The ICC Blog

Feb

Singapore according to Gerald

By admin | Filed in Uncategorized | 3 comments

This blog is from Gerald’s point of view…… : )

Friday, February 5, 2009

Gerald

My trip to Singapore has been a very interesting experience. I simply assumed that I would be going to Singapore due to the fact that I have been to all the conferences in the United States but , while we were at the Kays’ house, I heard Austin trying to decide whether to bring dress shoes or me.

My feelings were quite hurt that he would even ask such a question such but, of course, he chose to take me over the dress shoes, so life is good.

I was then packed into a suitcase and thrown into the belly of an airplane for a long, grueling 24 hour ride. I wound up talking to a girl gnome that was packed in the suit case that was next to mine. That was interesting, but…..of course, we went our separate ways as soon as we arrived in Singapore.

The rest of my trip in Singapore has been rather interesting. At ICS, Austin stood me next to the banner, which was quite considerate of him considering the fact that lying on my nose back stage (as I did every night) became really depressing. It was incredible to watch the kids go from being unsure of themselves and unenthusiastic to being much more confident and even excited about communicating.

I think the highlight of my trip has been seeing how everyone responds to my adorableness, apparently it’s not very normal to see people carrying green garden gnomes though the streets of Singapore but so far everyone has fallen in love with me….

Monday we got to attend Focus on the Family in Singapore and I had a wonderful time seeing all the people there and getting my head patted. Once we left Focus on the Family, Kathryn held me up in the taxi and I was able to see out the window, which made me reach the conclusion that Singapore is a beautiful place. All in all, I have absolutely loved my trip and I’ve seen many amazing things though out this trip. I’m simply hoping Austin washes his clothes before he puts me in his suitcase for the return trip home.

Feb

0 More from Singapore!

By admin | Filed in IMPACT 2010 | No comments yet.

Wednesday evening, February 3, 2010

Young Life Singapore!

We had an amazing time with the Young Life group! We started off just talking to the people at the Bible study. They were very friendly, outgoing, and down to earth. We ended just talking and hanging out for thirty minutes before we realized how much time had gone by! Then we transitioned to an activity that stressed the art of persuasion and applying to one’s audience. Each presentation was fun, upbeat and engaging! The IMPACT Team had a lot of fun seeing what the Young Life youth had to present. We followed that up with a real life simulation. Some of the IMPACT team members role-played characters of typical non-Christians that one might meet. The youth that attended the Bible study had a few minutes to talk to each of the characters. The Young Life youth were spot-on in their approach to our characters! The youth engaged the characters in conversation, showed them compassion, and presented truth to them in a relevant and respectful approach. We very much enjoyed the evening. The people that we met were just as much of an encouragement to us as we hoped to be to them! We are looking forward to working with Young Life even more in the future!

Tags: Mid-Conference Updates

Feb

0 IMPACT 2010: Singapore

By admin | Filed in IMPACT 2010 | No comments yet.

The Institute for Cultural Communicators is now in Singapore with their IMPACT 2010 project. Read all about the recent happenings below!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

We are leaving for the airport! Everything is in the car and ready to go. The whole team is very excited. We had some time to prepare and get some presentations ready and everything looks great. We can’t wait until we get to Singapore.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

We are in Singapore! At 3:00 AM in the morning we arrived at the Vosburgs apartment. They have been so amazing! Our rooms were ready when we arrived and they even had some snack food laid out on a table for us. We were all able to call our families and tell them that we arrived safely.

Later that day and after we all got some rest, we were able to visit the International Christian School where we met the staff and got a tour of the facility. The school looks great and the staff has been very helpful. We are so excited to see all the great things that will be happening here next week.

Friday, January 29, 2010

It has been a busy day! This morning, we went to Victory Life Christian School where we met 180 students, whose ages ranged from 4 to 17. Everybody was so great! We saw lots of participation from students of all ages. It was so great to see the students really get into the activities and have fun as they learn to be better communicators for Christ.

