By Lindsey Williams
Writing Specialist
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (HCSB)
Former Nine-Year Scholarship Tournament Winner, Christopher Thompson, a graduate of Mississippi College and active member of the Young Professionals Sunday School class at First Church, Jackson, looks back on his years as a Bible driller fondly. “I definitely know a lot more Scripture because of it, and any time we go over the Word in Sunday school, I find myself analyzing the passage in how I would have memorized it, and now I’m trying to get out of that habit,” Thompson laughed.
“I can’t even tell you how many verses I learned over the years. Some verses sneak up at certain times when I need them. Throughout high school, it helped me a lot in sharing the Word with my friends. They would be going through something, and I would happen to have a Scripture for that,” Thompson acknowledged. “Some of my friends had never heard of Bible drill and didn’t understand it at all, so I invited them to come and see what it’s all about. It really opened that opportunity for me to evangelize to my friends.”
“You know those who taught you”
Without the faithful leaders in his life challenging him to continue and encouraging him in his practice, Thompson recognized he would not have made it far. “Of course, Lori Ladner and Ms. Doris Dixon were a little bit on the tough side, but I really grew to appreciate them for what they did for us,” said Thompson. “Mr. Joe Fritz — and his wife, Bebe — were great, and I love them both. If I really didn’t want to study the verses, I’d go to Mr. Joe, and he would play games with me to make it more fun.
“For the first couple of years, it was about why we memorize Scripture. Then when I moved up to the youth Bible drilling, they taught us how to efficiently memorize Scripture. Even when I advanced out of the children’s group, which was Lori’s group, Lori would still come over and check up on us in the youth group.”
“From childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures”
“My dad did a lot for me,” Thompson affirmed. “He actually led the youth drill when my siblings and I were in it. He got me and all my siblings into Bible drills, so we were all doing it together for the majority of the years, and my dad was always encouraging me and pushing me forward.
“Since I went through Bible drill with my siblings, it grew us closer together spiritually. We were all memorizing those same verses, so we would run them between each other, and it kept us really close through the years.”
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching”
After years of diligent drilling, Thompson won the Nine-Year Scholarship Tournament. “Honestly, the scholarship significantly lightened the load for my college years. When I was getting ready to go to school, I had applied to Mississippi College (MC), State, and Southern, and I don’t think any other school except MC replied back,” he laughed. “So I was obviously going to MC, and then the scholarship came in, and I knew God really wanted me to go to MC. And once again, Bible drill opened more opportunities for me to share about memorizing the Word, when people realized I had that scholarship and wondered what it was.
“I will say, I got a little arrogant once I won the scholarship, but I was humbled really quickly. After the tournament, I was offered to do the national-level Bible drill. I was like, ‘Yeah, I got this. Let’s do it.’ But the version of the Bible I had used for drilling was an older version of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), so when I got around to the national tournament, their rules were very strict. They gave me a newer version of the HCSB, and all the words were spaced out differently, which doesn’t sound like it would make much of a difference, but for me, it was a very big difference. I ended up getting nowhere close to winning and realized I had gotten a little full of myself, but God humbled me really quick.”
“After that, I wanted to help the next students coming up to the Nine-Year Tournament, if they wanted to go for that scholarship. I had been taught how to reach that level, so I tried to get those students there. It was good to give back a little bit.”
“That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”
When he first attended Mississippi College, Thompson majored in Christian Studies with the intent of becoming a youth pastor. Halfway through college, however, Thompson felt the Lord close that door in order to open another. Following the Lord step by step, he graduated in Business Administration, and now lives out his faith working for Community Bank, a Christian, Mississippi-founded organization.
“It was one of those times where the opportunity just popped up,” Thompson recalled. “I interned there after graduation, and they offered me a full-time position as a bank teller, which I took. Then a couple of months went by, and in October, they wanted me to move up to a customer service position. I didn’t think that fit my personality, but they assured me it did. Initially I told them no, but for the next couple of weeks, it was just eating at me. So I prayed about it and asked God to show me if I needed to go back and see if they would still take me, and He put it in my heart that I needed to just be available to them. So I went back, I met with them, and told them, ‘I think God is wanting me to be available to you.’ And they said, ‘We were just thinking about you for this internal auditor position!’ So I was like, ‘Oh okay, perfect!’
“People hear ‘audit’ and think, ‘bad guys who come to tell you everything you’re doing wrong,’” said Thompson. “But they told me when they hired me, ‘We think you can be empathetic and soften the blow.’ I said I would try, but no promises,” Thompson laughed.
“My next step is finding out what God is wanting me to do in this position and what He wants me here for,” said Thompson, “but with next steps, and all throughout Bible drill, people here at church have really come alongside me. My family moved down here from Memphis when I was about 6 months old, and so First Church, Jackson, has been my church the entirety of my life. I love it here. I’m about to be 24, so we’ve been here about 23 years, and this church has always been great, always encouraging.”
Pray for every child, youth, and adult like Thompson who participated in Bible drill, as they navigate their walks of faith, that they may be equipped with the Word of God for every good work.
“Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.“
Proverbs 22:6 (HCSB)
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