ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
Rural Wyoming Church Wins 2024 JBQ National Title
Douglas Assembly of God's Junior Bible Quiz Team, The Cutting Edge, was named the 2024 Junior Bible Quiz Festival Champion on Saturday.
Pastor Barry Jorris, the connect pastor from First Assembly in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the JBQ National Festival coordinator since 2006, said that the competition was once again very tight this year, with the placement of the top three teams coming down to the final two rounds of the final day. In all, each of the 80 teams competing participated in 24 rounds of quizzing.
JBQ is a program designed to help kids grades first through sixth grade memorize key facts and Scripture verses from the Bible. Featuring 576 questions (from the Bible Fact-Pak) about the Bible that vary in value from 10 to 30 points, based on the question’s difficulty, contestants attempt to “buzz in” first to give their answer.
This year’s runners-up to The Cutting Edge was last year’s champions, Cedar Park AG of Bothell, Washington. Third place went to Against the Current of Dayspring AG from Bowling Green, Ohio. Of note, in its last match of the day, The Cutting Edge earned a victory over Cedar Park to finish the day 7-2 and earn the championship. Cedar Park finished with a 6-3 mark for the day.
The leading point scorers over the 24 rounds were also recognized in the concluding ceremonies. Elizabeth Rossignol of the champion Cutting Edge team led all scorers with 3,030 points; Kai Doboszenki of the Velociquizzers from Life Assembly in Maple Grove, Minnesota, was second with 2,885 points; and Elijah Vigh of The Polynesians from Brightmoor Christian Church in Novi, Michigan, was third with 2,795 points.
What is a bit unusual for this year’s champions is that the coaches for The Cutting Edge team, Brian and Andrea Rossignol, are also the lead pastors of Douglas AG as well as the parents of the three team members who traveled to Georgia — Elizabeth (11), William (9), and Richard (7). Norman Duryea, who helped the team win regionals (which included Cedar Park AG), was unable to attend.
“I’m also the JBQ Northwest Regional coordinator,” Brian Rossignol says. “It was exciting to see two teams from our region finish first and second place.”
Rossignol says that even though both teams knew what was on the line when they faced each other in their final matches, there was good camaraderie in the room — a friendliness. He also credits Bothell JBQ for being an inspiration, year after year.
“We restarted the JBQ program here when I became lead pastor of Douglas Assembly in 2019,” he says. “And every year, Bothell has won regionals and seems to always be in contention for the national title. Their example has inspired everyone else to be better — kids, coaches, and pastors. This year we had 20 kids on several different teams in our Thursday night JBQ program.”
For a church in a community of roughly 6,500 and with an average Sunday morning service attendance of 60, having 20 kids in JBQ is saying something. Rossignol says that the commitment kids, coaches, and parents have made to studying for JBQ has paid off in their Mpact Girls (Girls Ministries) and Royal Rangers programs as those church programs now run a combined 60 kids, with parents taking on a much more active role.
Rossignol says the team earned its first trip to nationals last year, finishing 43rd. This year’s goal was to break into the top 10 or 20 — a goal they more than met! However, what has really mattered to him and Andrea is that they have witnessed their JBQ kids growing in their Scripture knowledge as well as in their character development.
“Our church loves ministering to kids,” Rossignol says. “But I hope our success inspires other small, rural churches to know that they can do JBQ and do it well. I’d love to see more small-town, rural churches invest in their kids with JBQ — it offers so much potential for kids and their churches.”
The 39th JBQ Festival will be held June 12-14, 2025, at Calvary Church in Naperville, Illinois. To see a complete listing of match results from the 2024 JBQ National Festival, click here.
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