbooks were available to pick up the next day. The enthusiasm they had to pick up the quizbooks! Since Kaylee had to work, Kaylee sent her mom to pick up the quiz book after church. Olivia actually came all the way to my home in the afternoon to pick up hers. I just loved the enthusiasm they had to begin studying and practicing.

I know I already blogged about this in full detail back in January (and you can click here on this parenthetical phrase to read about it!), but I have to testify about it again. At our first practice on the first Thursday of the year, it felt like the Stony Brook quiz team had fallen back into bad habits. Quizzers waited too long to buzz in, half of those buzz-ins would result in errors, and half of those errors ended up as missed bonuses. That first practice, however, was merely Stony Brook warming up after 9 months off of quizzing. By the last practice before the first quizmeet on Sunday, the quiz team had cleaned up, so well that the last practice match had 14 of 15 buzz-ins correct, and the only error resulted in a right bonus. It showed at the quizmeet. In the Stony Brook quiz team's first 2 quizmatches, Stony Brook scored 155 points, thanks to Olivia, Kate and Kaylee quizzing out, with either Caleb or Lauren coming in for team bonus. By the end of the first quizmeet, Stony Brook was 1st place in their League and 3rd place of all teams!

From my personal experience as a quizzer, I knew how a quizzing season could start off easy and get harder, so I also knew it was very possible that our strong start might be the highlight of the year, and maintaining that high would be the hardest thing to do. The illustration I kept giving the quizzers was the motivational poster of the cat hanging by the rope saying, "Hang in there!", just encouraging the quizzers to do their best to just maintain their average. Indeed, it felt like every week that became harder to do. This year Bible quizzing quizzed on Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah. Job wasn't that bad as previously thought, as evident in how well the Stony Brook quiz team did. Most of it was narrative, and the part that wasn't gave good imagery of 2 creatures that one could imagine in the head. Joshua and Nehemiah, which one would have thought would have been easier, actually turned out harder, as much of those 2 books had longs lists. While Jonah gave a nice break with a simple story, Zechariah gave a challenging close to the year with abstract visions. On top of that, it also seemed like Stony Brook's opponents became more difficult as the season progressed. In all honest, in a way it felt unfair to the quiz team. The difficult material and the hard opponents resulted in low scores, and that low score didn't reflect how much effort the team put into studying and practicing. Nevertheless, the team trudged on each week with the heavy burden that they could not reach the heights of that first week. More importantly, though, the team had good conversations about what they read for quizzing. At the end of every book, I, as their coach, would ask them, "What's the moral of the story?" and this team came up with some pretty good answers. Those answers clearly demonstrated that they comprehended the material, more than any quizzing question or score could display.

Because of the faithful study of the Word, even when the quiz team didn't perform too hot in the quizmatches, God rewarded the Stony Brook quiz team with a strong close to the season. While the results were not as spectacular as the first week, Stony Brook had their first quizmatch since the first week score in the triple digits, with 110 points. Because of that 110 point match, plus another 80 point match, Stony Brook went up in the standings, the first time they went up all year.

After 8 quizmeets and 21 quizmatches, Stony Brook finished with a record 8-12-1, or a .404 win percentage. Compared to last year (which is hard to do because last year's abbreviated year), in which Stony Brook finished with a .292 win percentage, this is a big improvement. Furthermore, this year, Stony Brook scored a total of 1460 points, which averaged 70 points per match. Compared to last year (which is hard to do because last year's abbreviated year), this too is a huge improvement, as Stony Brook averaged 61 points per match last year. In fact, last year, 70 point average was the highest Stony Brook was ever last year, and that was only for 1 week! Stony Brook's 1460 points finished Stony Brook 12th of 25 teams in League A and 24th of 49 teams overall. Another giant improvement from last year's 19th of 26 teams in League A and 37th of 51 teams overall.

While this was everybody's 2nd year in Bible quizzing (their sophomore year, if you will), this was also everyone's 1st year with tournaments (their rookie year, if you will). I have already blogged about both tournaments in full detail (and I would encourage you to read them if you haven't already), but let me quickly summarize them to refresh.

In regard to the local AMEC Tournament, the Stony Brook quiz team went in with only 3 quizzers: Olivia, Kaylee and Caleb. Stony Brook had a rough start, starting with a 2-match losing streak. The quiz team quickly bounced back with a 2-match winning streak. With a 2-2 record, the Stony Brook quiz team could make it to the playoffs with a win in the quizmatch versus Metzler, who also just so happened to be down to 3 quizzers. As long as Metzler didn't win, Stony Brook made it to the playoffs. In that quizmatch versus Metzler, Stony Brook took the lead and held the lead for most of the match. After 13 of the 15 questions, Stony Brook had the lead with just 2 questions remaining. As long as Metzler didn't get those last 2 questions correct, Stony Brook would win and qualify for the playoffs. The only thing that could not happen was for Metzler to get both question right. Unfortunately, it just so happen that Metzler would get those last 2 questions right, putting Metzler in the playoffs and putting Stony Brook out of the playoffs. Despite not making the playoffs, the quiz team nevertheless did very well for their first tournament. Their record of 2-3 is a win percentage of 0.400, which is roughly on par for how they did in the season, which is still better than last year's season. And remember, they did it with only 3 quizzers!

