Today’s Rhetoric and Civic Life class centered around the concept of advocacy, which is essentially the placement of one’s support behind a cause, a group, or a concept. What I found most interesting about advocacy is that a person is changed by what he or she advocates and he or she in turn affects and shapes the advocacy group in question. I was personally intrigued by a story by my classmate John Lee regarding how a light suggestion for him to swim turned into a position on the team and furthermore roles as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. Looking back on his story, I thought I might share my own experience in an advocacy that has changed me and I hope to change.Five years ago I reluctantly began attending my church’s youth group in order to have something to do after school that my mother found constructive to my spiritual growth beyond Sunday school (which I had just outgrown). It seemed like the natural next step in my journey yet I did not really embrace it until I met lifelong friends in my first mission trip in Philadelphia. Since then I have been changed in so many ways; not only have I participated in missions from Montreal to Guatemala City, I have witnessed a spiritual growth within myself. I am currently with my third “youth group”, a campus ministry called Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), and while my youth ministries have affected me, I am poised to affect my youth ministries as well.
Although I am merely a freshman, I am prepared to take on any leadership roles that may come across my path in my coming years in college with RUF. I have led in one bible study already and have even returned to my high school ministry to lead middle school students in their study of scripture. This summer I also plan to begin work at my home church to coordinate a college ministry for students home from college starting this summer. The student ministries I once so hesitantly advocated became a force of great growth in my life, and in turn I hope to do the same in my mission to strengthen these groups.
I also believe in the opportunity that comes out of missions trip. It is the real way to see a cause because you are submerged in with the problem. I went to a poor mountainous area of Jamaica and once the people got over seeing white people (which they don't much), we all began to learn of the problems that they faced. I read from a textbook to the kids and there were blatant errors in the textbooks that were given from the government. How are the kids supposed to learn when the people teaching them don't know what they are teaching? It really affected me and it shows those people who say that people aren't successful because they are lazy, to be wrong.
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