By MEGAN DRISCOLL
For Word News
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WordNews.org) May 7, 2012 – Hundreds of homeschooled students gather in a church gym. A competitor’s parent steps onto a platform and leans into the mic. He welcomes the students gathered around him and then bows his head in prayer, asking God’s blessing over the next few days of competition.

This is no basketball or soccer tournament, however.

This is competitive speech and debate.

The National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) is a national organization composed of homeschooled high school students who want to better their public speaking skills.

NCFCA is more than just a platform for students to learn public speaking, however. It also strives to teach students how to be active, engaged Christians in culture and be able to confidently proclaim and defend their faith.

The speech and debate league was founded in 2001. As stated in their online mission statement, NCFCA seeks to “train students to be able to engage the culture for Christ. We do this by using competitive speech and debate as the venue through which students learn to think critically, articulate winsomely and communicate graciously in a manner that pleases God.”

NCFCA is a league composed of 10 regions, each encompassing four or five states. Last weekend marked Region VII’s regional tournament. Region VII consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Unlike other qualifying tournaments held during earlier months in the year, the regional qualifier allows especially high-ranking students to compete at the national championship, which will take place this June at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn.

Last week, students gathered to compete in their platform, interpretive and limited preparation speeches as well as two styles of debate. While most speech events are not specific to Christian subject matter, students are encouraged to keep their faith in mind while making their presentations.

“There are a lot of different speeches you can do which will prepare you to defend your faith, and be able to stick up for what you believe,” says 15 year old competitor Carsen Rooney.

Apologetics is one such speech event. Months previous to competition, students prepare answers to a series of questions about basic Christian doctrine. They’re encouraged to defend their answers with memorized passages of scripture and real world applications.

During tournaments, questions are drawn at random and students have 4 minutes to refer back to their answers and then give a six-minute speech in front of three to five judges.

“If we don’t keep our focus on Christ, then we’ve missed one of the most primary goals of NCFCA,” says a competitor’s parent Phillip Lichlyter.

Skills students learn and hone while in NCFCA stay with them beyond high school. Alumni of the league have found that they’re well equipped for university life.

“NCFCA greatly prepared me for college in that I learned how to look at information and be able to process it in an intelligent way. It also helped me to just be more confident in what I say. Most of all, it really just prepared me to be able to articulate my faith in a better way,” says alum Scott Kerstell.

Since NCFCA is based upon competition, students learn the value of sportsmanship and enjoy the success that accompanies winning.

“Being in NCFCA has helped me realize that God can take me places that I never thought I could go, like if I made it to finals [in one of my speech events]. It’s just cool to see how God works,” says 3rd year competitor Katie Simpson.

The national championships begin June 19.