by Michael S. Peters Fri, Oct 19, 2012

The finals of the 2012 SVG Independence Bible Festival took place last Sunday at the Faith Temple Church in New Montrose with seven churches ‘ready to rumble’ in the Word of God and bringing their best in challenging competitions of Speech, Bible drama, Bible boxing and Quizzes.{{more}}

However when the curtains closed, the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the Apostolic Faith Mission of Bequia was left standing as the undisputed, undefeated champion of Bible competitions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; winning the title for a fourth successive year.

The evening began with the final of the speech competition. In a tight battle, Kelmore Hadaway of the Vermont Miracle Tabernacle just managed to outpoint his opponents speaking on the topic: “What does it mean to train up a child in the way he should go?”

In the new and much anticipated category of Bible Drama, where participants had to dramatize a biblical character, Josette Barker of the Bethel Gospel Assembly, Georgetown, turned in the best performance of the finals to win with her portrayal of the ‘Woman of Samaria’ gaining a standing ovation and loud applause from the large and appreciative audience.

In a very competitive Bible Boxing final, Denika Compton of the Apostolic Faith Mission had to go the distance in a record 29 rounds to defeat defending champion Joy Mayers of the Streams of Power Church, Sion Hill, who stumbled and repeated a verse in the last round.

The six rounds of quizzes went a long way in determining the final places, with some 315 points at stake. Here again the Apostolic Faith Mission was able to put some distance between them and the other churches, with strong performances from Roela Bynoe, who won the award for best youth participant, Shirlon Frederick who won best quizzer and Denika Compton who won the most outstanding participant, putting in strong performances.

In the end the Apostolic Faith Mission of Bequia was just able to hold off a spirited challenge from the Vermont Miracle Tabernacle to win the title for another year, with their large band of supporters who came over for the finals holding up a banner that read: ‘Four year champions’ and chanting: “Four in a row”!

The SVG Independence Bible Festival, which has been organized by the SVG Gospel Fest Committee since 2009, was restructured this year with the addition of a Bible Drama category and changes in the age groups. Those helped to enhance the festival, making it more competitive. It was organized under the theme: ‘Wisdom through the Word of God’.