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KELLER—Because Tyler Siedell was born missing three and a half fingers on his left hand, you might expect him to have trouble flipping through Scripture quickly in a Bible Drill competition.
But physical challenge was no obstacle for this 11-year-old.
Siedell, who just completed fifth grade, achieved a rating of “excellent” at the SBTC state Bible Drill competition, advancing through church and associational competitions by finding passages with impressive speed.
Tyler’s condition “is just normal to us. We don’t really pay attention to it that much, and we don’t think of it as a handicap,” his dad, Jay Siedell, told the TEXAN. “He tells people he’s not handicapped. That’s the way God made him and that’s just the way it is.”
Siedell was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which affects one of every 10,000 live births and left him with only a thumb and half a pinky on his left hand. Nevertheless, he wanted to participate in Bible Drill at his family’s church, First Baptist Church in Keller, and made it his goal to qualify for the state competition.
“He was determined from the beginning to make it all the way to the state and do perfectly, 24 out of 24,” Jay Siedell said. “He practiced all year.”
Starting in October, Bible Drill participants in fourth through sixth grades memorize 25 verses, learn to find 10 key passages in a Bible and learn the order of all 66 books in the Bible. In competitions, they must recite the memory verses and locate key passages and books in 10 seconds or less.
All Bible Drillers begin their competition with a church-level event, where they must answer 12 of 24 questions correctly in order to advance to an associational competition. At the associational level, 16 of 24 correct responses are required to advance to the state competition.
Siedell’s rating of “excellent” at state means that he answered either 20 or 21 questions correctly after advancing past the First Baptist Church and Tarrant Baptist Association competitions.
“He’s learned a lot of Bible verses, a lot of passages,” Jay Siedell said. “… Him reading the verses and learning the different passages has given us an opportunity to talk about it and discuss what some of the passages mean.”
Deborah Stovall, director of children’s Bible Drill at First Baptist, said adult leaders were not sure initially how well Siedell would be able to flip through a Bible, but he proved their fears groundless.
“At the beginning of the year we were hesitant, not sure how [Tyler’s disability] was going to affect him,” Stovall said in an interview. “But God is just good. That’s all I can say. And I know Tyler worked hard just like all the kids worked hard.”
Yet Stovall added that Siedell’s study of God’s Word was more important than his excellence in competition.
“However any of them do is great because the point of it is not about the scores they get,” she said. “But it’s about learning God’s Word, being able to find those books of the Bible. Those are tools that will be useful for them for the rest of their lives—knowing God’s Word, hiding it in your heart, having God’s Word at the ready when you need to be able to offer a word of encouragement to a friend or if you’re facing temptation or if you need comfort.”
Jay Siedell agreed but said he and his wife Kelly were also proud of their son’s achievement.
“He and the other kids did God proud, and they did First Baptist Keller and their parents proud,” Jay Siedell said. “The most proud we were was when at state he came up to us and said, ‘I made 20 [correct answers], but I did the best I could.’ He was happy with that.”
Next year Siedell plans to participate in Bible Drill again and try to repeat his success.
“He pursues studying the Word of God, pursues memorizing Scripture and loves to compete in Bible Drill,” Casey Lewis, pre-teen and middle school pastor at First Baptist, told the TEXAN.
