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.

Tennessee speech and debate began with several key families who had a vision for future leadership from the homeschooling community. The first was Claiborne and Lana Thornton of Nashville, president and founders of the Tennessee Home Education Association (THEA). Inspired by the creation of the HSLDA homeschool debate league (now NCFCA), Claiborne and Lana saw speech and debate as a means to train a future generation of leaders. Although they had no competition-age children themselves, the Thorntons adopted the idea on behalf of homeschoolers across the state of Tennessee and used their own resources to host the first tournaments.

The very first Tennessee tournament took place in 1998 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. In 1999, the Tennessee state tournament was held on the beautiful campus of Bryan College, and the final team debate round took place in the famous Dayton courthouse where the original Scopes Trial occurred. Every spring since then, Tennessee has hosted both a state and an open tournament.

Claiborne and Lana have supported this program since its onset, and due to their efforts, THEA birthed a state forensics board, Christian Communicators of Tennessee (CCT). (For information on a regional chapter in your area, see Contacts.) THEA has sponsored conferences across the state to teach and train students in these valuable life skills, and has given financially to support Tennessee tournaments and promote events statewide.

CCT hosted the 2002 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Murfreesboro, and the Thorntons worked diligently to help make the tournament a success. It was a major milestone for Claiborne and Lana to participate in Nationals 2002, which hosted over 320 competitors from across the nation, when five years prior, they had worked so hard to find just eight debate teams to participate in the first Tennessee tournament.

The second family so instrumental in the birth of Tennessee speech and debate is the Moughon family of Erwin, Tennessee. Early on, Dr. Gordon Moughon read an excerpt in their local homeschool newsletter about the newly formed HSLDA debate league. He and his wife, Mary, recognized this activity for the valuable life skill it is and began their journey with the first two of their eight children, Joel and Luke. Since that time, Joel, Luke, Timothy, and Hannah have all competed nationally, and the younger children are proving themselves in junior speech divisions as well. Now graduated, Joel and Timothy continue to compete on the college circuit for Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. To all the speech and debate community across Tennessee, the Moughons are the First Family of Tennessee Forensics

God continues to bless this activity 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. Ron and I are privileged and honored to carry the torch in promoting speech and debate activities for homeschool students across Tennessee.

Sincerely,
Malinda Tuggle, for the Tuggle Family

Ron and Malinda Tuggle serve as president and founders of Christian Communicators of Tennessee. Ron also serves as Southeast Regional Director for the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA).