NCFCA Tournament

I posted our road trip pictures yesterday, but I did not mention the Speech and Debate Tournament we attended in Birmingham when we first arrived. Joshua and Bryce have a lot of friends who participate in Speech and Debate. They have attended some conferences and taken some speech classes, basically, they have tested the waters. This year we will be jumping in with both feet! I think of the Stephen Curtis Chapman song, "I'm Diving In!" They are diving in this year. If you ask them, they will tell you that they prefer the shallow end of public speaking- so do 98% of people in the world. What does that tell you about the remaining 2%? They will be the leaders, because the other 98%, though they may have a very strong opinion, are terrified to state it in front of a crowd. Bryce assures me that the exception to that statistic are the writers. This group of people, of which she is a part, state their opinions clearly on paper, or computer screen, as the case may be. They do get their point across effectively too, I will admit. Since I am part of this group as well, I am convinced that she has an effective outlet for communication. I am also convinced, however, that the key to leadership is good public speaking. There are so many people today spouting off their opinions, with nothing to back them up, yet the American people follow them blindly. I could give lots of political examples of this, but I will save those for another day. The American people have been trained to follow - all "good" schools teach this technique. Thinking outside the box is not good for crowd control. Therefore, we must train up leaders who know what they believe and can effectively communicate their thoughts. Teresa Moon, founder of the Speech and Debate organization Communicators for Christ, calls this the "privilege of the platform." As believers, we have an obligation to know how to communicate what we believe. Scripture tells us that we must always be ready to give an answer for the hope we have. At the very least, we must be able to effectively witness to another person about our relationship with Jesus Christ.

At the National Tournament in Birmingham, we had the privilege of hearing young people from all over the country give interpretations, platform speeches, and debate issues. I can tell you that when I hear these young men and women speak, it gives me great hope for the future of our country. Especially during this election year, when we need a little ray of hope.

I was blessed to hear a round of persuasive speeches and the topics ranged from taxes and parental rights to sharing our faith and fighting for liberty. There were tears streaming down my face when I heard the eloquent young man plead with the audience to realize that our nation is standing on the brink of disaster and that we must all be vigilant in protecting the rights that our Founding Fathers laid out for us in the Constitution. We must all say, with Patrick Henry "give me liberty, or give me death." This young man was 17 years old and he had more to say in ten minutes than I have heard ANY politician say so far in this election. One of the quotes I liked best was this, "Any government that has the power to give you everything you want, also has the power to take away everything you have."

Another speech that I really enjoyed that round was a young man who spoke on the flat tax. I follow the election, but I am one of those "morals" voters. I like to hear what the candidates have to say about abortion, parental rights, etc.... Taxes and such really go over my head most of the time. Maybe it is because most of our politicians are not really all that eloquent. This young man explained the flat tax in a way that any child could have understood, yet made the most thought provoking points in favor of it. His facts were indisputable and his speech was amazing. It is unbelievable to me that these young people are spending so much time researching and talking about these issues. Especially while their counterparts are playing video games until their minds are going completely numb.

We also heard many interpretations, which are basically dramatic presentations of pieces of literature. Most of the ones we heard were absolutely hilarious, though we did listen to a round of dramatics as well. These kids are so much fun and so talented. Every one of them gave Broadway quality performances, and with no props and no costumes.

NCFCA is a national Christian forensics association and there are clubs all over the country where the kids get together to practice. They are always looking for community judges to judge their practice tournaments. Look for one in an area near you and go and hear them speak. I think you will be amazed and more than a little hopeful that God is raising up a generation of men and women who will fight for Him!

By the end of next year, our family will have added two more warriors to the cause!