Regarding the Invitational Tournament, hosted by AMEC Quizzing, it felt like quite the opposite. The Stony Brook quiz team started out strong with a 3-match winning streak. That 3-match winning streak was followed by a 3-match losing streak, but that was kind of expected, due to quizzing 3 excellent quiz teams almost back-to-back-to-back. Stony Brook bounced back with a win versus Hopewell, which put the quiz team in good running for the championship playoffs. If Stony Brook won their last match against Blainsport 3, they qualified for the championship playoffs. The only thing that couldn't happen is for Blainsport 3 to win. The quizmatch between Stony Brook and Blainsport 3 bounced back and forth, and by the last question, Stony Brook was only losing by 5. As long as Stony Brook got the last question, either a buzz-in or bonus, Stony Brook won and entered the championship playoffs. The only thing that couldn't happen was for Blainsport 3 to get that last question. Unfortunately, it just so happened Blainsport 3 did get that last question. While Stony Brook fell out of the championship playoff bracket, the quiz team did fall into a consolation bracket. For their first quizmatch in the consolation bracket, versus Weaverland 3, Stony Brook took a strong lead in the quizmatch, but Weaverland 3 caught up quickly. After 13 questions, with 2 questions left, Weaverland 3 could only win with 2 separate quizzers each getting a buzz-in correct for team bonus. As long as Stony Brook got just 1 question right, or even if a question went by unanswered or wrong on both sides, Stony Brook won. The only thing that could not happen was for Weaverland 3 to have 2 different quizzers buzz in and answer correctly. Unfortunately, it just so happened a brand new Weaverland 3 quizzer buzzed in and answered correctly on question 14, and another brand new quizzer buzzed in and answered question 15 right, giving Weaverland 3 the team bonus and the win, knocking Stony Brook out of the tournament. Nevertheless, the Stony Brook quiz team didn't do too bad for their first Invitational tournament. Not including the playoff loss, in the round robin, Stony Brook finished 4-4, or a .500 win percentage, which was better than their .404 win percentage of the season or their .400 win percentage of the AMEC Tournament. Honestly, I kind of feel bad for the team because their finish in the tournament did not really reflect how well they did.

During one of our low points of the season, it became too easy for the quizzers to look down on themselves. It got so bad, at one point, I had to stop everything to remind the quizzers, "Your value to this team is not measured by the points on the standings. Some of you are good at encouraging, while others of you are good at motivating, and you all bring so much more than that." Now I would like to testify about how the quizzers contributed to the quiz team.

CALEB METZLER: As their quiz coach, as the closest thing the Stony Brook youth have to a youth leader, I tried to get to know the quizzers outside quizzing. Doing so, I learned a lot about the quizzers outside quizzing. I learned that Caleb is an excellent singer. Now I know Caleb's family and friends knew that, but I did not know that. I knew Caleb as that guy who plays cello, bass and the occasional drums, not as a singer. I got the opportunity to see Caleb sing at his high school production of Godspell, and boy, the boy can sing! Caleb did an excellent job playing John the Baptist in Godspell, which makes his quizzing even more impressive. Honestly, I thought Caleb would be the hardest to recruit to the team this year with all he had involved in life. I even had a whole "Caleb, a Stony Brook quiz team is not the same without you" speech prepared for him, so you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised when Caleb was one of them to say, "Yeah, I'm in." Caleb did have to miss a few practices and a couple quizmeets to make it work, and Caleb made it work. Caleb scored 80 points during the season. Now I have been on teams with quizzers who had less going on in their lives than Caleb, and they only score 10, 20, 30 or 40 points by the end of the quizzer year. Caleb had all those curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities on his plate, and he still managed to score 80 points by the end of the quizzing season. Furthermore, of those 8 correct questions, 3 of them contributed to to team bonus. Yes, 3/4 of our team bonuses came about because Caleb was there to contribute for team bonus. To make things ever sweeter, during the invitational tournament, Caleb finally got a quiz out on the year. Caleb, on behalf of the Holy Spirit, I want to thank for making time for the Word of God, for your church, and for the quiz team, despite your busy schedule. It has pleased God, and you made me happy, too. Caleb, thank you for being a part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

LAUREN KEENY: As last year (2021 Mark) concluded, I asked all the quizzers how their first year of quizzing felt. I will never forget Lauren remarking, "Now that the year is over, I finally feel like I know what I doing. I'll be ready for next year." Sure enough, Lauren kept to her word. From the very first practice, Laurent seemed ready. She scored her first points of the year at the first quizmatch of the year, and in the second quizmatch of the year, she contributed a correct buzz-in for team bonus! By the end of the year, Lauren scored 100 points, more than double what she scored last year! In fact, Lauren surpassed her previous year's record of 40 points by the second week of the season, so it wasn't merely due to a longer season that Lauren surpassed her personal record. Lauren came prepared, and it showed. My favorite memory of Lauren does not come from the season, however, but it comes from the invitational tournament, during a round robin match versus Hinkletown 2. 13 questions in, Stony Brook was winning. Unfortuntaely, Hinkletown 2 was 1 away from team bonus. Fortunately, Stony Brook was also 1 away from team bonus, and that 1 away was Lauren. Stony Brook did not need that team bonus, as long as Hinkletown 2 did not get team bonus. The only thing that could not happen was for Hinkletown 2 to get team bonus. On question 14, Hinkletown 2 got their team bonus. Now up to this point, you've heard me "as long as" and "the only thing that could not happen" enough to know where this is going, but thanks to Lauren, it didn't go that way. "Lauren" is all I had to say for her, and Lauren knew what that meant. On question 15, the quizmaster asked, "Who did not sin and charge..." and Lauren buzzed in! She thought about the answer for bit and said, "Job." She was right! That was team bonus, and that was the win, keeping up Stony Brook's win streak. Of course, like I said above, every quizzer has a bigger role than just points.  More important than comprehending the knowledge of the Bible is being able apply what the Bible teaches. At the conclusion of every book, I would ask the quizzers, "What's the moral of the story of the book?" I will never forget Lauren's answer for the book of Job. I asked the quizzers, "What's the moral of the book of Job?" and Lauren said something along the lines of, "The book of Job taught me that our suffering may be only temporarily, and we can trust God to turn it around." Now that answer is worth more than any quizzing answer! As an introvert, I always appreciated the extroversion Lauren brings to the group, whether that be asking questions to keep the small talk going or telling stories to get the whole group laughing. Lauren, thank you for being a part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

