Mike Farris:
Mark, we’ve been talking about a Bible Bee that will test young people from 7 to 18 on scripture memory and Bible knowledge. We anticipate thousands of young people all over the country participating in local bees. There’ll be hundreds of young people that will go to the national final, where they’ll win tremendously significant cash prizes. But I don’t think that that’s the real goal, is it, Mark? There’s a slogan that defines what the real goal is, and won’t you tell us about that?

Mark Rasche:
Well Mike, you may have noticed that the phrase “Learn it, speak it, live it!” is prominently displayed on our website. And we see this phrase as much more than a tagline. I would say that it encapsulates the heartbeat of the Bible Bee. So it’s much more than a Bible memory competition, in my view. I like to think of the Bible Bee as a launching pad, which first begins with learning the word of God. Learning it is about memorizing, meditating, and reciting passages—but it doesn’t stop there. This should lead to speaking it—which is all about sharing, defending, and proclaiming God’s word. But ultimately, we want to see the young people living it—where they are giving, loving, and ministering to the Body of Christ and sharing the gospel with the world.

Mike:
Mark, those are tremendous aspirations, and I hope that the young people listening to this program will be excited about being a part of the Bible Bee, and that others will be interested in becoming the host committee for the local bee competitions this coming September. Mark, thank you so much for your work. I’m Mike Farris.