Over 400 chapters read in week one
Copper Hill Church is running a contest between the Purple Thunder and the White Lightning to promote Bible reading. Contest organizer, JoAnne Jones, divided the congregation roughly in half by alphabet and recruited team captains. Both Kelly Harvey, captain of the Purple Thunder and Sherri Mandirola, captain of White Lightning, reported that members of their respective teams had read more than two hundred chapters total in the first week. Both children and adults are participating. Pastor Kelvin Jones said, "Everybody wins in this contest because we become more familiar with God's Word and give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to speak to us through it." Preliminary indications are that the total chapters read during week two will be even greater. Organizer JoAnne Jones distributed a list of good chapters with which to begin and Pastor Kelvin nudged everyone off by pointing out the shortest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 117. At the end of the contest in about eight weeks, the team that reads fewer total chapters will host a dinner for the "winning" team. Already church members are saying that this little competition has encouraged them to read their Bibles more, something they had been intending to do but had not made happen until now.