FOCUS: Baptist Sword Drill imprints Bible verses on children’s minds
By Vally Sharpe, Asheville, N.C. | I recently ran across a news clipping of me in 1971. It was a listing of the regional winners of what was called the “Bible Drill” by then, a competition held in the Southern Baptist Church for younger kids. Older youth in the church participated in a speaker’s tournament. When I first began to participate, the competition had been known as the “Sword” Drill, a name I still prefer, although the “Bible” Drill is, admittedly, a more descriptive term. Successfully competing in the Sword Drill meant one had to know the books of the Bible and the order in which they appear, from Genesis to Revelations.
The whole “sword” reference came from the fact that the “word of God” is sometimes called the “sword of the spirit.” But it didn’t stop there. The commands “Attention!” and “Draw swords!” and scripture references like “Joshua 4:14” or “Philemon 1:16” would be called out and the sound of pages rustling would commence.
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