KAYLEE SNYDER: Something I learned about Kaylee this year is that Kaylee is the quietest saxophone player ever. Apparently, she doesn't want to play too loud in fear of drawing too much attention to her. Sometimes I felt like she approached quizzing the same way. I could tell the gears were turning in Kaylee's mind, yet she refrained from buzzing in or answering in fear it would bring too much attention to her, for better or for worse. I'm glad Kaylee did not hold back for the first quizmeet of the year. For the first two quizmatches of the year, Kaylee quizzed out on both of them, including a correct buzz-in, thus contributing for team bonus. I'm glad Kaylee did not hold back for the second quizmeet of the year. By the quarter-way point of the season, Kaylee would surpass her personal record of 85 points. Now at this point I started to notice that the more reserved quizzing from Kaylee. At the beginning of the year, through the achievement points system I created for the quizzers (I gave them 6 accomplishments, in which they got a blue star for doing it once, a silver star for doing it twice and a gold star for doing it three times), I encouraged each quizzer to quiz out 3 times during a season quizmatch. Kaylee got her first 2 quiz outs during the first 2 quizmatches of the year; she just needed 1 more quiz out for her last gold star. I kept telling Kaylee that I believe that 3rd quiz out was in her, and I believed she could get it by the end of the season. She didn't believe it so easily. Her favorite saying to me was "That's all I got." I didn't believe it, but she did. Fortunately, I was right, and Kaylee was wrong. At the last quizmeet of the season, during the second-to-last quizmatch, Kaylee did that last quiz out of the season. In fact, she was the first one to quiz out that quizmatch. By the end of season, Kaylee scored 235 points, more than double what she scored last year. Again, this cannot be due to a mere longer season because Kaylee broke her personal record by the second quizmeet. 105 points of the 235 points were due her 3 quiz outs, triple the number of quiz outs she got last year. When all was said in done, Kaylee earned all 6 of her gold stars. All this is possible because Kaylee spoke up and answered those those questions. Therefore, Kaylee, I encourage you to speak up and be heard. Don't feel like you have to be the quietest and in the background. Actually, you have a lot to contribute to the world, as long as you speak up, let your voice be heard and tell the world. Kaylee, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

KATE METZLER: Kate has quite the talent for quizzing, in more than one way. Kate could tell you if the answer is on the left-hand-side of the quizbook page or the right-hand-side of the quizbook page, and she could tell you if the answer was on the top, middle or bottom of the page, even if she didn't know what the answer was! Kate also had the knack of remembering the first letter of the correct answer, but she sometimes could not recall the full right answer. For example, one time she said, "Job's sorrows" instead of "Job's suffering." As another example, she said that the Lord was in "contract" with Israel instead of God being in "covenant" with Israel. I also learned about Kate that Kate is quite the perfectionist. During the quizzing season, Kate buzzed in 17 times, and of those 17 times, she answered correctly 16 times. Yes, Kate only got 1 error the whole season, and go figure that 1 error came during the last quizmatch of the season. Ultimately, Kate's perfectionism paid off for Kate. By the end of the season, Kate scored 335 points, more than double of what she scored the previous year. Again, no one can say it was merely due to a longer season, as Kate surpassed her personal record by the fourth week of the season. Rougly half those points came from Kate's 5 quiz outs, another personal record. When all was said and done, Kate also earned all 6 of her gold stars. Kate's perfectionism was her best strength and worst weakness. On one hand, when Kate buzzed in, you knew Kate would get it correct. On the other hand, Kate wouldn't buzz in unless she absolutely knew the right answer, which could have deterred her. Sometimes in order to succeed in quizzing you have to take chances. Sometimes a quizzer has to buzz in when they think it's a good place to buzz in. Hopefully the quizzer can get the correct answer in 30 seconds, and if not, oh well. That's what separates the average quizzers from the above average quizzers. Kate, I can see you making that move from average quizzer to above average quizzer, but you have to take those risks. In fact, I believe that advice applies to all of life. Kate, sometimes life requires risks to reap the benefits. Of course, make sure those risks are legal, moral and safe, but if they are indeed legal, moral and safe, they are probably backed by God, and it's God way to bless you. If you're obedient to God's call, even if it may seem risky to you, God will bless you. Kate, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

