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Blog http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426 Years ago, a very popular Bible study was built around the idea that you should look to see where God was at work and join Him there. God is definitely at work in the NCFCA! If you would like to join us as a parent/coach, a competitor, or a financial supporter, please let us know. It would be a privilege to partner with you as we strive to honor God with our efforts to train and develop excellent communication skills. This blog is written and maintained by Teresa Hudson, President of the Board of NCFCA. AdvancedMinistry 2012 Nationals at Northwestern College, MN One of the most inspiring benefits of serving in leadership with NCFCA is experiencing the partnerships formed with godly men and women across the country, both those affiliated with NCFCA and those that are not, as we strive to fulfill our mission statement. It has been a delight to partner with the faculty and staff of Northwestern College to prepare for this year’s National Championship. From the moment I first came in contact with NWC through their website and continuing with the interaction we’ve shared over the past few months as we’ve worked on arrangements for Nationals, I’ve been so impressed with Northwestern. Their commitment to Christ-centered, academically excellent education, a commitment our organizations obviously share, is evident in every interaction and I am thrilled to introduce you to them. Much more information will be released regarding the 2012 Nationals over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, let me encourage you to spend some time on the NWC website getting to know the people, the campus and the community a little better. It will be a blessing, I assure you. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Minnesota in June! http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=31524 31524 Wed, 8 Feb 2012 09:07:00 +0000 2012 National Opens We are excited to announce the three National Opens now on the calendar for the 2012 season! The first will be in Houston, TX on Feb. 15-18 at ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship, the second will be hosted by the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL near Chicago on March 5-8, and the third will be held on March 28-31 at Spokane Falls Community College in Spokane, WA. More information about these National Opens will be posted to the website soon. Please make your plans to attend at least one of these tournaments. National Opens are a fabulous way to expose your students to different styles of debate and a broad range of cases as well as provide them with an opportunity to meet, compete and work alongside some of the finest, most dedicated folks in the country. National Opens are also an excellent way for your region to help establish and learn from “best practices” that are used throughout the country. Tournament staff is normally gathered from representatives of every region in attendance. National Opens provide a venue for training volunteers according to National protocols and offers the National Staff an opportunity to talk with and learn from you about what works best in your local qualifiers. If you or someone you know is interested in serving at a National Open, please let your Regional Coordinator know. http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=29600 29600 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:35:00 +0000 <content:encoded>Can you believe that fall is already here? On one hand it seems like just yesterday that we were finishing up the 2011 National Championship and yet on the other, it’s amazing how much NCFCA progress has been made over the summer. We’re in a great place to dive into another exciting season of competition. In the past couple of months, NCFCA has released three new speech events, new event rules for all the speech categories, revised and updated the Apologetics topics, improved the Affiliate section of the new website, published the 2nd annual edition of The Source© (NCFCA’s exclusive debate source book available to all NCFCA Affiliates), and just over the weekend, published updated IE and Debate competition documents! Our Regional Leadership Teams are immersed in planning the tournament season, and practice tournaments are already running all over the country. Busy, busy, busy… If we are not careful, it is easy to become shortsighted as we get caught up amidst the busyness of the details of preparation and look at speech and debate as just a type of academic “sport” with the goal being the trophies and accolades or the building of a great-looking transcript. Competition is a wonderful thing and provides a level of motivation to refine speaking and thinking skills that other activities cannot match, but we must be careful not to focus too much on the competitive aspect of the activity and let the trophies, standings, and recognition become our goal, instead of equipping students to be able to effectively communicate God’s truth. A good friend once said, “If the awards and accolades become the driving force behind our efforts instead of equipping students for the purpose of godly communication, then at best the trophies are hollow and at its worst, we’ve made an idol of this activity.” A very sobering thought… Let me encourage each of us to keep our focus where it should be: training students to think critically and graciously communicate truth to the culture, addressing life issues from a biblical worldview in a manner that glorifies God. If the empty win ever becomes the goal, we will have lost everything that makes NCFCA unique and we will have deviated from God’s call for the purpose of the league. Soli Deo Gloria!</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=27607</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">27607</guid> <pubDate>Mon, 3 Oct 2011 10:43:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> <item> <title/> <content:encoded>The NCFCA mission states that our goal is to provide opportunities for our students to exercise analytical and oratorical skills in order to address life issues from a Biblical worldview in a manner that glorifies God. It is good to remember that the success of our efforts in this regard rely not on ourselves, but on His will and sufficiency. In light of this and in recognition of our need for His divine intervention in all matters relating to NCFCA, our NCFCA leadership has set aside Tuesday, September 13, 2011 as a Day of Prayer; 24 hours specifically devoted to praying for the needs and impact of NCFCA. Every hour over the 24 hour period from 12:00 AM, Tuesday Sept. 13 through 12:00 AM, Wednesday, Sept.14, someone from the leadership of NCFCA will be praying for us. I’d like to invite you to join us in prayer anytime that day as we lift up the league, the leadership, our clubs and our students to the Lord.  Please pray for the Board of Directors, Advisory Board members, Regional Coordinators, State Representatives, and Club Leaders as they serve this season. Pray for all our NCFCA students as they devote their time and energy to learning the tools necessary to become better communicators for Christ. Pray for all the NCFCA families, that God will strengthen them and keep His watchful eye on them as they travel and participate. Pray for the community judges that will be coming to our tournaments this season, and that our students can be bold witnesses for Christ. Sometimes it is quite daunting to think of the magnitude and importance of the task at hand as we strive to do God’s will with respect to NCFCA. What an incredible undertaking it is to commit to train young people to think critically and communicate God’s love effectively to the world!  