Bible Memory Secrets from Bible Bee Competitor Brittany Schlichter

For 6 years, Brittany Schlichter competed in the National Bible Bee, memorizing thousands of verses and placing as high as 2nd place. Here’s her story and what you can learn about how she memorizes the Bible.

Resources mentioned in this interview:

• Brittany’s website: https://www.letthewordbeheard.com
• The Ruth Retreat: https://www.ruthretreat.com
• More about The Great Recital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzy0GyLb6Ic

Brittany Schlichter Interview Transcript:

Brittany Schlichter:

So basically the National Bible Bee is very similar to the National Spelling Bee. Well, it, it’s not so much that it’s similar, but it’s a good thing to refer to help you understand how it works. So the spelling bee memorize words, the Bible be, you memorize Bible verses and you study books of the Bible. So there’s two stages of competition, locals and nationals for the local level, contestants memorize a portion of memory passages throughout the summer. They study a book of the Bible very in depth. Then they take a test after they’ve been studying throughout the summer, after their test is taken, the top scores top 120 scores from around the nation get to go on to the national level of competition. And nationals is very intense. You study another book of the Bible without any kind of study guide for locals who get a study guide nationals. You’re studying on your own. You memorize hundreds of more verses, and once you make it to nationals, you compete in a competition with other contestants.

And as you progress to the final levels of competition, you’re on stage, you have to quote scripture word perfect or one mistake could either eliminate you from the competition or deduct points answer questions. And the top prize for the older contestants, there’s threes age divisions, but for the high schoolers, the top prize is $50,000. It was a hundred thousand when I competed. So it’s very intense competition.

Josh:
Wow. So that’s what first prize gets. And then I know that you said, I think I read on your website you got second and fourth a couple times, is that right?

Brittany Schlichter:
I did. By God’s grace, I won second place twice and then fourth place one time. So I competed in Bible Bee for six years till I aged out in 2014.

Josh:
Aged out. That’s a funny way of putting it. So I mean, that has to be really intense. I mean, at the end of one, let’s say one competitive year, how much scripture have you memorized, let’s say in your, I don’t know, junior or senior year?

Brittany Schlichter:
You mean together through all the years of competition

Josh:
Or just No, just for one year of competition. What does that require you to have to memorize?

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, it depends. So my first year of competition I memorized about 1100 verses four locals and nationals combined. And then, wow, in some of the years following, they dropped the number of verses to about 900, so about eight or 900 verses every year is what I was required to learn for locals and nationals combined.

Josh:
Now is that just random verses or is these extended portions that Yeah, extended portions of scripture, entire books. How does that go?

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, it would depend. So there might be, it was never a full book, the book that you studied, because like I said, there is a Bible study portion, then a Bible memory portion. So the book you studied, you ended up memorizing because you had to know it very well for the test. But we weren’t required to recite that book. But for the memory passages, some might be a chapter, some might be one verse, some might be 30 or 40 verses. It was kind of all over the board taken from all different books of the Bible. One year I had, in my last year of Bible B, I had many passages from the minor prophets, which was a little bit more difficult. I’d never really memorized that much from the minor prophets, so that was different. Another year there was several chapters from songs. So it really just depended on the year what we would be given to memorize.

Josh:
Do you feel like you’ve retained most of those verses, or how do you feel about that now?

Brittany Schlichter:
It really just depends part, partly it depends on the passages that I read in my quiet time more often. Yeah, I tend to know better because I review them more often. If it’s a really obscure passage from the Chronicles or something, then I may not read it as often. But really what I noticed, which is kind of interesting, but I noticed that the Bible verses that I really just really loved and had a passion. I mean, of course I loved all of it, but that really connected with me in a really personal way that felt, I felt like I owned them. Those were the verses that I can remember better today. Whereas there’s some verses maybe from Ezekiel or something that I knew there was just as important. I just didn’t, maybe it was just a little harder to memorize. And those I may not recall quite as well. Overall, I recall quite a bit of the scripture, which I’m really grateful for.

