Saturday, November 28, 2009
By VIRGINIA ROSS SHANK
The 10-year-old from Newton Falls was one of more than 17,000 contestants.
NEWTON FALLS — For 10-year-old Caleb Toth, competing in the recent National Bible Bee wasn’t about winning.
It was about taking every opportunity to praise God, the fifth-grader explained.
Caleb, a son of Ron and Tamara Toth of Newton Falls, was one of 300 youths invited to participate in the competition Nov. 5 and 6 in Washington, D.C.
“It was only by God’s grace and His providence that I got to compete,” said Caleb. “It was hard. But I expected it to be hard. I’m just thankful I got to go and be part of it and encourage someone else.”
Caleb, who is one of eight children and is homeschooled, competed in the initial stages of the event, satisfactorily completing written portions of the challenge and facing oral tests. Essentially he and the other contestants were required to fill in the blanks, or correctly finish a Scripture that was written down or read to them. Although Caleb didn’t make it to the semifinals, he befriended a boy from Colorado who did.
“I was able to be there for him and to do what I could to encourage him,” Caleb said. “I was happy that God allowed me to do that.”
More than 17,000 contestants enrolled earlier this year to participate in the first Bible Bee, which is a Bible memory competition. In September, those contestants competed in some 340 local Bible Bee contests conducted throughout the country. From the local events, 100 top scorers from each of three age brackets were invited to advance to the National Bible Bee for the three-day, world-class competition in Washington in early November. The event, open to ages 7 to 18, has been designed to become an annual challenge.
Caleb and three of his siblings competed in the local Bible Bee. He was invited to participate in the national challenge as part of the primary category made up of children ages 8 to 10. The junior and senior categories included youths ages 11 to 14 and 15 to 18, respectively. Caleb received study materials from the Shelby Kennedy Foundation, which sponsors the event, in May and started preparing for his trip to Washington then.
“They really don’t have a lot of time to get ready or to prepare,” explained Tamara Toth. “There’s a lot of work involved. But it’s worth it. It’s a wonderful experience.”
The National Bible Bee promises more than $260,000 in prize money to the top finalists, with $100,000 being awarded to the first-place winner in the top age group.
Mark Rasche, executive director, said the foundation, a nonprofit ministry, was named after Shelby Kennedy, who lost a battle with cancer in 2005 at the age of 23. An anonymous benefactor, inspired by Kennedy’s life and testimony, provided funds to establish the foundation with the goal to launch the national Bible Bee, Rasche explained.
Toth said her family has agreed to prepare for next year’s challenge.
“We’ve made a decision, a commitment as a family to prepare and even set aside the finances and work together and see if God plans on us going back,” she said. “If he wants us to be there, we’ll be there.”
For more information about the Bible Bee challenge or the Shelby Kennedy Foundation, visit www.biblebee.org.