OLIVIA FARAG: Something I learned about Olivia this year is that Olivia does not like gym class, but when Olivia's gym class plays a sport, Olivia becomes very competitive. Sometimes I could see Olivia brought that competitive nature to quizzing. Watching Olivia quiz, it sometimes became apparent that not quizzing out was not an option. The stats speak for themselves. Of the 21 quizmatches of the quizzing season, Olivia quizzed out 15 times, almost triple the amount of quiz outs she got last year. Of the 6 quizmatches Olivia did not quiz out, Olivia got 2 questions correct for 20 points in 5 of those quizmatches. That 1 quizmatch, Olivia still managed to get 1 question right for 10 points, and that was the quizmatch versus Slate Hill, the top team in our league. Thank you, Olivia, for making sure we got points out of that quizmatch. If you did the math, Olivia scored a grand total of 635 points, more than double what she scored last year. Again, no can claim it was due merely to a longer season, as Olivia broke her own personal record by week 4 of the season. Olivia's 635 points placed her 22nd place in the individual standings out of over 250 quizzers, and AMEC Bible Quizzing recognized Olivia as one of the Top 65 Bible Quizzers. When I was my team's top quizzer, my coaches described me as both an anchor or pillar to the team. I would use the same words to describe Olivia. Whenever any of the other quizzers on the team felt like they could not do it, Olivia proved it could be done by doing it herself. That alone is encouraging and motivating. Olivia, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

In closing, I would like to some people. Thank you to all secret sponsors. One of the highlights of every quizzing Sunday was "Look at what my secret sponsor got me! What did your secret sponsor get you?" Secret sponsors made quizzers happy, made me happy, and most importantly, made Jesus happy. Thank you to all who provided dinner for the quizzers on quizzing Sundays, whether you hosted, sponsored or donated. The quiz team found all those meals very delicious. Thank you to Jon & Ann Metzler and Shawn & Dawn Keeny for help transporting quizzers to and from the season quizmeets and the tournaments. Every year I forget to calculate transportation, and you have always made sure every quizzer got to and from the season quizmeets and tournaments safely. Since I just mentioned two pairs of the quizzers' parents, let me say thank you to all the quizzers' parents. Thank you for everything you did for your quizzing teen, from keeping them accountable to study to coming to cheer them on at the season quizmeets and tournaments. Speaking of coming to quizmeets, thank you to everybody in the congregation to came to the quizmeets to cheer on the quiz team as cheering fans. While the quizzers did appreciate their parents cheering them on, they did also appreciate more than just their parents cheering for them. Thank you to all the preachers of Stony Brook (Brenden, Jeff and Jim) for preaching on the material corresponding with the week on which we quizzed on that material. Not only did it prevent the quizzers from avoiding the temptation to read their quizbook instead of listening to the sermon, but your sermons also made the quizzing material relevant and applicable. Thank you to everyone who prayed for the quiz team. We always need those prayers, and we always appreciated these prayers. Most importantly, I would like to thank and praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for a fun, safe and successful quizzing year. As far I know, there were no coronavirus outbreaks in quizzing. Praise Jesus for health. Although quizzing almost crossed some icy and snowy Sunday nights, we made it back and forth from each quizmeet in one piece. I remember one day specifically: the Saturday of the invitational tournament. Meteorologists forecasted a cold and rainy Saturday, but it ended up being a warm and sunny Saturday, perfect for walking between buildings on a college campus. Praise Jesus for good weather! Finally, of course, Jesus gets the praise for every right answer, every quiz out, every team bonus, every point. In the words of Job, the Lord gave, the Lord took away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

1. Adam Up

 BACKGROUND:

Adam Up is ApologetiX's 10th album. It came out in December 2003. The album consists of 22 tracks, with a mix of classic and modern rock, and then some.

TITLE:

If you think about it, the Bible begins with Adam, the first man, and the rest of the Bible tells the story of all Adam's descendants, or the history of human beings. Likewise, Adam Up has a parody about Adam, it has a spoof about Adam's first two sons from the perspective of Adam, and from there, it walks through the Bible all the way to the book, which is you think about it, is the last Bible book chronologically speaking. Adam Up also has a bit of a wordplay. Adam Up sounds like "add 'em up," recognizing the countless albums they have (seriously, your count of ApologetiX "albums" will change depending on whether you count the cassettes, rarities, downloads, compilations and live albums). Ultimately, the title prepares the listener for what to expect, making it the perfect album title.

CRITIQUE:

Since the title has to do with the content Bible content, let's address that first. As already mentioned in the title section, if putting the parodies in biblical order, the first parody would be "It's Not Eden" (parody of "Superman (It's Not Easy)" by Five For Fighting), a parody about Adam and Eve's removal from the Garden of Even, as found in Genesis. The next spoof would be "Called My Wife" (spoof of "All My Life" by Foo Fighters), a spoof about Cain murdering Abel, as found in Genesis 4. I know I have complained in the past about ApologetiX albums using multiple parodies on a single album to tell the same story, but that doesn't count here. Even though both songs come from Adam's perspective, the two songs tells two different stories, as evident by two different chapters. Then would come "Sweet Oholibamah" (parody of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd), a parody informing the audience that even choosing a wife became a rivalry between Jacob and Esau. Following would be "Downer of a Sister" (spoof of "Chop Suey" by System of a Down), which recalls how Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. From there, the album continues to walk through the Bible, all the way up to "Listening After Midnight" (spoof of "Living after Midnight" by Judas Priest), which retells how Paul resurrected the young Eutychus after he had fallen to his death from listening to Paul preach all night, as found in Acts. Again, if you think about it, Acts is technically the last book in chronological history. Despite this album having gaps and jumps throughout biblical history, with its emphasis on retelling Bible stories, Adam Up really does feel like a walkthrough of the Bible.

Adam Up does not open up the album with one of those parodies about Adam. Instead, it opens with "We're in a Parody Band" (parody of "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad). This is one of the few songs not retelling a Bible story, but it works as an introductory track, for it introduces the band members. The band used it as the opening song for their concerts, so it only makes sense to have it as an opening track for their album. Of course, the spoof did not age well, as J. Jackson and Keith Haynie are the only ones still in the band. In a way, it preserves some ApologetiX history by doing so. Then again, Hits: The Tour has already done it.

