Pathfinder Trip to Michigan--Part 2

Friday morning after breakfast, we headed out for Battle Creek and the Historic Adventist Village.

The village consists of a visitor's center and several donated, renovated, and restored buildings.

While there, we saw the home of James and Ellen White;
a log cabin where the story of "the most honest man in town" is told;

and an old schoolhouse. (We saw a lot more--have dozens of pictures, but space and time limits narrowed the narrative to this--click the "village" link above for more info about the village).

After lunch, we drove back to Warren Dunes State Park along Lake Michigan. They have a dune formation that rises 260 above the lake level. The access road to the beach was closed, so we weren't able (due to time constraints) to actually touch the lake--just had to view it from a distance.
The kids really enjoyed climbing on the dunes and playing in the sand. (Did you know that baby powder really does make the sand come off your feet, etc. more easily?)
We then hurried to Pizza Hut for supper before cleaning up to go to the evening service at the Andrews University Seminary Chapel.

All cleaned up and at the chapel for vespers.
Elder Dodge is the creator/founder of the Bible Achievement program and spoke for part of the evening service.

We returned to the hotel--tired but happy--looking forward to the Bible Achievement event the next day.

We're going to Andrews University!!!

Sunday was the Union Level Pathfinder Bible Achievement Event. Three teams participated--the most at this level so far. One club got the time wrong and were still on their way when the event started. They came in on question 74 of 90--then finished up after the other teams were done. Two teams advanced to the Division Level held at Andrews University on the third weekend of April.

Our team advanced--the Highland Warriors.

And, the Tullahoma Equestrians also advanced (again the most to advance at this level--in previous years, our team was the only one to advance). We are so excited that two teams will represent the Southern Union this year. Plans are now under way for this trip.

Michigan Trip--Day 3--Sabbath Afternoon

The Pioneer Memorial Church just before the afternoon program.

The sign for our team.

Our team

Our captain (with the other team captains) holding a first place certificate.

The Ky-Tn Conference representation--Area Coordinators, coach, and team.

The afternoon program began at 2:30 with orientation. With almost twice as many teams this year as last year, that took a bit longer.

The actual Bible Achievement program began shortly after 3:00. There were 90 questions with a short break after question 45. Each question was read twice (also shown on large screens)--teams were then given 10 seconds to confer and record their answers. If the team was not finished writing when time was called, they had a flag on a stick that their captain could raise and more time was given to finish writing. Each team had a judge (whose job was to compare the team answer to the answer given on the screen and determine whether they received the points) and a score keeper (whose job it was to record and tally the points) and a runner (a pre-Pathfinder age child whose job it was to take answers to a panel of judges--University professors--who judged any answer that didn't match the screen answer). As the afternoon wore on and we got closer to 6:00, several questions were dropped from the roster. The questions wrapped up about 6:00--then while the panel judges tallied the scoresheets, Pastor Dodge talked about his plans for a permanent Pathfinder museum. Uncle Dan from Your Story Hour also made an appearance.

The scores were finalized, the team captains were called into another room to line up in alphabetical order by club name. Then Pastor Dodge read out the club names and their rank (first place, second place). Forty clubs received a first place score (see note about scoring in original Day 3 post), and five clubs received a second place score. Our team received a first place score--the first they had received in the three years they had made it to the NAD level.

It was about 7:00 p.m. when the program ended--we then went downstairs for supper.

Michigan Trip--Day 3--Sabbath Morning

Sabbath morning was cooler, cloudier, and drizzly.


The seminary chapel and balcony were packed with pathfinders and their leaders.


Pastor Tracy Wood -- Oregon Conference Pathfinder Director was the morning speaker.

Our Pathfinder Bible Achievement team with their coach.


Since the Seminary chapel only seats about 400 people (over 700 Pathfinders, leaders, parents, etc. were expected), M dropped me off at the Pioneer Memorial Church where I attended the early service and Sabbath School--he and T went to the chapel. When I got to the chapel after Sabbath School, M was passing out bulletins in the foyer--the chapel was full--some groups were sitting in a small lounge area next to the chapel.

M had volunteered the night before to help set up tables and chairs in the church basement for lunch. He was directing traffic to adjacent classrooms when we got there.

After the service, the Pathfinders went over to the church and filed into the basement from two directions, forming two serving lines. I heard later that they served over 700 people in 45 minutes.

Following lunch, the teams went to the youth chapel to have their pictures taken and register. In the sanctuary, areas were roped off for the teams and posts with the team names were raised. There are four sections of pews across the church and about 20 rows before the first horizontal aisle--the teams took up more than the front section. The rest of the church and part of the balcony were pretty full with spectators.

Michigan Trip--Day 2--Pathfinder Bible Achievement evening meeting

The evening meeting was held in the Seminary Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

The Seminary building

Welcome Bible Achievement teams

The chapel wasn't very full when we got there,

but that soon changed--all the teams hadn't even arrived yet.

The evening speaker was Pastor Art Preuss the Illinois Conference Youth Director. Previously, he was from the Southern New England Conference--went to South Lancaster Academy. As part of his illustration, he poured a clear liquid into a almost clear liquid and they began to glow--the object was that ordinary things can be extraordinary--ordinary kids can be extraordinary Pathfinders.

Michigan Trip--Day 2

A very full and busy day--check back next week for expanded coverage with photos.

Today we went to the Sarett Nature Center, ate lunch, then went geocaching, went to Lake Michigan, ate supper, then went to Andrews University for the evening meeting.

As we pulled up to our hotel after supper, we saw a bus in the parking lot from Canada--"they must be here for Bible Achievement", I said. When we went out to the car to leave for Andrews, we saw someone in the group by the bus with Pathfinder patches all over their jacket. At the seminary chapel, a lady came over and said she recognized us from the hotel--they are here from Quebec. Elder Dodge (the creator and leader of Bible Achievement) said in the meeting tonight that the clubs from Quebec travel 14 hours to get here.

At the evening meeting, we found out there are 45 teams here participating--over 700 people from 8 unions.


Must close for now --late--must rest up for tomorrow.

Off We Go!!

The Seminary Building


Pioneer Memorial Church

We are on our way to Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan for the North American Division Level of Pathfinder Bible Achievement. (Actually leaving on Thursday morning).

Last year 23 clubs from all over North America were there. There were clubs from Quebec (so they had questions in French). There were also clubs who primarily spoke Spanish, so the questions were also in Spanish.

This year the book of the Bible that they have all been studying is Matthew.

Our club has a team of three members--most clubs have a six member team with at least one alternate. Last year our club also had a three member team and they got a second place.

We're Going to Michigan!

The results are in! T's Bible Achievement team is going to Andrews University!!! Unfortunately, the other team (the one whose score we were waiting to hear) won't be going.