It is with great relief that we remember that this league belongs to God, and that He doesn’t call any of us to do this job in our own strength or ability: He simply calls us to be willing and obedient so we can be empowered by Him to do His work. Please join me in asking His blessing, His wisdom, and His provision for His work in NCFCA.</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=26762</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">26762</guid> <pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:08:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> <item> <title/> <content:encoded>The NCFCA Board is delighted to share with you the much anticipated Potential Debate Resolution Topics for NCFCA’s 2011-2012 season. I’d encourage our affiliates to ponder, research, discuss, and ultimately vote on their favorite resolution as we begin to look toward the next fabulous season of competition.  The top six choices (three per style of debate) have been posted here, along with instructions on voting. Each family will have the opportunity to vote on just one topic for Team Policy and one topic for Lincoln Douglas Values debate. You may change your mind as many times as you like during the voting period, but the choice that is checked at midnight, June 6, is the vote that is recorded for your family. The winning resolution topics will be announced during the National Championship at the tournament social on Thursday, June 16, 2011. If you’d like to read more about the process used to determine this year’s slate of topics, please click here.</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=23366</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">23366</guid> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2011 19:33:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> <item> <title/> <content:encoded>As we move toward Nationals and the end to another successful year of speech and debate we move into the time for annual elections of our State Representatives. As you may know, each state in NCFCA has a representative that is elected directly by the affiliates of the state and serves for a 2 year term. Each Region has a mix of election periods (half the states elect each year) so that there is stability on the Regional Leadership Teams from one season to the next. This election process and timing is key to allowing for fluidity and growth in the league and provides the ability for affiliates to elect this level of NCFCA representation as the NCFCA National Board places great trust in the affiliates' knowledge and recognition of qualified leadership in their local area. If you have recently received a letter announcing that your State Rep position is up for election, please pray that the Lord would guide you as you consider who you would like to work with over the next few years. I’m looking forward to seeing who God leads and equips as NCFCA leaders and am looking forward to working with the new teams as we all join together to provide excellent competitive opportunities for our students to develop their communication skills. To read more about the leadership structure in NCFCA and specifically, the responsibilities and requirements of State Reps, please click here.</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=23363</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">23363</guid> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2011 17:16:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> <item> <title/> <content:encoded>Around this time of year, we hear a lot of talk revolving around the word “qualified”.  What does it mean to qualify? How many people are we qualifying? Who’s qualified to Regionals? To Nationals? What do you have to do to be qualified? I’ve thought a lot about what that word “qualified” really means and what it takes to be qualified. (I’m sure most of our competitors have, as well!) Can you work hard enough to be certain of qualifying? Not really. You can’t control what judges you get, what team you may hit or what other speakers are in your room. No matter how hard you work, you don’t know how you will compare to all the other competitors. Lately, I’ve spent a good deal of time in Colossians, where the word “qualified” shows up in Chapter 1, verses 11 and 12. Paul writes, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” This gives us a whole new perspective on the word “qualified,“ doesn’t it?   Aren’t you glad that the most important qualification has already been secured for us? We can never work hard enough to achieve admission to heaven but we can be completely sure that we are qualified to join in that inheritance, not because of our efforts but totally because of God the Father’s acceptance of the work of Christ on the cross. My prayer for you is that every time you hear the word “qualify” in any form or context, you remember what Jesus Christ has accomplished for you and what fabulous opportunities we have to share our “qualification” with others and the good news that they, too, can receive that qualification. May the excitement of sharing that news far outweigh everything else!</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=22139</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">22139</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 9 Apr 2011 20:35:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> <item> <title/> <content:encoded>Wow!  What an incredible start we have had to the NCFCA 2011 competitive season!  Over the past few weeks, NCFCA has completed 16 qualifying tournaments and launched a new website with ongoing development of new leadership tools and registration capabilities - and these are just the more visible accomplishments! Behind the scenes, several thousand people are working on developing cases and speeches, coaching students, prepping for tournaments, and handling a myriad of administrative details. As the competitive season moves into full swing, I find myself thinking a lot about this activity and why on earth we invest this much time, energy and money into speech and debate. I am repeatedly drawn back to the mission of NCFCA – to help homeschool students (and parents!) learn to address life issues from a Biblical worldview in a manner that glorifies God. Such a simple statement, isn’t it? But oh, what a tremendously important mandate! The overwhelming responsibility that we as Christian parents, students, and coaches have to engage the culture in a winsome and God-honoring manner is ever before us as we work to provide first class training and competitive opportunities. Over the past couple of weeks both the TX and GA National Opens have opened registration and it was with much excitement that we watched registrations pour in (even overloading the credit card servers at one point!). While these tournaments are a fabulous opportunity for our students to practice their skills and develop great relationships, the  most rewarding parts to me are the fact that almost 3000 judges will hear and hopefully be positively impacted by the messages these students are choosing to present and the overwhelming amount of educational feedback these judges will offer our students. Please pray for our competitors as they prepare to speak, our coaches as they train, our judge recruiters as they offer others the opportunity to hear our students, and our leadership as they put the pieces of all the NCFCA tournaments in place. It is a blessing to serve with you!</content:encoded> <link>http://www.ncfca.org/index.cfm?i=12690&mid=25&blogid=4426&comments=20002</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">20002</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Feb 2011 19:38:00 +0000</pubDate> </item> </channel> </rss>