While Adam Up has a gap in Bible stories, it does not have a gap in musical decades represented. Adam Up covers a span of 6 musical decades, from "Wake Up Talitha Cumi" (parody of "Wake Up Little Susie" by Everly Brothers) coming from 1957 to "Look Yourself" (spoof of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem) of 2003. Now the 50's only has 1 representation with "Wake Up Talitha Cumi" (parody of "Wake Up Little Susie" by Everly Brothers), and the 60's only have 1 representation with "Little Read Bible Book" (spoof of "“Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs), which is understandable considering how old the decades and the songs are. All the other decades, however, have equal representation. The 70's has 5 parodies, the 80's has 4 spoofs, the 90's has 2 songs and 9 tracks from the 2000s. Too often in other albums one single decade dominates and another decade gets little to no representation. For this album, every decade, with exception of the older ones, gets good representation. Even the 9 tracks of the 2000s, the most represented decade, do not take a majority of the album. No matter what decade was "your music" or "your generation's music," Adam Up appeals to them all.

Not only does Adam Up has some of the best musical decade representation, the album also has some of the best musical genre representation. Classic rock, which dominates most ApologetiX albums, has only 3 tracks on this album: "We're in a Parody Band" (parody of "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad), "Boy Tell the World" (parody of "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night) and "Sweet Oholibamah" (parody of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd). Less classic rock songs means more opportunities for other genres to get air time. Desire country music? "Choose Your Daddy" (parody of "Who's Your Daddy?"  by Toby Keith) will be the desire of your heart. Like some rap? Then you'll like "Look Yourself" (spoof of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem). Love disco music? Then you'll love "Get Found Tonight" (parody of "Get Down Tonight" K.C. and the Sunshine Band) and "The Word" (parody of "Grease" by Frankie Valli). Prefer your rock to be more oldies rock 'n' roll? Then you'll prefer "Wake Up Talitha Cumi" (parody of "Wake Up Little Susie" by Everly Brothers) and "Little Read Bible Book" (spoof of "Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs). Want your rock to be more like heavy metal? Then you'll want to listen to "Listening After Midnight" (spoof of "Living after Midnight" by Judas Priest), "Downer of a Sister" (spoof of "Chop Suey" by System of a Down) and "Lazy Brain" (spoof of "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne). Even the modern rock genre, which has the most representation on this album at 6 tracks, takes up less than a third of this album. Adam Up has the most album variety of any ApologetiX, truly making it the album for everybody.

To top off everything, Adam Up has the variety in original artists. It's already impressive ApologetiX squeezed 22 tracks onto this album. It becomes even more impressive considering that each song comes from its own original band. ApologetiX has other albums with 22 tracks, but those albums have repeated artists. For Adam Up, every track sounds new because it comes from a new band.

With Wordplay, I stated that Wordplay was the best ApologetiX performance for a studio album because it's each of the band members' height of performance. Of course, I can't say that twice because it wouldn't be true. Therefore, I will this is easily the band members' second best performance. The one band member I can say that for is Bill "Moose" Rieger. This is his last studio album with ApologetiX, and it truly is his best. I especially compliment him for his drum playing on "Downer of a Sister" (spoof of "Chop Suey" by System of a Down). That is definitely not an easy song to play. No offense to Moose, I still prefer Vegas, but Moose deserves the compliments for his drum work on this album.

Speaking of ApologetiX's performance, ApologetiX takes their album performance up a notch by introducing a female band to aid them in their parodies. ApologetiX planned for 3 parodies famous for having female backing vocals: "Meshach" (parody of "Love Shack" by B-52), "Get Found Tonight" (parody of "Get Down Tonight" K.C. and the Sunshine Band) and "Sweet Oholibamah" (parody of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd). In the past, ApologetiX would have attempted to do the female backing vocals themselves or got amateur female singers. For Adam Up, ApologetiX got Everlife, an American pop rock band. At one point, Everlife was signed under the Disney label, opening for Miley Cyrus, Aly & AJ, Bowling for Soup, Jesse McCartney, the Cheetah Girls and Jonas Brothers. They were a kind of a big deal, and they did backing vocals for ApologetiX! While I understand why ApologetiX band members want to include their daughters into the band, and their daughters have indeed impoved over the years, but it still lacks the professional polish that Everlife brought. I wish future ApologetiX albums would have continued to do collaborations with other female bands, especially Christian female bands. It would have given ApologetiX some serious cred among Christian artists, Christian bands and Christian labels.

Speaking of collaborations, one of the most impressive collaborations in ApologetiX history has to be "Boy Tell the World" (parody of "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night). ApologetiX got Steve Carroll, a former studio musician who arranged, recorded, and toured with Three Dog Night in the early 70's to play the keys part of "Boy Tell the World." How cool is it that ApologetiX got one of original members of the original band to contribute to a Christian parody of their own song. I know ApologetiX attempted this for "The Devil Went Down to Jordan" (parody of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band) on Grace Period, but that fell through, although ApologetiX got somebody close. I'm glad ApologetiX finally got it to happen. It testifies to how great this band is.

