Every year, hundreds of National Bible Bee hosts support, encourage, and equip thousands of NBB participants as they complete the Summer Study. Their work is invaluable, an eternal investment into the futures of the young people in their communities. These hosts are from a wide variety of backgrounds, churches, and experiences, and each of them has unique gifts, abilities, and opportunities to bless and encourage their local groups – the one thing they all have in common is a Love for the Lord and His Word, and a desire to share that with others. An increasing amount of hosts are young adults, the alumni of the National Bible Bee Competition, who have experienced the NBB as a participant and are going on to invest in the next generation of participants. Today, let’s talk to Kimia, Jeremiah, and Kailyn to get their unique perspective as both alumni and hosts.
Kimia Bradford competed for three years, from 2019 through 2021.
Jeremiah Wilkerson competed for five years and aged out right after the Trust study (2020).
Kailyn George participated in the Summer Study from 2017-2021, qualified for the first time in 2022, and aged out the same year.
Thank you to each of you for being willing to share your story with the NBB, both as an alumna/alumnus and now as a host! You understand what the Summer Study is like from both perspectives, so you have the opportunity to encourage and help other hosts learn how to support their groups. Before you were alumni, each of you participated in the National Bible Bee personally. What was your experience with a host group while you participated?
Kimia:
Our host group was amazing! My mom tried to get us to participate in the National Bible Bee for a couple of years (without a host group) but we were never interested. In 2019 Mom asked us again if we would like to do the Summer Study and join a host group. God gave me a love for His word that year that I didn’t have before! The community and accountability a host group gives are such a blessing.
Jeremiah:
I had a host group run by my family. It was an amazing community where I could sharpen iron with new and old friends. We played games and had fun, but we were always serious about the Word, especially when Proclaim! Day rolled around.
Kailyn:
My family has been a host family since 2018. When we first started hosting, our group was extremely small (I think we only had 3-4 families, including our own.) I remember feeling really discouraged that we were putting so much work into finding other families who were as excited about the National Bible Bee as we were, and for the first few years, it seemed like we just couldn’t find anyone for a couple of years. Since then, God has brought us so many contestants who are incredibly excited about the study every year! In 2023, we had about 60 contestants participating in our group, alongside family members who also hunger for the word as much as their kids and siblings. It’s such a blessing to not only see these kids studying the Word on their own, but entire families all taking part in the study together as well as helping and encouraging their contestants to do their absolute best. Having accountability, others who are just as excited about the study as you, and others who can share study tips and ideas you might have never thought of otherwise was incredibly helpful.
It sounds like each of you had a positive experience with your host group. I’m sure that’s the case for many participants, so what motivated you to return as hosts after you aged out of the NBB Competition?
Kimia:
Being on the other side as an alumna and helping my mom host has given me the desire to help kids develop a deep love for God and His word. Seeing the kids come in each week excited to say their verses to us is amazing!
Jeremiah:
We stayed involved so that there would always be a space for our family to memorize the Bible. It helps when you have community, unlike my first couple of years when I was going it alone. We got started hosting because our pastor saw the benefit of motivating us kids to memorize, so he helped us out by offering the church as a space for our host group. We were able to get our church and members of several homeschool groups to join, so our host group was full. The best thing about hosting is the opportunity to do the Summer Study and be motivated even when you are not a contestant.
Kailyn:
My favorite part of being an alumni and host is being able to encourage participants in the way that other alumni/hosts were encouraging to me. Seeing the kids get excited about the study, games, and meetings brings me as much joy as when I participated in the study myself. That being said, being a host has been an encouragement to me to stay in the Word as much as the contestants. I have to try to keep up with them in the study in order to create games and materials, and to help them through the study. I know that I would continue doing the studies even if I wasn’t a host, but it’s great to still have the motivation and accountability that a part of the host group provides. Being able to be an alumni and host is definitely one of the best ministry opportunities I’ve ever been offered!
It’s so neat how God blesses us through others, and how that applies to both participants and hosts in this setting! How was your perspective on hosting shaped by your experiences as participants? Do you focus on different things because you know what it’s like to be on the other end yourself?
Jeremiah:
It makes me want to help everyone qualify, so I have to pace myself and help them put their focus on growth. I always strove to qualify, and I never lived in the moment, so I want to help new contestants learn from that and put their focus on Christ.
Kailyn:
It has made it a lot easier to “empathize” and help the contestants through the difficult parts of the study, especially for the newer contestants. I know how confusing the study, journal, and some of the websites and resources were to me the first few years I participated. Answering these questions before they are even asked has made the meetings much smoother and easier to understand for those who haven’t participated in the NBB for a long time. I can also share my personal experience of what study tips and tricks worked best for me during my time as a participant.
