Young people clad in khaki and black uniforms punctuated with yellow scarves filled the hallways of the Glacier View Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ronana, Motnana, on Feb. 29, 2020. Ignorant of the impending health crisis about to alter public events, the youth enjoyed meeting up with friends from across the Montana Conference for the annual conference-level Pathfinder Bible Experience.
Four teams had prepared during months of studying and memorizing the elected books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah and Micah. Nervous team members gathered together in assigned seating areas and waited for the session of 90 questions to begin.
Josh Holloway, Montana Conference area coordinator, was the quiz master for the event. Local church members Steve Lloyd, Cynthia Dion and Del DesJarlais took the role of appellate judges. The appellate judges’ task was to make the final ruling on team answers.
The questions started, and the Pathfinders, in hushed tones, discussed the possible answers with their teammates. Many who had been involved in previous years of the event thought this year’s questions and choice of Scripture to be especially challenging. However, each Pathfinder was involved and demonstrated a supportive team spirit.
Halfway through the questions, everyone took an intermission as Pathfinders were given a conference Pathfinder T-shirt. The T-shirts had been designed for the International Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin by Kirsten Holloway. Not all Pathfinders were able to attend, so getting a T-shirt at the PBE was exciting.
Late in the afternoon, the event finished with one of the teams from the Glacier Chasers Club in Kalispell taking first place and advancing to the union-level PBE, which would later be changed to an online version due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Pathfinders is an active ministry in the Montana Conference, with clubs increasing in number, which hopefully will not be hindered by the current health crisis. Pathfinder leaders are thinking of ways to continue doing club projects in an online format to keep their members active.