FAVORITE SONG: "Look Yourself" (spoof of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem)

As stated many times before, when rapping, your rap has to say something. It has to make a statement. For "Look Yourself" (spoof of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem), J. Jackson has something to say. Just like Eminem gives his own autobiography with the original "Lose Yourself," "Look Yourself" tells the testimony of J. Jackson. I'm not sure if Eminem's autobiography fosters any kind of emotion or behavior, but the testimony of J. Jackson in this song evangelizes to every non-Christian who listens to it. It also disciples the Christian, for it encourages the Christian to do some evangelism himself or herself, no matter the pushback. Another key factor of rap is the use of illustration and metaphor. Boy, "Look Yourself" sure does have a lot of illustrations and metaphors, especially from pop culture. I appreciate lines like "Hope it's some fad, like New Coke or Shaun Cassidy" and "As he moves forward — it’s true George Orwell" and "Goes to go show his bros at his Alma Mater, 'Welcome Back, Kotter'" and "I’ve been shooed off and spit at like Rudolph the Reindeer" and "With questions and I know how Mother Hubbard’s dog felt — famine, drought" and so much more! While I fear these references may be lost as time passes, right here and right now they work (and as of 2022, they still work). Because of all of this, this is my favorite Eminem parody, my favorite rap spoof, and it may even be my favorite ApologetiX song.

FINAL VERDICT: 1st

Adam Up is the best ApologetiX album because it has so much to offer due its variety. Because of its variety in musical decades, if your generations was the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s or 2000s, this album has a song for you. It doesn't matter if your favorite musical genre is country, rap, disco, pop, oldies rock 'n' roll, classic rock, heavy metal or modern rock, this album has a song for you. If you look for ApologetiX music to teach you about the Bible, this album will walk you through the Bible, starting with Adam in Genesis and ending with the church age in Acts. While this is the band members' second best overall performance on a studio album, this is definitely drummer Bill "Moose" Reiger's best drum playing ever on a studio album. To further enhance this band's outstanding performance, ApologetiX added Everlife for their female vocals and Steve Carroll for the keys of "Boy Tell the World," which also gives them cred as a Christian band, even if a Christian parody band. For all these reasons, Adam Up is the best ApologetiX album. How fitting for the album that is alphabetically first (if not puting number albums first).

1. Adam Up
2. Wordplay
3. Keep the Change
4. Biblical Graffiti
5. Grace Period
6. Spoofernatural
7. Ticked!
8. Jesus Christ Morningstar
9. Wise Up and Rock
10. Radical History Tour
11. Isn't Wasn't Ain't
12. Hot Potato Soup
13. Recovery
14. Future Tense
15. Handheld Messiah
16. Apoplectic
17. You Can't Say Euphrates Without the 80's 
18. Music Is as Music Does
19. Play Nice
20. Easter Standard Time
21. Singles Group
22. Loaded 45's
23. Unconditional Releases
24. New and Used Hits
25. The Boys Aren't Backing Down
26. Chosen Ones
27. 20:20 Vision
28. Hits: The Road
29. Soundproof
30. Apol-acoustiX

2. Wordplay

 BACKGROUND:

Wordplay is ApologetiX's 13th album. It came out in December 2006, after recording between concerts in the spring, summer and fall of that same year. Indeed, the band had to pretty much record the album between concerts, as they had 134 concerts that year, an all-time high at that point. Wordplay was a breath of fresh air for fans, as it was the first studio album since 2003. 2004 had a compilation album, and 2005 had an acoustic & live album, but neither year had a live album. Wordplay also has some notoriety because longtime drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner.

TITLE:

Wordplay is the simplest yet most profound title for an ApologetiX album. As a parody band, ApologetiX has a dependency on wordplay. They need wordplay for their lyrics, their song titles, the album titles, and heck, the band's name is in a way a wordplay. Therefore, this one-word title says it all when it comes to what's in the album. The band's use of wordplay reflects how biblical they are, for the Bible has tons of wordplay within itself. The title Wordplay is a wordplay within itself, too. The parodies that retell Bible stories, or stories from the Word of God, are mini-plays, like Jesus Christ Superstar or Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. That makes them plays on the Word, or Word plays. Like I said, such a simple, one-word title has such a profound impact on the album.

CRITIQUE:

As always, let's look at Wordplay for its diversity and its unity.

Wordplay covers a span of 37 years, from "Back in the New Testament" (parody of "Back in the U.S.S.R." by The Beatles) in 1968 to 3 songs from 2005. Don't let this span fool you, though. It does not mean it covers 5 decades. The 90's are completely absent. The 60's only has representation once. The 80's only receives representation twice. A majority of this album's songs originated from 2003 to 2005. While not every musical decade has good representation, or any representation, the spread over the years means a good balance between classic rock and modern rock. Indeed, this is probably one of the best balanced ApologetiX albums. So many other albums with either focus mostly on classic rock and throw in modern rock as an afterthought, or they will focus majorly on modern rock and throw in some classic rock at the end for extra flare. While not exactly 50:50, the balance between classic and modern rock attracts both the older and younger generations. This balance feels intentional, and if not, they had me fooled.

Speaking of musical genres and speaking of balance, this album has some of the best diversity in genre. Of course, since ApologetiX is a Christan rock parody band, most of the entries of this album is rock, both classic rock and modern rock. ApologetiX hasn't forgotten their non-rock fans, however, for they give each of them a little something. Desire your rock to sound more like heavy metal? "Swimmer" (parody of "Slither" by Velvet Revolver) is your heavy metal. Like rap and hip hop? Take a listen to "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West). For those lovers of country music, Wordplay has 2 entries for you: "Save Your Voice, Quiet Down Boy" (parody of "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" by Big & Rich) and "Humpty Dumpty Country Club" (parody of Honky Tonky Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins). Even for the remaining rock, some of them fall under the subgenres of rock. For example, "Boulevard of Both Extremes" (parody of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day) falls under the subgenre punk rock. As you can see, Wordplay definitely has variety in musical genre.