Shortly after our time with Victory Life ended, we went over to ICS to prepare for our evening program there. At 6 o’clock, more than 100 people were sitting in their chairs, ready for an American team called ‘ICC’ to begin the program. And with some announcements (from John David and Seth), the program began. The program was so much fun! Everybody gave presentations ranging from a speech about thankfulness to an interpretation about Shakespeare. But my favorite part of the program had to be when the team came together to perform our interpretation of Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree.” We were so glad were able to do this. Today has been a great day and we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Today was our second day at Victory Life Christian. Although the younger students didn’t attend this time, we were busy all the same. The students learned all kinds of new things like bringing stories to life and communicating a message to specific audiences. It is so amazing how much all of these students have grown in their communication skills in such a short span of time. We can’t wait until we return next Saturday and see what God can do through this experience.

After Victory Life was over, we all went back to the Vosburgs to change and rest a bit. And at about 6 PM, we all went out to see Singapore. Our night out was so much fun! With George the taxi driver, we all went to Little India – one of the ethnic neighborhoods found in Singapore. There were all kinds of shops and restaurants, few of which we were able to see. We were all able to have some Indian food and some of us even got some coconuts. In all, the night was a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing more of Singapore.

Tags: Mid-Conference Updates

Jan

1 Prepping for MASTERS

By admin | Filed in MASTERS | One comment

Robin Scofield

MASTERS prep has been adventurous, inspiring, and busy! Seven out of the twelve on our team are from the south, so when it started snowing here at the Moon’s house we were beyond thrilled! Even in the midst of busily preparing for MASTERS we have made time for frolicking in the snow, and catching snow flakes in our mouths. The other five who frequently experience snow found it humorous that we got excited about 2 inches of snow. Needless to say we have had a wonderful week of preparing for a conference we are so looking forward to! What has been even more inspiring than the snow though, is that every morning one of the alumni interns present shares what God has laid on their heart, or what they have been learning over the past year. It is challenging yet encouraging, and I am so thankful that each one of them are here. In the mornings it’s quiet for a little while as people are doing their individual devotions, but then as we eat breakfast, a Hardy boy (Adam or Tim) starts playing the piano, worship begins, and an alumni shares their thoughts. After this the laptops are open, practice begins, and we are once again planning awesomeness. We are very excited about the theme, seeing all of the participants, and all the amazing thing that will take place during MASTERS!

Tags: ICC News

Dec

0 MASTERS 2010 Theme

By admin | Filed in MASTERS | No comments yet.

MASTERS launches a brand new year with a brand new theme that helps us to communicate ICC’s mission. We hope that you will consider attending MASTERS – join an “awakening.”

Awaking: Rise Up. Reach Out

Awakening: Rise up. Reach out. from Wendell Moon on Vimeo.

Tags: ICC News

Dec

0 Announcing MASTERS 2010!!

By admin | Filed in MASTERS | No comments yet.

Student speakers, parents and coaches will gather from across the country, united by the purpose of mastering their communication skills for the Master. A barrage of intensively exciting training is planned for MASTERS 2010–including comprehensive discussions, advanced and interactive coaching, individual critique, intensive focus on specific mediums of communication, and a multitude of new fun and educational activities which are dispersed throughout the conference.

MASTERS will include:

Hands-on Communication Labs
All NEW Workshops
Made-for-Masters Activities
Real-World Simulations
Coaches Workshops, Forums, Training
Special Recognition for Accomplished Leaders and Speakers
ReCAP Graduation
First Ever YSG Inductee Recognition
First ICC Forensics Society Tournament

Led by some of ICC’s most experienced speakers and leaders, as well as guest instructors, your communication abilities will leap to new heights! We are confident that you will come away from this event equipped and inspired.

Learn more about the MASTERS conference today!

Tags: ICC News

Nov

16 Apprentices at Atlanta

By admin | Filed in Conference Tour 2009 | 16 comments

Janie Little

Great.

Yes, that’s my word for the Georgia Apprentices. “But that’s only one syllable” you may protest. Yes, that’s very true, and usually one syllable words are inferior to those of more syllables, but it starts with a “G” – same as “Georgia.” And it has a cool definition:

very good or satisfactory; excellent

So stop complaining about my choice of adjectives.

My Georgia Apprentices were (are and ever shall be) great. I walked by Jetpack (the designated Apprentice room) several times, and quite frequently I heard them singing worship songs as they worked. It made my day. I also greatly enjoyed the fun debate (and… no that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that the resolution was about me. Not anything at all.) They were also greatly efficient and hard working. If I needed something done, I could ask just about any of them to work on it and didn’t have to worry about it anymore after that. So pretty much, my Georgia Apprentices were fabulous.

