2026 State Bible Drill Winners

In this episode you will hear from the winners of the the Georgia State Youth/High School Bible Drill/Speakers that happened May 9th at First Baptist Church in Barnesville, Georgia.  Hear what they have to say about the competition and how thay put it into perspective as a driller and speaker.   

https://bibledrillandspeakers.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Drill and Speakers Podcast. In this episode, your host Maria Brannon spent some time with this year's State Bible Drill Winners just after the competition in Barnesville, Georgia.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to today's podcast. I am Maria Brannan, Executive Director for Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers Inc. And today I'm excited to have our three state winners for 2026 sitting here with me. So I'm going to ask them to introduce ourselves and we'll start with our state student speakers winner.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Hey, I'm Laura Faith Hayes, and I'm a 12th grader at Thomas Jefferson Academy in Louisville.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

And what church do you attend, Laura Faith?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Renns Baptist Church. Okay, Renns Baptist.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Hey, my name is Emma Kate Hoffman. I am a junior at Jefferson County High School. And I attend Renns Baptist Church.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

And Emma Kate's our high school Bible drill winner. And now we'll ask our youth Bible drill winner to introduce himself.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Hello, my name's Gabriel. I'm in sixth grade and I am homeschooled and I attend Woman Baptist Church.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

All right. Well, today, congratulations, first of all. I want to say congratulations for the great job that y'all did today and our youth and high school Bible drill and student speakers. But want to begin by asking each of our Bible drillers to share their favorite Bible verse with us. It can be one that you learned this year or perhaps it's one from a previous year versus. So Emma Kate, I'd like to start with you. What what's one of your favorite Bible ver drill verses?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Um Psalm 563.

unknown 1:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

What time I'm afraid I will trust in thee.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

That I I'll have to say, Emma Kate, that is one of the ones that I remember from my years in children's Bible drill. Um, and that is one that has stayed with me as um throughout my life as a mom and as a grandma. It is just a great verse to remind us uh that when we are afraid that we could we can trust in him. Gabriel, what's one of your favorite verses?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Uh I like Acts 1.8, but you shall seek power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you should be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Saman to the ends of the earth.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

You know, I have to say that's another one of my favorite verses too. That that's one that makes me think um as us as Christians, we're to be on mission, um, not only around the world, but but right in our community too. So I think that's a great reminder for for all of us. And for our listeners out there who may not know Laura Faith, not only is she our student speakers winner, but she's also a Bible driller and was our 2024 high school Bible drill winner. So I'm gonna ask you to also share one of your favorite verses you learned.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

I think my favorite verse is a new one that I've learned this year. It's Philippians 4, 6 through 7. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

That that is a a great um verse of of encouragement. And so thank you for for sharing that. I want to also ask each of you, what would you say um to to other students? Um, Gabriel, what would you say to other middle school students? Um, maybe even share what you like about Bible drill, um, are or an encouraging word to encourage other students to be a part of Bible drill.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

What I liked about Bible drill is that it draws you closer to God and you get to get a lot of uh different voices of the Bible inside your head.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

That that that is a really great thing that we all I think love about Bible drill. It is it does it helps us to grow closer in our faith, um, and in our personal relationship with God as as you said, as we hide God's word in our heart. So that's that's a really great word. What would you say, Emma Kate?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Um, I would say that you just get to learn a lot of different verses, and even though if it's the next year, you'll still remember some verses from previous years, and I just like keeping those verses in my heart and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So that that you know, and that's a benefit that I've noticed um because I was a Bible driller too, um, growing up and and both of my boys came through Bible drill, but just the the fact that verses that you learn in Bible drill, so many of them stay with you all through your life and that spiritual foundation. And you're able to remember those and bring them um up in times of need, like for example, that one that you just quoted, Psalms 56.3, um many times that when I have been in in situations that were were fearful, you know, you can think about whether it's a as a kid, a bad storm outside, or I think as adults, you know, um maybe you've got a bad health diagnosis, or or maybe there's been a job loss, just to remember and pull up that verse and remembrance what time I'm afraid I can trust in thee. Okay, Laura Faith, you did speakers this year after many years of doing Bible drill. What would you say was something that helped you in your spiritual growth being a part of speakers this year?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Being a part of speakers, you get to choose a topic, one that most interests you and one you think you can really write about. And I chose the one about anxiety because as a senior in high school, I even talked about this in my speech. Like there's a lot of things that cause so much anxiety just in today's world and as someone who's about to graduate and start a new period in my life. And by writing the speech and performing it, I was able to reflect some on my own life. And I got to incorporate verses, and it really encouraged me to just practice what I preach, basically.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Well, uh l listening to your speech, I thought it was a very timely speech talking about um anxiety and um and and how tough that is um today for for so many people and and how we are in an anxious world um and a lot of the stressors that are there. I loved what you shared about how much prayer um is a part of our Christian faith and how that can really help us. Spending time in God's Word and spending time in prayer can really help us deal with a lot of that anxiety that we have. So thank you so much for sharing that. All right. Gabriel, let me ask you another question. Um I wanted to ask you, how many years have you been doing Bible drill? I've done Bible drill for three years. For three years. So you started as a children's driller, and um what grade are you in now? I'm in sixth grade. He's in sixth grade and did an amazing job in youth bible drill this year. So congratulations for third year, but first year in youth bible drill and being our our state winner. Um, Laura Faith, how many years did you do Bible drill? I know this is your first year that you did speakers, but how many years did you do Bible drill?

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I did it for eight years technically. I missed one year because of COVID. We weren't able to do it. So technically just eight years.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

So so you started in what grade? In fourth grade?

SPEAKER_02 7:21

I started in third grade.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

In third grade. Okay, yeah. So started in third grade as a Bible driller and went through children's Bible drill, youth bible drill, and high school Bible drill. Congratulations. Um that that's a lot of investment in your discipleship journey. And Emma Kate, how many years have you done Bible drill?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I've done Bible drill for seven years.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

For seven years, okay. And you started what, third or fourth grader?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Fourth grade.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Fourth grade. So you've gone through children's Bible drill, youth bible drill, and I know you were one of our state winners when you were in in youth Bible drill. So congratulations to all of you. We're excited about nationals coming up, and we'll look forward to y'all joining us at the national tournament. And this has been our Bible drill podcast for today. And again, we were excited to host and have here our state winners with us, and we hope that you'll join us for our next episode.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Thanks for listening to our podcast today. We hope each episode helps you with your Bible drill journey. You'll find all of our content and upcoming podcasts, along with more information and resources at Bible DrillandSpeakers.com. The Bible Drill and Speakers Podcast is a production of Georgia Baptist Bible Drill and Speakers, Incorporated. See you next time.