Reviewing Your References

Posted on September 05, 2013 Andy 22 comments

We have made some changes to the reference review page. Years ago, it was added as an afterthought but we've since learned that memorizing verse references is key to being able to memorize verses.

Many of you will discover that you have a LOT of references to review. We recommend just doing a few each day until the number becomes manageable. Each memory verse now has an associated interval which will increase/decrease as you review your references. As you review your references each day, you'll find that the number will decrease fairly quickly. If you're feeling overwhelmed, there is a setting on your profile page called "Test All References"; uncheck that box and Memverse will only review the reference of the first verse of each passage.

For those of you working towards a consistency badge, you don't need to complete all your references each day. Incidentally, you can now check your consistency on your progress page. (There is a new graph below the regular progress chart.)

We also recently upgraded Memverse's entire framework and moved to a new server. The new server is faster and, with all the components of the website upgraded, we can focus on improving the rest of Memverse again.

2013 Bible Bee Practice Tests

Posted on August 15, 2013 Alex Watt 48 comments

We're happy to announce that the practice exams for this year's Bee are available one day earlier than they were last year, which means, today! Cheers to Matthew Minica and the three volunteer teams who created each of these tests. Please help spread the word to your Bible Bee friends!

Please note that these practice tests were created by volunteers and are in no way endorsed by the Shelby Kennedy Foundation, which hosts the National Bible Bee.

2013 Bible Bee Quizzes

Posted on June 28, 2013 Alex Watt 173 comments

Would you like to join fellow Bible Bee students around the country for some practice competition and online encouragement? Bible Bee quizzes are back this summer (see below for full schedule and links to each quiz).

What to expect: You will have verses to recite in your own version (whatever you have chosen in your Account -> Profile), multiple choice questions based on 1 John (like the Written Test), and a few reference questions (where we give the text and you give the reference).

You don't even have to be registered for the Bible Bee to come to the quiz. Just practice material through the current week and you'll be ready!

Before each quiz, you'll probably want to get setup about 15 minutes early to make sure everything is working for you.

Hope to see you!

Update: Everyone, please make sure that your profile (click here) has your version set as KJV, NKJV, NASB, or ESV 2011 (NOT ESV 2007), or some questions will not work. Thanks.

Update 2: If you would like to see more quizzes on Memverse, consider submitting a quiz question or three (or more!) via this form. Thanks to everyone who already has. I will tell you if there are too many, but right now you should feel free to keep going :)

Remaining 2013 Quizzes:

- Friday, August 23, at 4:00 p.m. EDT. Finale Quiz! Click here to join!

Memory Passages Have Finally Arrived

Posted on January 27, 2013 Andy 58 comments

Well, sometimes things just take a little longer than one expects. In this case, about two years longer!

A feature that has been sorely lacking in Memverse is the ability to memorize verses in the context of their containing passage. After many months of experimentation, we have released an early version of this new feature: Passage Review

Since this involved a significant number of changes to the software, it is likely that there are still kinks to be ironed out. We recommend waiting a week or so before you jump in and start using it.

Walk through the Old Testament

Posted on December 31, 2012 Phil Walker 37 comments

Several years ago, I had picked a key verse for every chapter of the New Testament.  This year, I am picking a key verse for every chapter of the Old Testament.  GENESIS is done as you can see below.  I would love ideas for what you think should be key verses for any of the chapters in the other books.

For those who want to memorize these key verses, we are starting an accountability chart.  Every 10 verses equals 1 letter.  Since there are more than 260 chapters in the OT, we will have a creative variation on the accountability chart for those who make it through Z the first time.  To declare, give your first name, the first initial of your last name, the state or country you are from, and either the 10 references of the verses you memorized or a description.

I will be writing out a devotional for each of these key verses.  These will be listed on the Memverse Forum.  Anyone who would like to receive the daily verse with the devotional can request it by email to philjohn1558@yahoo.com

Which of the Genesis verses below have you found to be worth memorizing?  Which do you already know?

We would love to list all participants as an encouragement and inspiration to others.  We would also love to list all groups memorizing together.

2013 HAKOTS participants:  = Angela M; Anita; Connie McLean; Daniel; Idaman; Jacky Walker; Karen F; Lee C;  Lewi; Matthew Glick; Phil Walker; PrayerWarrior13; SavedByGrace = 13 people

Groups memorizing together:  Walkers (Phil, Jacky, Junior), Idaman, Daniel, and Lewi memorizing in the 1984 NIV at the STT Setia campus in West Jakarta, Indonesia

Accountability Chart: Those who wish can join our chart where we will list the first name, first initial of the last name, state (or country), and progress.  The first 260 verses convenently breaks down into 26 groups of 10 verses each to be declared.  Verses don't have to declared in order.  A sample declaration would be Zach J  NY  Genesis 1-10. On the chart, we will not go faster than a one verse per day pace.  However, you can declare whenever you want.

