Published: Jan 10, 2024 by BibleQuiz.com Admin
For the 2024-2025 TBQ Season over the book of Acts, the Steering Committee agreed to shorten the material for the Championship Division to Acts 1-17.
Championship: Acts 1-17
Meet 1: Acts 1-5 (178 vs)
Meet 2: Acts 6-9 (158 vs)
Meet 3: Acts 10-13 (155 vs)
Meet 4: Acts 14-17 (143 vs)
Total: 634 verses
Why make this change?
Teen Bible Quiz has changed translations over the years, from the KJV to the NIV to the NIV 2011. Each of these translations varied in word choice but were similar in word count.
This was not the case for the New Living Translation, which Bible Quiz moved to at the start of the 2022-2023 season. For the first two seasons with the NLT—Ts&Js and Romans & James— the increase in wording was negligible. But for the book of Acts, this was a significant difference.
Upon further evaluation, it was found that Acts in NLT has nearly 500 more words than Luke in NIV84.
The season of Luke (NIV84) in the cycle was considered too long, which caused the Steering Committee to change the material to Mark starting with the 2008-2009 season.
And how did that go?
The difference between Luke vs Mark is 473 verses; a 42% reduction in material being studied.
This 42% reduction resulted in a 73% increase in NMA awards and over 3,000 more verses quoted off.
Reducing the Championship division of Acts (NLT) to only chapters 1-17 is ~37% reduction in material.
We look forward to seeing more memorization awards earned, more verses memorized, and more lives changed!
Does this affect XP5 or the Contender Division?
No; this change only affects the Championship Division.
The Contender and XP5 divisions will compete as they have in past years.
Here is the league meet breakdown for next season.
Contender: Acts 1-10
Meet 1: Acts 1-4 (136 vs)
Meet 2: Acts 5-7 (117 vs)
Meet 3: Acts 8-9:19 (58 vs)
Meet 4: Acts 9:20-10:48 (72 vs)
Total: 383 verses
XP5: Acts 2, 4, 5, and 9
Meet 1: Acts 2 (47 vs)
Meet 2: Acts 4 (37 vs)
Meet 3: Acts 5 (42 vs)
Meet 4: Acts 9 (43 vs)
Total: 169 verses
Will the Scripture portion have the entire book of Acts in it?
Yes. As in previous years, the entire book of Acts will be included.
Does this change affect the Rules at all?
No. There are no planned rule changes regarding the material covered for Acts.
If there are other changes to the Rules for the 2024-2025 season, it be announced separately.
Will questions be asked differently with the shorter material?
Questions will be asked the same way they always have.
The answers to all questions will come from Acts 1-17 exclusively. This includes chapter analysis, concordance, etc.
How will this affect the National Memorization Award and the Master Memorization Award?
Those earning either the NMA or MMA will only have to quote Acts 1-17. More information on the Master Memorization Award will be released later this spring.
How will this affect Application questions?
As in previous seasons, application questions cover the entirety of Acts.
Some application questions have answers from Acts 18-28. Each of these questions are marked to be asked at either League Meet 3 or League Meet 4 for the Championship division only.
How will this affect the Discipleship Award?
Those seeking to earn the Discipleship Award will be required to read the entirety of the book of Acts.
How was it determined what chapters to quiz on?
This was a very difficult to decision to make. Every chapter, verse, and section of Acts was considered for three points of impact:
- Doctrinal and theological significance
- The narratives of Peter vs Paul
- Redundancy
There are an infinite number of ways to shorten the material to compete on. Acts 1-17 preserved the greatest essence of the book of Acts, including key stories such as the day of Pentecost in chapter 2, Saul’s conversion in chapter 9, and the Bereans searching the Scriptures in chapter 17.
The latter half of Acts contains more of Paul’s travel logs, journey through the Roman legal system, and multiple retellings of his conversion in chapter 9.
After extensive evaluation, competing over Acts 1-17 emerged the best choice moving forward.
Won’t the quizzers miss something by not memorizing the end of Acts?
Bible Quiz will never hold anyone back from memorizing Scripture. If parents, quizzers, and teams want to memorize the entire book of Acts, we encourage them to pursue it!
Doesn’t this make it easier for some teams to compete?
We certainly hope so! We want more quizzers learning God’s Word and more teams competing on Acts than ever before.
Will we quiz on the rest of Acts in a different season?
There are no plans to quiz on Acts 18-28 in the future.
What about the unique word list?
The scripture portion contains the entirety of Acts, and the unique word list was also created from the entirety of Acts.
While there are technically more unique words in Acts 1-10 (Contender) and Acts 1-17 (Championship) versus the entire book, the official question writers will only reference the unique word list in the scripture portion when writing questions.
For instance, if a word occurs twice within Acts—specifically in chapters 2 and 25—it will not be called “unique” by the official writers even though it only appears once in the material for the Championship and Challenger divisions.
Will there be other changes to the books in the cycle?
The Steering Committee prioritized getting the changes for Acts implemented in time for the upcoming season. Any future changes to the cycle, if any, will be considered at a later time.
I have more questions. Who do I reach out to?
Email Pastor Bernie, the National Teen Bible Quiz Coordinator, at [email protected].