Wordplay has variety in other ways. The album has variety in original band. This album has 20 tracks, and those 20 track come rom 20 original bands. No single band has multiple songs on this album, which is good for variety. Wordplay also has variety in its Bible story songs and theology teaching songs. Not only can the 20 tracks divide equally in Bible story songs and theology teaching songs, not a single Bible story or theological theme is repeated, which was a problem in previous albums. With so much variety in Wordplay, this album truly has something for everybody.

What also make this album so good is that every band member is at the height of their performing abilities. This is the best singing lead singer J. Jackson has done to date. This is the best guitar playing lead guitarist Karl Messner has done to date. This is the best bass playing from Keith Haynie to date. This the best keys playing from Bill Hubauer to date. I would say the same for Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner, but since this is his debut for ApologetiX, I wouldn't know because I didn't follow his previous band Ten Point Ten. What I will say, though, is that Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner seamlessly and smoothly integrates into the band. No offense the ApologetiX band numbers of past, present and future, but if somebody were to ask me to imagine ApologetiX in my hand, the band members that recorded this album is what I picture. It does kind of fit, as they are the longest tenured in their respective position.

If I had to find any complaint, it would be again that this album only has 20 tracks when we know ApologetiX albums can have 21 or 22 tracks. We also know, however, that audio CDs can only hold 1 1/4 hours of music. I imagine "Won't Get Born Again" (parody of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who) can take some of the blame, taking up almost 7 minutes on the album. Still, I would prefer 2 shorter songs over 1 long song.

FAVORITE SONG: "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West).

When it comes to rap, you have to be saying something. Rap needs to have a message, a strong message. Lyricist and lead singer J. Jackson has something to say in "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West). J. Jackson has a loud and clear message that evolution is wrong and creation is right. J. Jackson has clearly done his research with this song. He does an excellent job of keeping up with the pace of the rap, which few people can do, like Kayne. To think that this one of the last songs to make the album! I'm glad it did.

FINAL VERDICT: 2nd

Wordplay has so much variety. It has variety in musical genre. It has variety in original bands. It has variety in Bible stories and theological teaching. It kind of sort of has variety has musical decades. It spans over 5 decades, although not all 5 decades are represented. Musically speaking, this is the band's best performance on the instruments. Lyrically speaking, J. has written the most knowledgeable, wise and understanding lines. If I had any complaint, it's the fact it's too short because I just want more of it. It's hard for any album to compete with it, yet one album will, and it will take 1st place.

3. Keep the Change

 BACKGROUND:

Keep the Change is the 7th Apologetix album (counting Isn't Wasn't Ain't as the first and Radical History Tour as the second). It came out in October 2001. It consists of 19 tracks of both classic rock and modern rock parodies. Statistically speaking, Keep the Change is ApologetiX's most successful album, as it eached #15 on the National Christian Retail Bestsellers Rock Charts, according to CCM Magazine.

TITLE:

ApologetiX have put multiple meanings behind the album title Keep the Change. Christian should hold fast, or keep, the change that Jesus brings to their lives. Therefore, many of the songs talked about how Jesus changes lives. Christians should also keep the change of lyrics that lyricist and lead singer J. Jackson wrote in these parodies because they glorify God more than their secular counterparts. Keep the Change also describes the spoof "Cheap Birds" (parody of "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd), which comes from Luke 12:9, which reads, "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God." Of course, ApologetiX use puns to further emphasize the album title in the album description. For example, ApologetiX note that one of their spoofs give their "two cents" for the views of evolution. As another example, in the album description, it says, "Obviously, Keep the Change isn’t a phrase we coined ourselves; although looking at the CD cover, you could say we coined ourselves on Keep the Change." Then, looking at the album cover, you'll notice the band members' portraits on coins. Again, another good example of how ApologetiX use their album cover to reinforce their title. The title Keep the Change deserves extra praise for having multiple meanings without resorting to wordplay.

CRITIQUE:

As always, the critique section will look both the diversity and the unity of the album.

Keep the Change has the diversity in musical decades. The oldest parody is "Monkey Scheme" (parody of "Monkees Theme" by the Monkees) from 1965, and the newest spoofs are "Manger" (spoof of "Angel" by Shaggy) and "Life Restored" (spoof of "Last Resort" by Papa Roach), both from 2001. While on the surface that looks like Keep the Change covers 5 decades, but a closer look will reveal that it only covers the 60's, 70, and 00's. Yes, "You Booked Me All Along" (parody of "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC) has its origins in 1980, but AC/DC is very much a 70's classic rock band, and "You Booked Me All Along" sounds very much like a 70's classic rock song. That leaves a gap for the 80's and the 90's. Despite this gap, Keep the Change has a good balance between classic rock and modern hits. The classic rock is the classiest of hits that have passed the test of time, and the modern hits are the most modern, as they came out the same year or the year before Keep the Change released.

Speaking of which, Keep the Change has plenty of genre variety. You desire disco music? Then check out "Stay in the Light" (parody of "Staying Alive" by The Bee Gees). You like rap? Then take a look at "The Real Sin Savior" (parody of "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem) or "Manger" (parody of "Angel by Shaggy). You prefer the oldies rock 'n' roll over classic rock? Try out "Monkey Scheme" (parody of "Monkees Theme" by the Monkees). Surprisingly, the only thing really absent is country. The closest would be "Cheap Birds" (parody of "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd), but that would be more southern rock than country. Still, the southern rock twang gives more variety than the typical classic rock. Indeed, Keep the Changehas genre variety.