Josh:
Yeah, no, I mean that’s been doing a lot of reading up on how memory works, and I think you’ve made even a great observation there is it’s the connections that we make to the verses that we memorize have an impact on how well we can remember them later. And a lot of times, that’s why when you study a passage at the same time that you’re memorizing it, or maybe even just going through and listening to a pastor preach on it, that added point of connection, of an understanding of the passage, it leads to greater recall in the future. Right?

Brittany Schlichter:
Oh yes, that’s so true. I don’t have a super elaborate method for memorizing. I have just basic format that helps me. But one of the things that has helped me the most is just what you said when you study the passage, or even when you just feel a conne, you know, feel, especially God has maybe revealed himself to you in that passage in a special way, and you’re really just hiding it deep in your heart. It is amazing how much easier it is. When I competed in Bible be, like I said, every year we were given a book to study and then another book to study for nationals. So those books of the Bible that I studied, I just memorized naturally and I through studying them, breaking them down, we had to copy the book by hand studying keywords and Greek words. And it’s amazing how well I have those books memorized today.

But I think it’s because even without really trying to memorize them, the same root memorization that I would do with the memory passages, but I think it’s because like you said, when you’re just breaking apart God’s word and digging deep into it, things stand out to you in a special way, versus if you sit down and think, I’m going to memorize this passage, but you’re just trying to blaze through it and you may not understand the context, you may not understand the setting. It just, it’s harder to hide in your heart if you don’t truly understand the passage.

Josh:
Yeah. Now, Brittany, you’ve obviously stood on a stage in a competition setting reciting scripture. So I also know, and I’ve talked about it on this podcast, on this channel before that Tom Meyer and a number of other people including yourself, went up and recited the entire New Testament, and you were part of that. You recited a number of books. How was it easier to stand up on a competitive stage and recite scripture that way? Or was it easier for you in that context to just stand up and recite the books of the New Testament that you were attached to recite?

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, honestly, it’s hard to say because they were so completely different. I mean, know, during my years of competition, I felt so nervous. I would walk to the microphone and at that point, for me, I couldn’t even really stop and think about what I was saying. It was just automatic. All those hours of practice, I would get tripped up if I tried to really think about the words. So that was definitely very nerve-wracking, but reciting for the great recital, that was very difficult for me too. Just honestly, just I, I struggled with feeling nervous. Now, thankfully, once I was up there on the stage, I felt calm and it was like one of those things and I was able to think more about the words and just slower, just not having the pressure of, oh, I’m competing for one word could cost a hundred thousand dollars, even though it’s not about the money that not having, I was able to just enjoy quoting scripture and proclaiming it for others and for myself.
But I think one thing that was intimidating about the great recital is quoting. I had quoted smaller books of the Bible, first Peter, for different events. Oh, many times that I felt comfortable doing. I’d never quoted a longer book like I Quitted first the Saint Corinthians for the great recitals. So for me, that felt very intimidating, but it was really neat to see how God just gave me the grace and the strength and gave me a piece. And now that I’ve done it, I feel more comfortable at the thought of doing that. But it was a really neat experience for sure.

Josh:
Yeah, absolutely. It was neat to watch that. I remember talking with Tom Meyer prior to it starting and just this, it was cool to see that whole thing even being put together and the people like yourself and Aaron House and all those that got to be involved in it. One question I had asked you prior to when we started this recording, but I still want to go back. For me reaching 11 or 1100 or 1,100 versus memorized over the course of even a couple years would be a good accomplishment. That would be a lot. And here you are doing that over the summer, one of the things that I was thinking about is my son comes home from school and there’s things that he is having to learn that I know are going to be really beneficial for him later on his math facts, all of these things, but the fact that he has to do them or the fact that he’s, there’s a time clock on him, Hey, you’ve got to get these things memorized or finished by this period of time, it turns it into work that for him then makes it not fun and it’s not enjoyable and it’s just a slog to get him to do his math facts.
When you’re doing something like the Bible be, and you’re trying to, I mean, let’s be honest, you’re trying to cram in 1100 verses in a short period of time, how does that not become work for you? How does that not become tedious?

