Archive: “Turn off the cartoons, Mom…here comes the Bible Bowl!”

Irrepressible evangelist Jack Gray has discovered a way to bring the Gospel into the hearts and minds of children.

by Jay Gaines, Carrollton, Texas

Nearly eleven years ago, evangelist Jack Gray was conducting a revival in a small town in East Texas. He was staying in the pastor’s home. One evening, the pastor’s 12-year-old son invited Jack up to his room to see his model airplane collection. Upon entering the room, Jack could not believe his eyes. There were airplanes everywhere: beautifully scaled models hanging from the ceiling, mounted to the walls, and resting on every available square inch of dresser and desk space. Jack was told, rather proudly, by the young man, “I have 119 of them.”

The pastor’s son then began to explain to Jack every bit of information imaginable about each of the 119 aircraft. He knew the year each plane had been introduced, who manufactured the aircraft, the horsepower, how fast and far each could fly, how many bombs each could carry, and how and where each was used in a combat situation. The boy was literally “a walking encyclopedia on airplanes.”

On impulse, Jack decided to test the young man’s knowledge in another area. Reaching into his pocket, Jack pulled out a crisp $1.00 bill and told the small aeronautical expert that if he could name the 12 disciples of Jesus, he could have the dollar bill as a reward. Amazingly, the boy could not name all 12. In fact, to Jack’ sorrow, the boy did not even know the Ten Commandments, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Books of the Bible, the Beatitudes, or any of the basic Bible passages every Christian should know.

That evening at church, Jack again tried to give his dollar bill away and again he had no success—not one child could answer any of his questions. A few days later, a very disturbed Jack Gray left the small community, still puzzled over the inability of the small children to answer even the most basic of Bible questions.

As Jack traveled across the country in the following months conducting revivals, the amazement he had experienced in the small Texas town turned to deep concern as he came to realize that few children really knew much about the Bible. “In almost every church and community I visited, I found that the same condition existed—children did not know and love the Word of God.” Jack’s heart cried out over the dilemma, “Lord, what can I do? What can I do?”

He realized that there was one thing he could do and he began working with children wherever he preached. “The Lord taught me three things about children,” says Jack. “He taught me that children can learn anything if they are motivated. They love games that are exciting and fun, and they love competition.”

Based on these three premises, Jack began to develop into his crusades a daily routine of working solely with children in a specially designed, action-packed, competitive game dealing exclusively with the Bible. He called the new game Bible Bowl.

From the very beginning kids loved it and, as Jack observed, “Attendance of children at my revivals doubled, even tripled.” Jack began to develop materials for Bible Bowl and soon Bible Bowlers had such things as the Bible Bowl Memory Book (with rainbow memory cards containing Bible passages every Christian should know) and the Bible Bowl Quiz Book (with 36 Biblical categories). There were also membership cards, T-shirts, Bible Boy and Gospel Girl buttons, pins, and balloons, and there was “B.B. the Robot” (Beebee), a popular favorite among the kids. Bible Bowl became a very important part of Jack’s ministry.

Churches across the country began hearing about Bible Bowl and they began to use the program as a vehicle for teaching children in their congregations. Soon, there were Bible Bowl Vacation Church Schools, Bible Bowl Sunday Schools, Bible Bowl Seminars and, finally, a Bible Bowl Summer Camp where boys and girls spent five days in a Christian atmosphere.

The turning point in Bible Bowl’s growth occurred one day while Jack was in a Tulsa church. A man walked up to him and said, “Jack, I’ve never seen my grandkids get so excited about the Bible. This program needs to be on television.” He then handed Jack a check for $1,000.

Bible Bowl TV was born. On October 29, 1978, Bible Bowl went on the air in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Dallas, Texas. We have often heard Billy Graham say, “There are over 40,000,000 children in America who do not regularly attend Sunday school and church, but almost every one of those children have access to a television set.” Jack Gray says, “We are trying to reach these 40,000,000 children and excite them to want to learn the Bible.”

