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.
The participants in Atlanta were fantastic! Some of them had debated before, so they were prepared for the topic and the format of debate. I was really excited to see how much they had learned and improved; even since the first time they had done it. Looking back over the last few months, I realized that I’ve learned a lot too… Since the first time I tried Public Forum for myself at ICC Camp, I’ve been privileged to learn more about the nature of persuasion alongside the students. With a vision for how Public Forum can be helpful for Christian communicators, I’m excited to take these skills back home and apply them for myself as well as preparing even more challenging and exciting opportunities for the students at Masters.
My Apple dictionary defines contentment as “a state of peaceful happiness.” That describes how I felt this week as I spent time with the Scofield family and the rest of my team. As it becomes more apparent to me that tour will soon be ending, I have begun to savor every moment of quality with the traveling team that has become like family to me. After the conference in Naples had ended, we went downtown for dinner and walked down to the end of the pier to look at the stars and look at the ocean. When we talked later, we marveled that God can number the stars in the sky and call each one of them by name!
A few of the participants actually had some experience making videos, from concept to finalized editing they had a pretty firm grasp of the whole process. As they began working together to plan the photoshoot and take the pictures needed for their presentation, each member of the group had important ideas to contribute.
Timothy Hardy
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