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, I think for one, the Bible really is different from any other academic study I had those days in school too, you know, just don’t feel like studying. And I definitely had that in Bible B, there were, because I was studying so many hours a day, there were things I had to miss out on. My family lived by the lake, and during the summer we’d go water skiing and things like that, and I would stay home and work on my verses. And so I did have for sure moments when it felt discouraging and it felt like, oh man, this is lot of work. But honestly, just that experience of actually investing so many hours into God’s word and because it is a living book, living word, and he reveals himself to us through the Word, it was such a treasure. And I think it actually grew my love for scripture. It grew my love for knowing God through knowing his word. So even during those moments of discouragement or when I didn’t feel the same enthusiasm, I think just for me, setting my mind on the goal, which at the time was getting through the summer to compete at Bible B, but the ultimate goal was knowing God through knowing his word and realizing every moment I’m investing into the scripture is going to reap eternal dividends. That really encouraged me and inspired me to keep going.

Josh:
Can you give me an idea of just your process? I mean, obviously you know how to memorize scripture. You’ve memorized thousands of verses 26 books in the Bible. When you’re approaching scripture that you want to memorize. What is your methodology? How do you go about doing that? Or better yet, how would you describe to somebody else that wants to memorize scripture better, just ways that they could do it?

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, so honestly, for me personally, I don’t have a super elaborate system that I use. It’s very basic. But what works for me and what I normally encourage other people to do is I take that passage of scripture or chapter, let’s just say passage. Yeah, maybe five, six verses. And first I start by reading through the entire passage out loud. For me, it’s very important I do it out loud so I hear the words I can maybe quote with some expression, and that even helps me understand it better, make sure it’s coming from my heart. So I’ll read that passage out loud several times. Then I’ll start back at verse one, and I’ll basically just break down that verse, that very first verse. And to phrases, I start with the first phrase and I say it over and over and over again until I think I know it.
And then I add on the next phrase, and then I say that one over and over, and then I go back to the first and put the two phrases together and just slowly build. And it’s a lot of repetition, and it’s not necessarily the most fun way to memorize just because quoting, saying the same phrase over and over. But for me, it helps me memorize that verse and then as I build and build the whole passage that that’s what helps me memorize it. And then after that, just lots of review. For me, consistency is the most important thing is just I can’t let it slip. If I go just a few days without reviewing something that I recently memorized, it’s not in my long-term memory yet, then I might lose it. So that really helps me. Another thing that helps me, and it sounds kind of funny, but I, what I like to do is go to voice memo on my phone and I will record myself reading that book or passage of the Bible, so I know I’m getting it word perfect because I’m reading it.
And after that, I’ll listen to that recording. I can even listen to it while I’m driving or while I’m walking or whenever. Yeah. And sometimes what I’ll do is I will actually listen to that recording and read it in my Bible at the same time. And even though I sometimes feel strange listening to myself, the reason it helps me is because when I read that passage, I might have certain inflections or a certain way, I emphasize different words. And by listening to it the exact same way as I memorize, I start to say it that exact same way. And I don’t get tripped up as easily, but honestly, and I know this isn’t a practical tip, but the biggest thing, of course, is just totally depending on the Lord. It’s something, especially those years in Bible be, I knew it was totally God’s grace that enabled me to memorize scripture.
And then today as I memorize books of the Bible, but whether it’s one verse or a book of the Bible, it truly is God’s grace. And I love the quote by Thomas Edison where he said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. And I like to apply that to scripture memory because it might be 1% your natural ability to retain information or memorize something quickly, but then it’s 99% hard work and commitment and devotion, and it’s a hundred percent the grace of God just enabling you to learn his word because this is his word, and he’s commanded us to hide it in our hearts. So he’ll give us the strength to do it, and he’ll make it possible no matter how long and or short that section is that we’re trying to learn.