Exactly what is Bible Bowl? It is an exciting and colorful television and in-church ministry that is reaching children (and adults) all across the country. Bible Bowl teaches the Bible to these little ones while making the learning experience a fun-filled and excitement-packed educational event. It is 100 boys and girls, wearing T-shirts, buttons and badges, and armed with pompons, noisemakers and foghorns, erupting in a cacophony of cheers. Bible Bowl is highspeed, spontaneous excitement, fringed with suspense as two teams (boys vs. girls) compete for cash and points in an effort to win the grand prize—”The Glory Bowl” which is a nine-gallon banana split topped with sparklers.

The program, on television and in church, is divided into four quarters. Whistle-tooting, Bible-quizzing “Coach Jack” leads the youngsters through various segments of the game such as “Bleacher Battles,” “Giant Question Mark,” “Paddle Battles,” “Quiz Kids,” “Quote Votes,” “Tic-Tac-Toes,” “Bible Baseball,” and songs. It is the Gospel Girls and the Bible Boys using their knowledge of the Scripture in a competitive situation. Jack says, “We call it Bible Bowl because it is bigger than the Super Bowl—it deals with eternal life.”

Dr. Kenneth Carter, Pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Carrollton, Texas says, “The Bible Bowl ministry is the most exciting outreach ministry in America today … no one else is doing anything comparable.” Dr. Carter and his congregation believe so strongly in Bible Bowl that they recently donated $15,000 to the program.

Bob Stamps, Campus Chaplain at Oral Roberts University, suggests that Bible Bowl does more than just “turn kids on.” He says, “[Jack] shows adults what a man of God can do with kids to excite them about the Word, then he challenges the parents to be as excited and as creative in their working with kids. That, I think, is Bible Bowl’s strongest point.”

Jack would probably agree because when asked to justify Bible Bowl’s ministry, he points to the last verse of the Old Testament:

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.

Jack goes on to say, “Our land is under a curse because the fathers are not turned to the children, therefore the children are not turned to the fathers. They’re not turned to the Father God. Fathers represent God in America or any other nation. So the fathers must turn to the children if the children are to get interested in God.”

It would appear that Bible Bowl is getting children and adults interested in God and His Word. To date, over 2,000 churches have displayed interest and enthusiasm for Bible Bowl. The program is now on CBN (Christian Broadcast Network), PTL (People That Love), and in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles every week. Many churches have not only conducted Bible Bowl for their own congregations but have also contributed substantially to the ministry. Churches from Reading, Massachusetts, to Billings, Montana, to Abilene, Texas, to Jennings, Louisiana, to Mobile, Alabama, now mail regular offerings to Bible Bowl.

“But,” according to Jack, “there just never seems to be enough money.” In 1980 alone, over $90,000 will be spent just to handle the mailing of free books to children who request them. Another $80,000 will be spent for the continuing operation of Bible Bowl, and plans now call for nearly $5,000,000 for the establishment of a permanent National Bible Bowl Headquarters, Camp, Children’s Ministry Center, and Nationwide Bible Bowl Contest.

Bible Bowl is produced by Jack Gray Ministries of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jack is, of course, well-known not only for his evangelism crusades, but for having led the children’s programs at past Good News Convocations. (He will be leading the 1981 Convocation also.)

The need to reach children is obvious and Bible Bowl is meeting that need. If one should doubt the desperate need to reach the churched and un-churched children of this country, one would only have to sift through the hundreds of letters received at the offices of Jack Gray Ministries every week. One letter, in particular, seems to epitomize the urgent need for this outreach ministry. An eight-year-old in Mesquite, Texas wrote, “…I try to go to church, but my parents are asleep. They really sleep late. I just discovered your show and it’s fun to watch.”

Jack and his supporters know there are millions more just like the Mesquite child, and it is Bible Bowl’s goal to reach these millions. It is their prayer that soon, all across the land, children will be heard to say, “Turn off the cartoons, Mom. It’s time for Bible Bowl.” That time may be soon.