Troy Schmidt - The American Bible Challenge: A Daily Reader Volume 1

THE AMERICAN BIBLE
CHALLENGE

2013 Troy Schmidt

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013930070

ISBN 978-0-8499-4755-1

Printed in the United States of America

13 14 15 16 17 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To churches and pastors everywhere whobring the Word of God to people 24/7.

CONTENTS

by Jeff Foxworthy

I first met Troy Schmidt on a soundstage in Los Angeles as we began to cobble together a pilot called The American Bible Challenge. While we were both excited about the prospect of such a show, it was tricky ground to walk upon. In fact when I was first approached about hosting the show, my response was, I dont think so. Not because I was averse to the Bible, but because I was averse to most of the television I had ever seen that was religious in nature. Most of it was too sanitized, and the world I live in is anything but.

I often struggle with the idea of organized religion. I love the Lord. In fact my Bible is a kaleidoscope of highlighted passages of text and handwritten comments in the margins. I have been in the same Bible study group for the past fifteen years. We meet on Thursday mornings in the back of a barbecue restaurant, and we have done life together. We have prayed for each others kids and buried each others loved ones. It has been the most important church I attend. For the past four years I have also led a Bible study for homeless men at the Atlanta Mission in downtown Atlanta. Many have struggled with different forms of addiction but have touched bottom and are making their way back to the surface. They understand the grace of God in a way I have rarely seen. In fact you would pay money just to listen to them pray.

So the challenge for Troy, me, and the rest of the BibleChallenge crew was, how do we make a show about the Bible that proves the teachings within it are still as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago? And also, can we make it fun? (Believe it or not God has a great sense of humor!) What sold me on hosting the show was the decision that the contestants had to give the money away to help someone else.

If you read the Bible, the only people whom Jesus ever had problems with were the religious leaders who had plenty of head knowledge but no heart knowledge. Our contestants have the head knowledge to answer the questions, but more importantly they are putting the scriptures into action. Other people dont have to hear about their faith because that faith is apparent as they live their lives. They reflect Jesus when they just love others.

When Jesus taught, his first recommendation was to repent. I used to think repent meant saying, Im sorry, Im sorry, Im sorry, but it doesnt mean that. It means, to change the way you think. Someone once said to me that he thought the Bible was a book of rules. I laughed and said, No, actually its a love story. In fact the greatest one ever written. The Bible isnt about how bad we have been or how good we try to be. It is about a Creator who made us for his pleasure and paid the price for every shortcoming we could ever have. God is unconditional love in every way possible. We just need to understand that.

My prayer for you as you go through this book is that the Scriptures would fill the dark corners of your life with light. Read up, and let his love pour over you.

God bless,

Jeff Foxworthy

When I first heard about The American Bible Challenge, I was shocked. Really? Someone is going to make a game show about the Bible? This was probably the same reaction most people had. Most television shows satirize Christians. Rarely does any network do anything to uplift and celebrate the Christian faith.

Game Show Networks gamble paid off with millions of loyal Christians gathering the family, watching the show on Thursday nights, and playing the online game. The American Bible Challenge quickly became a phenomenon.

I was first approached as a consultant and writer for the show while living in Orlando. My resume in television began with game show research and development, but it was my current position as a campus pastor at First Baptist Church, Windermere, Florida, that caught the producers attention. A television writer and a pastor? Usually the combination gets a curious raise of the eyebrow. In this case it got me a job.

It was while I worked on the pilot with GSN that they asked me to be the on-camera Bible expert, a role I was not comfortable with. I could see my life inundated with perplexing questions and obscure trivia as I walked into grocery stores or tried to eat meals at restaurants. My whole life would be spent looking like a fool, expected to rattle off Davids wives and give the correct order of Jacobs kids. Thankfully test audiences rejected various aspects of the pilot, one of them my role. That meant I could slip back behind the scenes and enjoy obscurity. Unfortunately much of the pilot flopped, and we had to start at square one. But the commitment of GSN remained strong, bolstered by executives David Schiff, Jean Wiegman, Barry Nugent, and Amy Introcaso-Davis and supported by RelativityREALs Tom Forman and Odyssey Networks Maura Dunbar.

As we began to retool the show, fresh new faces appeared on the scene and began to breathe new life into The AmericanBible Challenge. Executive producers Janelle Fiorito and Leigh Hampton brought reality and game show experience to the table. Consulting producer Ryan Hopak was a seasoned game show writer and great at comedy. Writer David Dickerson came from the world of greeting cards with an almost encyclopedic mind for the Bible. Rosemarie DiSalvo brought a warmth and sweetness to the room, so missing in our little boys club. Those six weeks of development and production were hardbut satisfying, now that weve seen the audience appreciation and acceptance of the show.

Much of that success goes to Jeff Foxworthy, a Christian bold enough to step in front of the cameras and say, Yeah, this is what I believe. So what? He lets Christians know its okay to believe in God and laugh! His sincerity and sense of humor have made this show what it is.

The nine-episode television experience of The AmericanBible Challenge prompted this book. I have chosen seven questions from every show, one for each day of the week. There are daily thoughts based on the questions corresponding passage from the Bible, followed by five new questions to challenge you and keep your Bible skills sharp. The answers are in the back, but dont cheat.

I created this book for you to celebrate the number one rated show on GSN that is all about the number one, best-selling book of all time! Maybe youll do so well answering the questions that someday you can be a contestant on the show.

Troy Schmidt

Windermere, Florida

September 2012