Josh:
Yeah, 100%. I love that. I think, and I get this from people asking me about this, and then all the people that I’ve ever had the chance to converse with and interview here, people get this idea that, oh, well, that person has a good memory, or that person’s just super, super talented, or God’s given them an extra measure of something in their brain. And you’re right, it’s like, no, every person that I’ve talked to just really works hard at it. And I think that is, it is part of just putting in the time of spending that time in God’s Word. And then you’re right, the grace that God gives us to one, be able to do that, but two, then to turn that into something where we can continue to meditate on his word. Yeah. What are your hopes, I mean, right now, got you. I know that you’re doing some reciting for churches. I know you’ve got a conference that you’re more than willing welcome to share about. What are you hoping to do with this kind of gift that the Lord’s given you?

Brittany Schlichter:
So one of the ways that I’m trying to use the scripture I’ve hidden my heart is through a scripture recitation ministry that I started called Let the Word Be Heard. I have a website built, and basically what I do is I quote, usually a book of the Bible, usually a shorter book like First Peter or Philippians at a conference or a church or another event. It’s just word for word scripture without anything else added on. And for me, that’s a way that I can proclaim God’s word and hopefully encourage other people to memorize God’s word and hopefully minister to their hearts through just hearing the word proclaimed. Another ministry I’ve started is the Ruth Retreat. Something else that God laid in my heart is to try to help other ladies learn how to study the Bible and really dig deep and realize the full potential.
We have to know God through knowing his word. So God gave me this ministry called the Ruth Retreat, where I host ladies Bible study retreats. We’re actually going to be having one at the end of April if anyone wants to register. Registrations almost ended, but you can go onto the website and maybe learn more. So what we do is we take a weekend journey through the Book of Ruth and have personal study time where we work through a Bible study on Ruth that I wrote. And then we have sessions where speakers share about the Book of Ruth and small group discussion where you can share with other ladies what you’re learning. And that’s been another way for me to discontinue, to stay in the word and try to help teach God’s word to other ladies.

Josh:
Great. And so that can be, let’s let the word be heard.com, and then where can people find out more about the Ruth Retreat?

Brittany Schlichter:
The Ruth Retreat website is ruth retreat.com.

Josh:
Ruth retreat.com. Awesome. Well, Brittany, is there anything else that you’d want to share here? Something that you’d, an encouragement that you’ve received that maybe you want to pass along? You don’t have to, I’m just want to make sure that you’ve got the opportunity.

Brittany Schlichter:
Well, I think what I just would encourage everyone is that it’s not so much about memorizing an entire book of the Bible or the entire Bible or lawn passages. Of course, we want to memorize more and more over time, but even just starting with one verse that you hide your heart that changes you, that God is speaking to you through his word and you’re applying what you’re learning, God sees that, and he honors that, and that is now, the Bible says that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So even just seeking him through starting with one verse or one short passage that will impact your life for eternity and every minute you invest will rape eternal dividends. So I encourage you, don’t be discouraged or overwhelmed or feel like, oh, man, this is something that I’m, I’m never going to be able to make it through this passage or this book of the Bible and trying to memorize, but be encouraged that as you hide it in your heart, God will use it in your life, and he’ll use it in other people’s lives to impact them.

Josh:
What an incredible young lady. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Britney. You can find out more about her at Let The Word Be heard.com, or if you want to learn more about the Ruth Retreat, that’s at ruth retreat.com. Thank you for spending this time with me. If you’re the kind of person that really enjoys scripture memory, make sure you subscribe to this channel, and I’ve got a lot of great videos, interviews, tips, techniques on memory that you’re going to enjoy. So go ahead and watch one of those next.

More Bible Memory Resources

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