Just to quickly note as well, Keep the Change has the variety in original artists. Keep the Change has 19 tracks and 19 artists parodied. No single artist has multiple songs spoofed. Again, this widens the net broad to bring in more potential fans.

Unfortunately, just like with Biblical Graffiti, the biggest factor ruining the variety on Keep the Change is that multiple tracks cover the same Bible songs. Keep the Change has 2 parodies about the Flood: "Story of a Squirrel" (parody of "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days) and "All the Stalls Stink" (parody of "All the Small Things" by Blink-182). The album has 2 spoofs about the Nativity: "Christmasnite" (spoof of "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down) and "Manger" (spoof of "Angel" by Shaggy). At least time the songs are spaced apart, making it less obvious, unlike Biblical Graffiti, which put them side-by-side. Still, past albums and future albums kept to a single use of each Bible story. I don't why Biblical Graffiti and Keep the Change had this problem.

This album does technically have a re-recording. "Bethlehemian Rhapsody" (parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen) originally appeared on Radical History Tour. The parody not only has a real studio recording (Radical History Tour was recorded in a hotel room turned into a "studio"), but the spoof also has new lyrics. I will admit that the Keep the Change version is better, but I don't think it was necessary either because the Radical History Tour sufficed.

Let me also mention how much this album teaches its audience. "Monkey Scheme" (parody of "Monkees Theme" by the Monkees) discredits all the claimed missing links during the instrumental interlude. In all honesty, that musical interlude does nothing for the song, so you might as well turn it into something useful. "Old Times Romans Road" (parody of "Old Time Rock 'N' Roll" by Bob Seeger) teaches the verses of Romans Road. "Rock and Roots" (parody of "Rock and Roll" by Led Zepplin) can help anyone memorize the genealogy of Jesus. ApologetiX says its mission is to teach the rest, and these parodies definitely teach.

ApologetiX also say in their mission that they reach the lost. The one song that reaches the lost the most is "Life Restored" (parody of "Last Resort" by Papa Roach). In fact, of all the ApologetiX songs that brought people to Christ, "Life Restored" fall in 3rd place. That's kind of a shock, considering 1st and 2nd place go to "Narrow Way to Heaven" (parody of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin) and "Every Crown Has Its Thorns" (parody of "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" by Posion). Whereas those 2 songs start out soft and crescendo into a climax, "Life Restored" is just loud the whole time. Perhaps the secret is in how much J. Jackson redeems this song from the original. The original song praises suicide as Papa Roach's last resort to his life in pieces. The new spoof gives hope in Jesus Christ. The lyrics alone give glory to God, and God receives even more glory when the lyrics bring people to Jesus.

FAVORITE SONG: "The Real Sin Savior" (parody of "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem)

The original rap is anything but glorying God. As a matter of fact, it almost seems like Eminemn set out to make the rap the most sinful and the least godly as possible. ApologetiX totally turn it around by doing the opposite. They take the opportunity to call out everything sinful in the world, from evolution to scandalous televangelists to the removal of Bible reading and prayer in schools to atheists making anti-Christan remakes to a society that has rejected the need for the Christ. Rap has to say something, and ApologetiX definitely has something to say in this album. In fact, J. writes in his journal that he intended his rap as an altar call. It would be interesting to hear how many people came to Christ as a result of this rap. Speaking of rap, J. keeps up his version up to pace with Eminem's version, which isn't easy to do. The creative mixing keeps the sound effects from the original, making a nice homage. Another thing worth appreciation is J.'s use of metaphors and illustrations, another key factor in rap. I love lines like "Your panting tongue is just thirstin’ for more," "If you feel a slight chill, I got the antifreeze," "Were just like triple fudge ice cream; we’re just quite sweet" and "I’m like a breath mint you listen to." My favorite line, however, is "If Jesus loved his enemies and Pharisees," for it connects the two so well and makes the listener realize that Jesus lived out his command to love his enemies by loving the Pharisees. While I'll admit I like the other Eminem parodies more than this one, this one will always hold a special place in my heart, as it technically is my first experience with Eminem.

FINAL VERDICT: 3rd

Keep the Change has a better balance of classic and modern rock then other albums. Yes, it comes at the cost of sacrificing 80's and 90's rock, but the more emphasis on the 00's hits gives good balance to the 60's and 70's rock hits. By doing, ApologetiX attracts both the older generation and the younger generations. Both generations find greater appeal to this album through its genre variety. Lovers of disco, rap, oldies and southern rock will find something on here. From an evangelistic standpoint, this may be one of ApologetiX's greatest albums to evangelize because, "Old Time Romans Road," "The Real Sin Savior" and "Life Restored" constantly call for a person to come to repentance and to come to Christ. While this album definitely deserves to fall in the top 3, too many factors prevent it from finishing first or even 2nd. Here is another ApologetiX album that repeats Bible stories within the same album. An album 19 tracks is too short when ApologetiX albums can have 20, 21 or 22 tracks. If "Bethlehemian Rhapsody" is to blame as the longest track on the album, it was really unnecessary, as it appears on Radical History Tour. If they were going to only have 19 tracks, they could have at least given the full guitar solo outro to "Cheap Birds" instead of the shortened solo into a fade out. For these reasons, the album can finish no higher than 3rd.