Meet Kailyn George, one of the members of the 2025 NBB Alumni Service Team!
Here are some quick facts to help you get to know Kailyn:
Where she’s from: A small farm in Farmington, Missouri
Age: I am 21 years old
NBB Participation: Participated in the Summer Study from 2017-2022, finally tried to qualify and did qualify in 2022, my last year before I aged out!
Fun Facts:
- I have been to the National Bible Bee competition 8 times in a row, and this will be my 9th time.
- I own multiple different businesses! Including my piano studio, an online clothing thrift shop, and a natural skincare business my family started and we run on our farm.
- My family and I host a scripture memory event called ScriptureFest every year here in Missouri.
- I currently have three jobs, and all of them have to do with music and piano. I feel so blessed that my favorite hobby can also be my job!
- I just got engaged to another previous AST member!
What she’s doing now:
- Teaching in my piano studio – I have about twelve students right now, ranging from early beginner to early intermediate. We’re beginning to prepare for our 3rd annual Christmas recital right now!
- Teaching music theory and history, choir, and humanities to 1st-4th grade at a local cottage/classical school
- Playing piano accompaniment at our local community college for their choir and music majors
- Singing in the community college choir – fun fact, I’m a first soprano! (For anyone else who knows about the singing parts)
- I am currently getting ready to go back to college (after a break) so I can finish getting my Associates of Fine Arts in piano
- Lots of travelling! More than I’ve ever gotten to do before. Just in the last year I’ve been to Ohio, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Texas.
Hi Kailyn! Welcome to the National Bible Bee Blog Tell us a little bit about your NBB journey!
How did you first start participating in the National Bible Bee?
In 2017, my brother discovered the National Bible Bee all on his own and asked to participate in the Summer Study. Unfortunately, at this stage in my spiritual walk, I wasn’t as interested in the study until around 2021. During those years, my parents bought me the Discovery Journal, and each year I didn’t ever finish it, but I did get further and further each time! Finally, in 2020 I finished the Discovery Journal for the first time. I was always a pretty shy kid, so I never had the desire to actually say my verses in FRONT of people, in the preliminary oral rounds, semi-finals, or finals. But finally, after years of attending Nationals and doing the study with my brother and our local host group that we started in 2018, I decided I wanted to qualify for Nationals! I made my first attempt in 2021, however I did not qualify. Looking back on it now, I know I did not have the right attitude going into the competition, and I think that kept me from really internalizing everything I was supposed to learn that year. I am now glad that the Lord taught me so much from NOT qualifying that year. But praise God, I qualified the very next year! And it was the best study I had done yet. We studied the book of Ruth with the theme “Redeemed”, and I learned more from that study in one year than any other Bible study I had ever done. I so regret that I didn’t start Bible Bee sooner, because that was the last year I could qualify. But since then, I am now a co-host with my mom for a Bible Bee host group with 40-60 participants each year, I have judged oral rounds at the National competition, and this is my second year on the Alumni Service Team!
What’s a lesson you learned from your time in the National Bible Bee that has practically influenced your life?
Just how to study the Bible in an effective and impactful way. I, much like a lot of Christians, did not know how to really study the Bible, and I didn’t even know how clueless I was about studying the Bible! The National Bible Bee and the Summer Study gave me so many new insights on how to study the scripture, not just for the sake of the competition, but for the purpose of learning more about God and His Word to feed my own soul and benefit my spiritual walk. I truly don’t think I would be where I’m at right now if it wasn’t for the Bible Bee! God greatly blessed and humbled me in bringing the NBBC into my life.
With the many verses you have memorized over the years, do you happen to have a favorite Bible verse or passage?
Ooh this is a difficult question…I have so many favorite passages from over the years (including ones I memorized for different purposes after being encouraged by NBB to memorize more on my own!) Even though I did finish the Discovery Journal in 2018, I remember being super excited about memorizing. So much so that I memorized all of James 1, which was the first chapter of scripture I ever memorized! (That may not sound like a lot to more seasoned Bible Bee’ers, but to little Kailyn who had never memorized before, that was insanely exciting!!) At the time (and still now too), I really needed to hear the themes of patience, trust, and endurance through the things that are thrown our way in life, always remembering that patience will have her perfect work within us, “that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” What an amazing promise!
The first chapter of scripture I ever memorized completely on my own just because I wanted to (inspired by one year of Bible Bee…unfortunately I can’t remember which one) was Psalm 51. I remember reciting these words for my local host group one year:
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” (Psalm 51:7-12, KJV)
I remember being so in awe of such a beautiful, surrendering prayer that I just had to memorize the whole chapter! For some reason, it’s the chapter that has stuck in my mind more than any other, and I still have it fully memorized to this day.
Probably one of the most impactful verses I ever memorized with Bible Bee was Revelation 5:4-12. I remember every time I would recite it, I would be so overcome with the glory and power of our Lord that is displayed in this passage. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Revelation 5:12, KJV). By far my favorite passage I’ve ever recited in Bible Bee!
What’s one of your favorite memories from the National Bible Bee, either from studying, a local meeting, or nationals?
By far, just the friendships I’ve received from the National Bible Bee! I have met so many wonderful people through my local host group as well as the National competition. And these are definitely the BEST friends I’ve ever made, because they are friendships that are built upon a love of God’s Word and a desire to serve Him in everything we do! So many girls I’ve met through the competition have been by my side for 6-8 years, constantly reaching out to encourage me, pray for me, and to have the best discussions and conversations ever! I even met my fiance through the National Bible Bee! God has brought so many amazing people into my life through this competition. I encourage everyone who goes to a host group or the National competition to not get SO caught up in studying that you forget to make connections and fellowship with fellow believers. Having godly friends by your side as you study and prepare is so helpful, whether it’s helping you dive into the content through debates and discussions or helping you memorize by listening to you recite your passages! The Bible commands us to join in fellowship with one another, so don’t ever leave out that important aspect of your spiritual walk!
Before you go, is there one thing you’ve taken away/learned from competing in the National Bible Bee Competition that you would like to share with everyone?
Never underestimate yourself when it comes to studying God’s Word. I think this is one of the reasons I wasn’t able to start my Bible Bee journey sooner. With God’s help, you will be able to conquer any amount of study information, any amount of memory passage, any amount of Greek words, etc. And even if you don’t do as much as one of your friends, or someone you see in the final round of NBBC, you still did something AMAZING: you have given time and effort into studying and memorizing God’s Word, and that in and of itself is a great reward. You will not ever hear the phrase “Well done, good and faithful servant” for the fact that you qualified for Nationals, or got to semi-finals or finals. You will be SO much more blessed by actually internalizing the things you learn from the scripture you study. Never get so caught up in the competition that you’re not actually comprehending what you’re studying and memorizing. That is definitely what happened to me in 2021 when I tried to qualify but didn’t. It will not only inhibit your ability to qualify, but to actually LEARN. And that’s the whole point!
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. The year that I qualified, my mom was my total sidekick throughout the whole thing! She went through so many flashcards and memory verse cards with me (and I am so, so grateful!) She, my brother, my dad, my friends, just about everyone in my life helped me in some way with studying. It was such a fun, wonderful way to bond over God’s Word with your family and friends.
Amen! Thank you so much for sharing your NBBC journey, Kailyn!
Interview by NBB Alumna: Rachael English
