The Now-Famous

"BIBLE  BRACKET  MADNESS"  SERMON SERIES!

Note: This series is over, but if you missed it you can still have fun filling out a bracket and watching the sermons on our website.

Well, we just accomplished a feat that no church has EVER done before!!! (we think) 

Forget the NCAA March Madness Basketball tournament! We made our very own Bible Bracket Madness competition!


WHAT WAS IT? This sermon series was based on the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament that you've likely seen coworkers and friends work themselves into a frenzy over; filling out brackets and guessing which teams will win each game. Windy City's version included different people from the Bible that "competed" against each other to win their match-up to move to the next round. Winners were determined by who had the biggest impact, who was the more important to know to understand the Bible, who taught a critical lesson, and finally (as a wildcard element), who Pastor Steve just liked the most!  Each Sunday's sermon introduced us to new match-ups. 


Check out all sermons from the Bible Bracket Madness series (Click here) 


>> CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW to view full bracket and to download full empty bracket. How to fill it out? See directions below.


View the FINAL WINNERS that were announced on April 14th. (Click here to view)

HOW TO....


  • What is a bracket? What is a seed number?

    We based our "Bible Bracket Madness" series on the NCAA Basketball Tournament "March Madness." In the basketball version, there are 68 teams that are included on the bracket, with a single loss eliminating them from the tournament. The brackets include "seed" numbers of each team from the number 1 to number 16. Teams with the lower seed number are expected to win that round. (Lowest number is 1, which makes sense because that team is expected to come in 1st place).


    For the Bible Bracket version, people from the Bible were set up to compete against others and they also had a seed number noted on the bracket by their name. 

  • HOW DO I FILL OUT A BRACKET?

    We suggest you start from the top left corner. Look at the first two people who are set to compete against each other. In this case, it's Seed #1 Abraham vs. Seed #16 Hannah. Only one of them can win so pick who you think will win and write the winner's name on the line next to the game (on the line of the bracket that continues to the right). Then do the same for the second match-up, which is Seed #8 Isaac vs. Seed #9 Deborah. Pick who you think will win for all match-ups all the way down the left hand side of the page. Then go through the same process for the names on the right hand side of the page.


    Once you have both far side brackets completed, you will see that you now have a whole new set of hand-written brackets. For example, if you chose Abraham to beat Hannah and Deborah to beat Isaac, then now the bracket to the right of them will now have Abraham vs. Deborah. Which do you think will win this match-up? Write that name on the line to the right of the backet. Do the same thing all the way down the left side, and then all the way down the right side.


    Now you will have another new set of match-ups that are hand-written in the third column in. Do the same for all of these match-ups and so on, until you end up with the final two people. Who will win it all? Write their name in the box in the middle.


    What do the colors on the bracket names mean?

    On the bracket we included people from across the entire Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT), so you might not be familiar with all of the people. To help out we've color-coded them and made a few notes (OT/NT) to help you know what Bible era they were from. The colors and notes are especially helpful when you are not sure which, for example, Joseph is being referenced (OT dreamcoat Joseph, or Jesus' dad in NT).

    See the bracket color legend for full details.


    More questions? Email Contact@WindyCityCommunityChurch.org.