Senior BQE Update
Twenty-nine quiz teams from both sides of the Rockies converged in the cow town of Bakersfield, California April 26-28 for the 2012 Western Bible Quiz Extravaganza. The Western BQE is usually comprised of teams from California and Oregon, and once in a great moon, teams from Washington rain on in in when it’s held in Oregon. But this year, reaching record numbers in the recent years, the Western BQE proved big…Western BIG! Shootin’ from the hip, I’d say it was largest extravaganza in over ten years. The Western BQE was especially happy to welcome Johnstown, CO who had not attended the Western BQE since the last time it was held in Bakersfield in 2006. And crossing grazing pastures and the Great Plains, 2 churches from North Dakota graced us with their country style quizzing and their prairie-land praise. Teams gathered in in anticipation (and anxiety) on Thursday to kick off the last of four regional senior extravaganzas.
After the finals of Round 1 on Friday morning Bro. Faubert delivered the sweet word of the Lord, drawing from chapters studied in 2007 Heroes of the Faith. “I Will not Go” was the core of Nehemiah’s message to the deceitful messengers in chapter 6 whose chicanery the Lord revealed. Walls intended for safety, however, can also keep you too enclosed and create fear similar to that which seized Obadiah and the 100 prophets he hid in caves. Later that night, Pastor Jonathan Mullings of the host church reached deep into the hive as well to offer the sweet word of the Lord from our early days on earth in Genesis 4, another previous quiz passage (Doctrine I, 2004). Pastor Mullings admonished quizzers to beware of how far wide they open the door to whatever knocks, for, as Genesis 4:7 states, “sin is crouching at the door” if “thou doest not well.” Quizzers wallowed in the amusements in the post-service fellowship. Truth Tabernacle’s youth pastor , Chris Salyards, earns a western style ace-high high five for facilitating the food, fun, and fellowship.
Quizzing on Saturday wrapped up the tournament. With only four teams remaining in each division, the competition heated up in the high-caliber quizzing of the trophy round. In the intermediate division Aloha, OR (not Hawaii) prevented a California trophy sweep and said “aloha” to the third place spot. Eureka, CA ‘found’ their way to victory over Aloha, and took another shot at Concord I. Not striking gold, but instead silver, the Eureka team lost the first quiz of the finals of round two and ended up at second place. Kudos to the all quizzers and coaches from Concord, who in keeping with the legacy of conquest in the American West, conquered their way into two of the top four spots keeping one of their teams undefeated.
In the experienced division, bigger guns and those faster on the draw (the buzzer, that is) bested all others. Johnstown, CO reached Pike’s Peak and brought down some major mile-high quizzing as they advanced from the second round ousting both North Dakota teams. After the dust settled we found Bismarck in fourth and Minot in third. In the final quiz of the tournament Johnstown faced Oregon City who hadn’t quizzed since early on Friday. But even a cold-turkey start couldn’t freeze up Oregon City as they swept the tournament undefeated.
The fun didn’t end with the dismissal of the teams. Marinating in the spices of the Southwest, immediately following Saturday’s awards ceremony, Arlis Barba the Western District Coordinator invited Bros. Ensey, Reever, Faubert (and his wife) to savor the goodness of the Southwest at a Mexican food taco truck. There they ordered tacos and burritos of sundry and divers meats: lengua (cow tongue), cabeza (cow head), asada and al pastor. Strange meats indeed!
-Lloyd Daniel Barba