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Johnson City Press
By Keisha Bratton
NET News Service
MILLIGAN COLLEGE — Lisa Morphew may have gotten a break on the cost of her children’s college education fund Wednesday.
The Morphew kids — Jacob, 17; Kylie, 15; Kelsey, 13; and Ben, 12 — constitute the Cloverdale Christian Church team from Indiana and took home more than $2,000 in scholarships each during Wednesday’s finale of the Bible Bowl held at Milligan College.
“My mom keeps telling me that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has been set before me because I can win a scholarship, so I’m very dedicated to this work,” Kylie said.
She had to be — Kylie and her siblings studied the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth for nearly a year to survive three days and more than 30 rounds of competition at Milligan. Today, they’ll start over in Kentucky then travel to the National Bible Bowl Competition in Cincinnati on June 28.
In addition to the $1,000 each the Cloverdale team won for taking second place in double elimination, and the $1,250 apiece for winning first in the round-robin competition, Kylie was awarded $600 for making the seventh-highest score on a 300-question, timed exam. The total $14,750 in scholarships handed out Wednesday will be available upon admission to Milligan.
“I feel so elated,” said Lisa Morphew. “I give all the glory to God. He’s awesome. The Bible says to rear children in his ways and he’ll reward them.”
Across the country, teams compete in regional, monthly round-robin contests, focusing on that year’s three chosen books. Competitors range from sixth- to 12th-graders, and all go up against each other. In preparation, some youths study for hours each day.
Kylie studies for nearly three hours each weekday during the school year and bumped it to four or five the past week.
“I like it because it involves a lot of studying,” she said. “I like to study, and I’m very competitive.”
Milligan students Ashley Rolston and Austin Turner served as two of five tournament directors. Their involvement in Bible Bowl, and scholarships earned, is what led them to Milligan. The two explained that Bible Bowl is somewhat like an underground sports circuit. Most of those involved keep up with regional competitions via the Internet. They know the front-runners and the teams to beat.
But Rolston said that while some Bible Bowlers are highly competitive, others participate more for the fellowship.
“You’re with these people all the time, and the friendships that grow from that are just amazing,” she said, adding that the more involved she became with Bible Bowl, the more her focus changed.
“When I started out, it was really just for fun, and it took over my life,” she said. “I was blessed in so many ways from it. I love the competition, I love studying for it, and definitely, the scholarship money helped here.”
Turner said he was more of a social Bible Bowler.
“I really enjoyed the fellowship aspect. I’m not very competitive,” Turner said, adding that he’s grateful for his Bible knowledge. “Now that I’m out, I realize it helped me a lot with my study skills. All the scripture that I’ve learned has been really rewarding.”
The 44 teams from across the country — none local — were made up of 250 students and youth ministers. They stayed on Milligan’s campus and between rounds played sports or explored Johnson City. The competition culminated Wednesday with the final double-elimination rounds, which started like an arena concert. The sounds of Christian rock band Switchfoot blasted through Seeger Chapel, and the teams were raised to eye level on a moving stage, complete with fog behind them.
The Cloverdale and Franklin, Tenn., teams went head-to-head for two rounds, reciting Bible verses so fast they were difficult to understand. Though Kylie had predicted her team would go all the way, it was Franklin that took home the double-elimination trophy. But the Morphews came a long way from the rookies they were last year, said Kylie.
“We had no idea what we were getting into,” she said.