Louisville—A Kentucky Baptist music leader and seminary student, Jacqueline Hawkins, advanced three rounds on the “Jeopardy!” game show on March 25-27.

“I’ve always been a fan of the show as long as I can remember. I used to watch it every night with my dad growing up, and we would shout out answers,” Hawkins said. “Trivia and question games have always been something that I have been interested in.”

Hawkins, who has been music director at South Jefferson Baptist Church in Louisville since 2009 and is pursuing a Master of Arts in worship leadership at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was chosen out of around 100,000 applicants for the game show.

Months later, she traveled to the suburb of Los Angeles where “Jeopardy!” is filmed to compete.

“When I was preparing to go out to L.A., it was very surreal and I was overwhelmed, but as soon as I was at that podium and looking at the board, it was just completely automatic,” she said.

Advancing in Wednesday’s and Thursday’s rounds, the hardest question, and the one that ended her time on the show was, “What company or mode of transportation used the book of Hosea to come up with its name when it was created in 1948?”

“I didn’t know of any Israeli airlines, and I could not think of a response to that clue,” Hawkins said. However, according to Louisville’s Courier-Journal, she still left with around $35,000 in prize money.

The Courier-Journal also reported that a viewing party was held at South Jefferson.

“It was absolutely a blessing to appear on the show,” Hawkins said. “When I look at every step of it, I just definitely see God’s hand.” (WR)