Angela M      OH    A   B

Lee C            NH    A

Karen F        WI    A   B   C   D

Matthew G  OH  A   B

I recommend memorizing this list of verses for Bible Bee enthusiasts, SavedbyGrace's "entire Bible" group, and any others who want a good overall grasp of the Old Testament.  Others may simply want a collection of 929 powerful treasures.  Please let us know if you are joining, if you have family or friends memorizing with you, and if you have any tips or ideas to encourage or support others in the group.  I will be using the Memverse Forum to post my daily email devotionals I send out based on these verses. I look forward to any feedback, insights, or thoughts you have as we interact with the daily Scripture and each other’s thoughts.

GENESIS 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

Hidden in the Heart

Posted on November 01, 2012 Andy 12 comments

Jeremy Walker at Reformation 21 has a very thoughtful blog post on the importance of Bible memorization. His key point is that:

One of the consequences of the internet-trained brain seems to be an inability to hide very much - not much of the Word of God, to be sure - in our hearts. That results in a crippling weakness in the battle for godliness.

[...]

If we are to be holy we need to hide the word in our hearts, and that means a deliberate commitment to memorisation and meditation. It means a refusal to allow our brains to be trained by the world, a resistance to the laziness that the interweb can breed in our all-too-susceptible minds; it means a commitment to holiness that is willing to re-train and develop the faculties of our hearts contrary to the trend and tendency of the age in which we live, and to make sure that we pack into the armoury that array of weaponry necessary for the constant fight against ungodliness, temptations within and without.

It's definitely worth taking the time to read the whole post.

Some Reorganization

Posted on October 29, 2012 Andy 33 comments

We have made some adjustments to the main menu to reflect the new emphasis on a staged approach to memorizing.

The old 'Memorize' tab has been renamed 'Review'. It contains the links to the usual daily review of the memory verses you already 'know'.

The 'Learn' section contains tools relating to getting a memory verse stuck in your head initially.

We've also made a few improvements to the new 'Learn' tool (cunningly arranged under the 'Learn' menu). If you get stuck on a word you can now press the down arrow and the word will be temporarily revealed. Some of the other problems that people encountered should also be cleaned up.

Finally, a reminder: if you find a verse with an error, the best way to let us know is to navigate to your memory verse on the 'Home --> My Verses' page, find the offending verse, and click on the 'Verified' label in the final column. This will report the error and usually results in the verse being corrected within a day or two.

Starting New Memory Verses

Posted on October 16, 2012 Andy 57 comments

First, welcome to all the new members who were referred from Challies.com. We had 20x the usual number of signups yesterday. Great to see so many new people and looking forward to getting to know you all.

Today we want to foreshadow some upcoming changes on Memverse. We started Memverse with two motivating ideas: 1) making it simple to keep track of and review one's memory verses online and 2) using the Supermemo algorithm to efficiently retain a large number of memory verses.

Over the past three years it has become clear that there was a gap in the functionality. It is difficult to learn a new verse without an intensive period of repetition at the start. To solve this we have been working on a new feature which will allow you to get a verse 'stuck' in your head before you start the period of review. It is still a work in progress but you can try it out. It will likely evolve over the next few weeks so feedback in the comments is welcome.

Our plan is to build this page into the 'flow' of the website. More details on that in a future post.

Key Memory Verses for the Lesser-known Books

Posted on September 10, 2012 Andy 15 comments

Have you ever found it difficult to keep straight the main themes of the various books of the Bible? While many can outline the key arguments of Romans, few could summarize Hosea. That is why it is helpful to memorize a key verse or two of the lesser-known books. I'll use Hosea to illustrate.

Hosea is a difficult book to outline but it can be divided into two parts. The first three chapters describe an adulterous wife and a faithful husband, symbolic of the unfaithfulness of Israel to God through idolatry. The remainder of the book expands on this allegory through a series of prophetic messages and concludes with a promise of restoration.

Memorizing some of the key verses of Hosea can capture the main theme. If I had to pick only one I would probably choose Hosea 1:2 as it contains the symbolism on which the first section is based.

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.”

There are a few other key verses to memorize in this book. Hosea 2:23 foreshadows the grafting into the tree of the Gentiles:

I will plant her for myself in the land;

    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;

    and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Last Quiz Before Local Bible Bees

Posted on August 24, 2012 Andy 59 comments

At 4pm (EDT) today (Friday, August 24th, 2012) we will be holding the final online quiz before the local Bible Bees. We would like to encourage as many of you as possible to join. There is no need to be entered in the Bible Bee. There is no need to be young. If you're young at heart and love the Bible, join us.