I know that many alumni aren’t able to start hosting officially the way you have, but they still desire to encourage others and stay plugged into the community. What are some other ways they can invest in host groups without registering as hosts?
Jeremiah:
Just show up and be a part of it. Learn along with the others and answer their questions. Any chance you get to talk to your pastor and get his support behind the group is perfect. You’re an ambassador now, so go get new people to be a part of NBB and new leaders to back it.
Kailyn:
Just be there for all of the contestants! Ask your host if there’s any way that you can participate in planning the meetings, making games and quizzes, or listening to recitations. Reach out to participants and see if they need any help or tips. You could even offer to “mentor” kids in your group who you know want to qualify for Nationals. Always be someone that the participants in your group can look up to, someone who is encouraging, and someone they know they can always go to for help if they need it. Just doing that is such a helpful thing!
That’s some great advice, and it’s obvious that you know what helps from both the participant and host side. Drawing from your experiences as both former participants who were part of host groups, and now as hosts yourself, let’s get practical… What were/are some of your favorite things to do with your host group? Do you have any resources or games that have worked well for your group?
Kimia:
My favorite thing our host group did when I competed was divide into teams and play Bible Jeopardy. Another thing I really liked from this past year was we had each child come and say their previously memorized and newly memorized passages to us privately like a mini oral round. They also got to proclaim a passage in front of the group later. I loved how this kept the children reviewing the verses! Each passage they recited earned so many points toward a prize on Proclaim! Day.
Jeremiah:
I loved playing knowledge games. We spent a lot of time finding and creating games like Pictionary and charades to help remember Greek Words and key concepts. It got really competitive and called everyone higher, which helped us with the contest down the road.
Kailyn:
Our meetings always consist of study tips, study games, recitation practice, and in 2023 we even added a Bible study time where alumni from our group would lead contestants in a “small-group” Bible study to dig deeper into the text as well as get some study tips for those who want to qualify for Nationals. It’s so fun and rewarding to be able to hear what each individual contestant is learning throughout the study. Once your group grows, I think it becomes harder to give the attention you’d like to give to every single participant, but this was a great way to let them all have a time where they are in a small enough group to feel like they can ask questions, get answers, and actually go beyond the surface-level studying that’s easy to fall into (especially if you’re a first-time contestant.) The kids have even brought up really good points from the study that I had never thought of! Even as an alumni/host who led one of the small groups, I was learning just as much as they were. It’s definitely one of my favorite things that we’ve decided to do during our meetings! My mom also had amazing ideas to make Proclaim! Day fun and interactive. We’ve set it up in a way that it’s great practice for the National Bible Bee Competition (if participants try to qualify): reciting on stage, a mini “gameshow”, and an awards ceremony. It is so incredible getting to see every single contestant who had worked so hard during the summer all getting to proclaim God’s Word publicly together! For tips and resources, I would just say to stay active on the NBB Social Community. Seeing ideas from other hosts (most of whom have been doing this even longer than we have) has been such a helpful blessing over the last few years. There’s so much creativity in the host community and it’s brought so much life to our own group!
Thank you to all three of you for taking the time to share your experiences on both sides of the study! I’m sure other hosts will find what you’ve shared helpful. Do any of you have any final words of encouragement or advice for other hosts?
Kimia:
Sometimes being a host can be discouraging but God can use you to make a difference in a child’s life. Maybe He had you host just for that one kid who you maybe thought wasn’t paying attention. I encourage you to stay faithful in the little things!
Jeremiah:
My best tip is not to compare yourself to one of the bigger groups. What’s great for them may not be best for your group. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or intense, just create a space for kids to learn and declare God’s Word. A small, well-supported group is better than a big, hectic group. Make your own island and empower your group to proclaim the Word, even if you don’t all qualify and have a gigantic group.
Kailyn:
Don’t be discouraged by small starts, or by new participants who don’t seem into it. If God wants your group to grow, He will make it grow! And as it grows, the excitement from the older participants will be contagious to the newer ones. Make sure that your contestants are always encouraging, kind, and helpful to newer/younger contestants, and most likely the desire to continue in the study will grow immensely! If you only have a couple of contestants, pour all of your efforts into those contestants and watch what God can do in their lives through the study. God will bring others when He is ready to!The opportunity to minister through hosting is open to anyone above the age of 18 who is committed to encouraging and supporting young people as they dig into God’s Word. For more information visit https://biblebee.org/24-hosts. Host registration is open until March 11.
Interview by NBB Alumna: Janese Hurst
