The Randville Chapter Challenge: An Encouragement to Read God’s Word

By Jim Janofski

It's a snowy day, but the church is open, and the church family is gathering in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. One by one, the people turn to Pastor Jim and give their total chapters read for the week: “This week 21,” “57,” “about 10 or so,” “84 again," "not many this week, maybe, uh, 5?...” The number of chapters read ranges from a quick head shake of 0 for some to over 80 for others.  

The Randville Chapter Challenge is in operation and alive and well: God's Word IS being read!  

It's a joyful gathering as the church family walks up the stairs into Randville Bible Church. Glad to see each other, thankful for safety on the slippery roads, and happy to add their individual chapter totals to the “Randville Chapter Challenge.” It's a team effort and a practical encouragement to read God's Word. (And often those absent on a given Sunday will have called in their totals also).   

The concept is basic but has been very effective in our church family: people simply keep track of the total chapters they read each week. These are then added together and totaled for the group.  

The roots for this idea go back to Pastor Jim's 17 years of teaching as a band director. His incentives for his instrumental students to practice on the weekend have been adapted to become practical encouragements for the RBC church family to faithfully read God's Word - the “Randville Chapter Challenge.”  

Let's turn the clock back some 35+ years to a typical Friday afternoon in the band room. Rehearsal was nearly over. “Mr. J,” as usual, asked the band members, “I wonder how many total practice hours we can get this weekend?”  

The musicians raised their hands- each finger represented 15 minutes of planned individual practice time. More hands were raised, and the count of the planned practice hours was added together.  

Mr. J nodded as he mentally added these together: “Okay, we are now at 49 hours; anybody want to add a little more? I'd love to see our total get over 50 for this weekend.”  

Some contemplation and thought, then more hands raised, more fingers added; the students responded, and 49 hours became 50 hours, more hands popped up, and the total became 52, and now edged upwards toward 55. The climb continued, and more practice hours were planned.  

The idea for the Randville Chapter Challenge grew out of this successful group incentive. And it's been a joy and an encouragement to see the increase in the total number of chapters read week by week by our church family as more and more have embraced the vision and joined in the count.  

And a further highlight is a low-key “contest” at various times of the year: each person estimates how many total chapters have been read by the entire group over a certain number of weeks in that period of time. Those who come the closest to guessing the cumulative total are given Culver's Gift Certificates, and “honorable mentions” are awarded certificates for free ice cream. (The combined totals, even with our small congregation, tend to run in the thousands of chapters- people joyfully participate!)  

It's so important to be in the Word of God; however, too often we see a spiritual “chasm” from belief to actual practice in our spiritual lives. We believe strongly that God's people need His Word, yet too often our weekly diet is very meager, even to the point of being nearly non-existent in some cases.  

Our fellowship with our Savior in His Word at times is less than a daily priority. The Randville Chapter Challenge has been an effective, practical, and positive encouragement to spend time with the Savior in the Word.  

​The Chapter Challenge has been a joyful blessing to our church family, and our prayer is that the concept may be a blessing and an encouragement to other congregations in our fellowship as well. ​

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Janofski pastors Randville Bible Church in Iron Mountain, Michigan.