The entire quiz will be multiple choice and, as far as I know, will predominantly cover 2 Timothy. To be clear, you don't need to have memorized any part of 2 Timothy to join the quiz.

So why you should you join? Five reasons:

1. You will have an opportunity to wish the younger Memversers well as they head in to the local competitions as they attempt to qualify for the national finals.
2. You will be motivated to get to know your Bible better. I've joined the occasional quiz and can assure you that you will be astounded at the depth of knowledge on display.
3. Participating will restore your faith in 'the youth of today'.
4. You will probably want to read 2 Timothy before the quiz and that alone is worth it.
5. It's a whole lot of fun!

We hope in the future to make the weekly quizzes a fun activity for everyone. Consider this a trial run and join us.

Note: this is a live, online event. Click here a few minutes before the event starts to enter the quiz 'room'.

2012 Bible Bee Practice Tests

Posted on August 17, 2012 Alex Watt 96 comments

With just eight days till the Local Bees & Celebration Ceremonies across the country, we have some practice tests to help you brush up. All of the following tests were written by other Bible-Bee-Memversers. Thank you to everyone who worked on them!

2012 Bible Bee Study Helps

Posted on June 26, 2012 Alex Watt 32 comments

Thanks to Mr. Walker, there is a slew of resources to help you with your Bible Bee memory verses this year. In addition to Bible Bee verses he put up on Study Stack here and on Impress Kids, Mr. Walker has some PDFs of prompterized passages, complete passages, and the first five words of each passage, in all five Bible Bee versions:

Also, Matthew Minica is working on a practice test and calling once more for volunteers. After July 4th, volunteer recruitment ends and the work commences. All willing and able-minded persons should refer to this forum thread.

Update 07/26: Jonathan Peterson, a Memverse user, also created a tool accessible here: www.memverse.com/bible_bee_tool. Thanks Jonathan!

And finally, don't forget about the quizzes as an iron-sharpening-iron experience.

We hope the tools will help you make the most of this summer's studying!

2012 Bible Bee Live Quizzes

Posted on June 21, 2012 Alex Watt 173 comments

** Please see end of post for future quiz dates. **

Are you ready for some friendly competition? We sure hope so. This summer we'll again be hosting live online quizzes for the Bible Bee, which will include the following features:

• Recitation, reference, and multiple choice questions (all automatically scored -- recitation and reference questions in your preferred version)
• Opportunity to talk with the other contestants (you'll be encouraged)
• Mini Scoreboard that updates after each question (for a little competition)
• Roster of all contestants present (so you know who else is there)

We hope you can join us!

Here's what to do to get ready:

• Study your material...
• Sign up for a free Memverse account if you don't already have one...
• Update your browser for an optimal experience...
• Mark your calendar...
• And click here on the day of the quiz to go to the "room"!

We're so excited and pray you all have a great time in the Word this summer! We'll be updating this post with more dates and times for future quizzes, so stay tuned. And please, invite your Bible Bee friends to join us!

Update: Finale Quiz is Friday, August 24, at 4:00 p.m. EDT; and we need your help building it...

Add a Description for Your Group

Posted on June 20, 2012 Andy 17 comments

We have added the ability for groups on Memverse to add a short description of the goals of the group. We have set it up so that the leader of the group is able to easily edit the description.

Enquiring minds will want to know who the group leader is. For groups that had previously been created we have set the leader to be the person with the most completed memorization sessions. In the future, the leader will be whoever creates the group.

In the event that the leader of a group becomes 'Inactive' (hasn't memorized for a month), the leadership will pass to the person in the group with the most completed sessions. Clearly being a group leader is a miniscule honor; A more suitable term would be 'Administrator'.

We would encourage those of you leading a memory group to use the 'Description' field to encourage your group members, keep them up to speed on which memory verses they should be working on, BBQ's you'll be hosting at your home, and anything else you can dream up.

ESV 2007 Version Added

Posted on June 18, 2012 Andy 13 comments

Those of you doing your Bible Bee memory verses in English Standard Version will be pleased to hear that we've added the 2007 version. Please note that there are now two English Standard Versions. If you've been using ESV up until now and would like to keep your memory verses on the 2011 edition then you don't have to do anything. Those of you who would prefer to use the 2007 version will have to delete your memory verses and re-add them in the old edition.

It appears that the English Standard Version has adopted an approach whereby they will continue to make changes over time and obsolete the old editions. I think as Bibles enter the digital age, this is going to become more and more common. For the English Standard Version we will probably ensure that those of you who remain on the most current edition will always do so. If there is demand, we will continue to support the legacy editions for as long as possible.

As someone who is still on the NIV 1984 edition I realize that this can be disconcerting, but I do think that in the future we should all expect our digital Bibles to be continuously updated, just as the rest of our software is kept up to date.