Welcome to the speech and debate community of Tennessee. On behalf of the many hundreds of students from our state who have participated in this activity since its inception, we encourage you to become involved.
In Tennessee debate began in 1997 with the launch by Home School Legal Defense Association ( HSLDA) of a national homeschool debate league. HSLDA organized this new league to work in conjunction with state home school organizations, organizations such as the Tennessee Home Education Association (THEA). State homeschool organizations were authorized by HSLDA to host qualifying state tournaments from which winners would be sent to the National Homeschool Debate Tournament hosted by HSLDA each year in different locations across the US. At this time the only activity sponsored by this league was debate, speech events were added in later years. In time the league became the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association, NCFCA.
Like other leaders in state homeschool organizations, Lana and Claiborne Thornton, President and founders of THEA (www.tnhea.org), were informed of HSLDA’s new homeschool Debate league. Inspired by their mission statement of training students to glorify Christ with clear logic and articulate communications skills, Claiborne and Lana encouraged the THEA Board of Directors to embrace this new activity for homeschooled students, envisioning debate as a means to train future generations of articulate Christian leaders from among Tennessee homeschoolers.
THEA realized that Speech & Debate would be better served in Tennessee by having its own organization, so THEA birthed a state forensics organization, Christian Communicators of Tennessee (CCT). CCT & THEA are closely linked with CCT functioning as a chapter of THEA. In these early years, THEA supported the debate activities of CCT, including financially donating to underwrite tournaments and workshops across the state.
Over the years, CCT has added activities unique to Tennessee, including the Mars Hill Speech competition which is based on Acts 17: 16 – 34 where the apostle Paul makes a speech on Mar’s Hill in Athens, Greece, a place where philosophers would gather to discuss matters of religion and morals. It was here that Paul used references to well known places, to well known objects of worship, including the statue “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD”, using logic, as well as references to current Greek writings and poets, in order to draw connections between some familiar elements in the Greek culture and the life giving spiritual truths to which Paul was giving testimony. In keeping with this pattern, a Mars Hill speech is an original work, scripted word for word by the competitor that uses topics of current cultural significance to reveal underlying scriptural truths.
Some of CCT’s Speech and Debate events are highlighted on THEA’s Capitol Hill Rally and Reception Day, commonly known as Rally Day, held each spring on Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. The Senior and Junior Division winners of the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest present their speeches on the stage of the War Memorial Auditorium and receive cash awards during the morning Rally. The Student Congress Tournament Final Round follows the Rally and takes place in the Senate Chamber in the Capitol Building.
Ron and Malinda Tuggle, founders of Christian Communicators of Tennessee, served as CCT president for 9 years, traveling across our state to lead workshops and introduce families to the challenging events offered to homeschoolers in Speech & Debate. Malinda and Ron, along with all four of their children, Scott, Chris, Krystle and Courtney, have led many workshops, given hundreds of speech and debate demonstrations, trained hundreds of Tennessee homeschool students in all of the events, coached in numerous Clubs, competed and won in state and national tournaments, and directed many, many Tennessee tournaments. Speech & Debate in our state could never have grown and flourished without the Tuggle family’s tremendous enthusiastic servant leadership in our midst!
Now an enthusiastic, wise and hard-working group of leaders direct CCT as the organization matures to support numerous Clubs across our state training hundreds of young people to think critically, to study diligently, reason logically, and to articulate God’s truth effectively.
God continues to bless Speech and Debate in our state. As it grows exponentially each year, God is building an army of young, homeschooled students who can articulate truth and defend their faith such as our century has never seen. Those of us who have worked to build CCT are privileged and honored to carry the torch in promoting speech and debate activities for homeschool students across Tennessee.