Oh. I meant Great.

Tags: CFC Conferences, Mid-Conference Updates

Nov

3 Evening Program in Atlanta

By admin | Filed in Conference Tour 2009 | 3 comments

Timothy Hardy

Oh my goodness! Three cheers for the team! Hip hip, huzzah! Hip hip, huzzah! Hip hip, jolly good! Our last Evening Program performance was A-to-the-Mazing. No joke. We had such an amazing time in Atlanta, Georgia, that I’m sure we shall never forget it. The entire team put everything we had into the last performance, and by the grace of God it all came together and went off with a bang. As the team dropped their heads one last time to the applause of the audience I thought about how thankful I was for the way the Lord had brought each member of the team together to impact our culture with His love and joy. The performance far outranked all of our previous performances, and the conversations I had afterwards only confirmed for me how much the Lord was able to use the program to impact the people who saw it. And it didn’t just impact the audience, but every single intern who was a part of it. I will never be able to write in words how much the Lord’s grace and mercy and love were revealed to me through participating, not only in the Evening Program, but also in the entire national tour. I have been blessed.

My prayer for each of you is that the Lord will fill you with the same joy and love and hope that I was shown throughout tour. And I pray that each of you will be inspired to take that out into your everyday life, to everyone you come into contact with, and show your culture that you have the greatest message.

Walk in His light, in His love, in His hope, and in His joy. Be blessed.

Tags: CFC Conferences, Mid-Conference Updates

Nov

1 Alls well that ends well…

By admin | Filed in Conference Tour 2009 | One comment

Kelsea Mort

And the last conference was spectacular! Not only was I able to meet and hang out with some amazing people here in Atlanta, GA, but one of the most inspiring things was looking back after the conference was all over. Being able to recount stretching experiences, relive fun memories, and see how far we have come is slightly overwhelming at times. We have come through a lot. God has brought us through many difficulties and has blessed us with great times, wonderful people, and each other. I truly love these people, and will miss everyone more than I can say. Thank you to everyone who helped make this conference tour possible, either by helping coordinate, attending, or praying. These past four months have changed my life and thank you so much to all who were a part of it. And I thank the Lord for the time I have had with this incredible team, the inspiring Moon family and Justin, and for all of you who came to the conferences.

Tour was definitely well.

Tags: CFC Conferences

Nov

7 Where the Rubber Meets the Road

By admin | Filed in Conference Tour 2009 | 7 comments

Emily Singleton

The definition of a stalker is basically someone who follows another everywhere they go. Well, I was labeled a “stalker” as I followed the intern team to the last three conferences of their tour.

One of my most memorable experiences was oddly enough not at a conference. I learned an enormous amount at those conferences and had a blast there, but my favorite part was at our hotel in Tampa. My fellow “stalkers”, Marisa and Josh Fisher and Ethan Bonin, arrived together at the hotel around 8pm. We were happy to just sit back and relax after a long two weeks.

To relax, we decided to go downstairs and sit in the spa. There was just one girl there. We walked over and stepped in, but the situation got awkward immediately. She glared at us and got out of the hot tub, but a few minutes later she came back. This went on for quite some time…she would leave and come back. Marisa had a pressing feeling on her heart to silently pray for her.

We all started talking about what we planned to do with the rest of our lives. Of course, God was a major topic in our conversation. She finally looked at us and asked “Are you guys Christians?” My heart leaped when she asked. We said yes and she replied that she was a Christian too. All of our faces lit up. We started talking to her and it turns out she needed conversation and counsel badly. She had just accepted Christ this month and was struggling immensely. In fact, that very day she had had a rough time with her cousin who is also a Christian. Unfortunately, her cousin had the wrong view of what being Christ-like is. It became a ripple effect, and in turn her view of Christians was also twisted. She thought she had to be absolutely perfect, without even a speck of wrong in her life. Tears streamed down her face as we just talked and prayed.

At the conference in Naples we had gone to classes with Janie and Devin where we talked about these exact situations and topics. We know this was not just a coincidence. This was God’s work being done through us. Thankfully we had the right skills to communicate with her, ones we had thankfully acquired at our ICC conference experiences. At the end of our conversation, this young woman had new hope in her heart and really understood that God loved her. It was like watching a story unfold…the whole situation just resolved itself, and we all felt as if God’s work was being done.

Tags: CFC Conferences