The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Jack H. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Tactics - Final Report
Ambassador League has been a blur of activities, people, reports, and ideas for me during my senior year. I have done things that I otherwise would not have considered doing, but have also been rewarded for doing activities that are familiar to me. The exposure to influential people, and new situations was exciting and enlightening. As I have prepared to go to college this year, I have found Ambassador League to be very helpful in preparing me for departure, especially through the mentor program and reading list. I did the Ambassador League program as part of my government class and it was interesting to have a more hands-on experience and to get out of the classroom every once in a while.
The beginning of the school year and Ambassador League was filled with talk of the elections at the national and local level. Since one of the assignments was to volunteer for a political campaign, it was only natural that it was one of the first things I tackled. Tim Fair was running for Clinton County Commissioner, the county that I live in, and I was very eager to put some of my government class to work. We went door to door on several occasions, put up yard signs and dropped off literature. It was nerve racking at times, but it gave me experience in public speaking and meeting new people, especially door to door. Being the son of a former State Representative, door to door was something our family often talked about, and I was very familiar with the process, but I was too young to participate when my father ran for office. It was not as easy as I remembered it looking, however, I caught the hang of it pretty quick, and by the third time I had gone out, it seemed like a cake walk.
The reading list assignments were probably the most time consuming projects, but in my opinion one of the most important of all. The first book I read was God's Politician, a biography of William Wilberforce. I spent most of the book goggling at the amazing things Wilberforce was able to accomplish during his life, and the goals that he worked towards that did not see fruition until after his death. It was overwhelming to think that one man could do so much with God's help. I read Do Hard Things, a book by Alex and Brett Harris about being counter-cultural and disciplining yourself to do hard things that make a difference, directly afterward. It was an excellent follow up after reading God's Politician, because it gave small steps towards making a difference with your life, the kind of difference that I had just read about in Wilberforce's biography. When I began meeting with my mentor, he suggested we read through Lifeviews, by R.C. Sproul, and discuss the book together during our meetings. It was a book on the reading list, and although I never wrote a report on it, it was by far the best out of the three books. The first half of the book, which deals with common world views around us, was extremely helpful in being able to categorize thoughts and actions into different world views, and recognize them for what they are, the second half of the book deals with how we, as Christians, should act in the world around us. The book as a whole has been extremely useful for me as I prepared for college, and I am sure I will be referring to it often as I meet different ideas in the academic circle. All three books were very challenging to me, as they offered insights into my own life and examples that we ought to follow from history. They were well worth it, and I would definitely recommend them as a worthwhile read.
When I was looking for a mentor, the first person who jumped into my mind was Tim Fair, who I mentioned earlier as a candidate for county commissioner, who's campaign I volunteered for. He was more than willing to become my mentor, and we had our first meeting in December. In our first meeting, we discussed what my goals were in doing Ambassador League, my faith, and what we would like to do in the upcoming meetings. We decided to read through Lifeviews together, and branch out from there. I greatly enjoyed discussing the different philosophies from the book with him, and he often offered insights into our culture, that I had failed to recognize, or helped my clarify inconsistencies in my own thought process. In one memorable meeting, we were in Tim Horton's on a Saturday morning discussing the divinity of Jesus, when a man walked over from a nearby table and asked a few questions about our conversation. He was a Jehovah's Witness, and was very keen to discuss whether Jesus was truly an equal of God's. He brought up several Bible verses that seemed to validate his point that Jesus was not equal with God. Mr. Fair, who had grown up as a son of the pastor, and is very knowledgeable when it comes to scripture was quick with a few verses of his own. Our whole conversation with the man was only about 10 minutes long, but it was amazing how the encounter had kicked my brain into overdrive, and cemented our conversation about Christ's divinity into my memory. It was exciting to see our conversations about world views spring to life and give us a chance to put some of the things we had been reading and discussing into use. The mentor program was extremely interesting for me, and I was very glad to have someone to discuss the things I had been learning in government class and through Ambassador League.
The first interview I had was with my mentor, about the business that he and his wife started, it was quite easy to interview Mr. Fair, who I was very familiar with and who I was already meeting on a regular basis. The second two interviews were a bit more work. The second interview was with my youth pastor, Chad Konieczny. He was very interesting to interview, since he chose to be interviewed in the aftermath of youth group, so there were often interruptions, interjections about his answers, and questions that sidetracked our conversation. His interview was very interesting, and I learned quite a bit about what led him to his position that I did not know. My third interview was with my former basketball coach Roger Schafer, and how he started the Warriors For Christ Basketball team. The last interview was also very easy going, and I quite enjoyed finding out information about the beginnings of the team that I played for for many years. The interviewing gave me a good idea of what to expect from an interview and I am sure that I will be grateful for my experience if I need to interview people in the future, especially in respect of thinking up questions, and how to take notes.
One of the activities that I enjoyed the most from Ambassador League was watching the legislative session. We went to the capitol on the home school legislative day. We watched the legislative session in the senate, and then moved immediately to a hearing of the judicial committee from the house. Afterward we listened to a lecture by Professor Wagner of Cooley law school and Mr. Kallman, a lawyer from the Lansing area. Later that month I shadowed Nick Setterington, a leader in the Navigators ministry to Michigan State University. I was able to sit through a Bible study that he led with the students, and ask him questions afterward.
The week long summer program through SSI, which is required for Ambassador League, is one of the most exciting and intense assignments. I went to the summer program the summer before starting Ambassador League, so I had a bit of a head start on what to expect. I arrived reluctantly, sure that I would have no fun, and it would be a week of people telling me what I already know, but I was pleasantly surprised by how interactive the program was, teaching us about the governmental process. I left quite excited about what I learned, and eager to put it into practice, Ambassador League gave me a perfect opportunity.
While most student's Ambassador League experience culminated in going to the SSI, mine has not had a definitive end. Procrastination has had a large part in my last minute finish, and I wish that I had had the gusto to finish my assignments within the school year. But because I have waited until the end of the year to write this report, and a few others, it has given me a perspective others may have missed. Because of the large gap between this report, and a large chunk of my assignments, I am able to reflect on the year, and what I have learned. I have already had the chance to use what I have learned from the reading assignments over the summer, and have stayed in contact with my mentor, who has begun to appear on the radio over the summer, talking about many of the same things that he and I discussed in our meetings. I find myself looking at the news, or the latest bill congress in considering in a different light, I can sometimes point out the world view behind it, or see the implications of what it might lead to quicker then before. The political world seems a bit more simple, and less sophisticated after observing its inner workings. Ambassador League has been exactly what I needed to prepare me for my upcoming college experience and the challenges I am expecting.
