Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Commentary and What's Next?
Stark County Gen J'ers,
Ok, so this wasn't what we envisioned when we started planning the SAT. However, the election results will prove how much resolve we all have about loving the country God gave us and what our civic obligations should be.
I just wrote a stinging indictment of our culture, not exactly as a reaction to the results of the election, but as a wake-up call before the culture-at-large starts making all kinds of bad decisions. I had Steve Thorn, the CHESCA webmaster put it up on the web:
http://www.chesca.org/pac/can2006/2006commentary.php
I would suggest you get something to drink before you start into it.
You students should start your own commentaries up. It will help to build your skills on framing.
Pray for all the wonderful candidates that lost Tuesday night, and their families. That would include Ken Blackwell, Rick Santorum, Jim Ryun, that's right, Ned's Father, and countless others who have been friends of ours.
What do you students think of things?
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club
Ok, so this wasn't what we envisioned when we started planning the SAT. However, the election results will prove how much resolve we all have about loving the country God gave us and what our civic obligations should be.
I just wrote a stinging indictment of our culture, not exactly as a reaction to the results of the election, but as a wake-up call before the culture-at-large starts making all kinds of bad decisions. I had Steve Thorn, the CHESCA webmaster put it up on the web:
http://www.chesca.org/pac/can2006/2006commentary.php
I would suggest you get something to drink before you start into it.
You students should start your own commentaries up. It will help to build your skills on framing.
Pray for all the wonderful candidates that lost Tuesday night, and their families. That would include Ken Blackwell, Rick Santorum, Jim Ryun, that's right, Ned's Father, and countless others who have been friends of ours.
What do you students think of things?
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Get details from the CHESCA site about SAT
Stark County Gen J'ers,
Ok, so the blog has been a little thin lately, but only because our SAT has kicked into full gear and we are now in Day 4. If you want to read more about the journaling of the SAT, go back to the CHESCA site at:
http://www.chesca.org/pac/genj/index.php
That will give you all the details to our activities, including pics. Man, there's a lot to remember. A lot of memories...I will be posting more details, including our big bash.
Mr. Blackwell, God speed!
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club
Ok, so the blog has been a little thin lately, but only because our SAT has kicked into full gear and we are now in Day 4. If you want to read more about the journaling of the SAT, go back to the CHESCA site at:
http://www.chesca.org/pac/genj/index.php
That will give you all the details to our activities, including pics. Man, there's a lot to remember. A lot of memories...I will be posting more details, including our big bash.
Mr. Blackwell, God speed!
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Less than 48 hours away from our first SAT
Stark County Gen J'ers,
Here we are, just less than 48 hours away from our very first Student Action Team! Exciting stuff. Mr. Pope's wife Rhonda just delivered their baby today, just in time to ramp up to SAT. So, here we go, four days of intense campaigning. An education in a very practical sense.
We have negotiated with the Stark County Republican Party to have a designated area for us to have our devotions and prayer to start our activities. However, they wanted to give us breakfast every morning so we will be eating at 9:00AM and hitting the phones at 10:00AM. We break for lunch around 1:00PM and the afternoon is a potporri of sign waving, door-to-door campaigning, and phone calling. All the stuff that will win elections. Four days of intense campaigning. Is everybody ready for this?
Here we are, just less than 48 hours away from our very first Student Action Team! Exciting stuff. Mr. Pope's wife Rhonda just delivered their baby today, just in time to ramp up to SAT. So, here we go, four days of intense campaigning. An education in a very practical sense.
We have negotiated with the Stark County Republican Party to have a designated area for us to have our devotions and prayer to start our activities. However, they wanted to give us breakfast every morning so we will be eating at 9:00AM and hitting the phones at 10:00AM. We break for lunch around 1:00PM and the afternoon is a potporri of sign waving, door-to-door campaigning, and phone calling. All the stuff that will win elections. Four days of intense campaigning. Is everybody ready for this?
Mr. Pope and I worked on a press release that we sent out to area newspapers. Tomorrow afternoon, around the 3:00PM hour, I will be interviewed in a quick two-minute format on WNPQ 95.9 The Light's Suzy Thomas, so listen up for that. Who knows, maybe one of the newspapers will interview when we are on location.
Then at the end, the BIG ELECTION NIGHT BASH, complete with food, TV/Internet coverage on returns, fellowship, etc. Wow, will we be tired or what? But it will be lots of fun.
I can see our club really growing after the SAT is all over. Already, we have someone from Summit County interested in joining, along with a scattering of others. By the end of the school year, we should have a huge club.
Ok guys and gals, saddle up! Be ready to work on Friday!
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club Adult Sponsor
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The New Happenings of Stark County Gen J
Stark County Gen J'ers,
You students need to recruit more new members to our club. If you need any help in doing this, let me know and I will assist you.
We actually have two blogging areas. This one here, and an area in connection with Generation Joshua's national website:
http://www.frappr.com/?a=myfrappr&id=1984166
If any students want lessons in blogging and want to put it out here, let me know and I will get you started!
On Thursday evening, Oct. 5, we took over Stark County Republican HQ's. That was something to see all of us with those phones! Man, I don't think the Republican leaders will forget that. We took over every phone they had.
For such a quick-starting club, I was proud of your accomplishments that evening. And all you students acted with maturity and spoke with confidence to those you were calling. All counted, I think we had 17 or 18 there that evening, including all the adult sponsors. We completed 1530 phone calls, an amazing feat, to be sure.
The on Saturday, Oct. 7, six teams of 2 went door to door for Ken Blackwell in Stark County. We knocked on 209 doors had a few snacks put up a few signs and had an all around good time.
Our adult sponsor in charge of local activities has scheduled one more group outing to Republican HQ to phone bank. He is still trying to find a good day for everyone. Adult Sponsors, remember that if your student is signed up for the Student Action Team (SAT) GenJ will be expecting them to commit some time on the phones in the last week of the campaign.
In such a short amount of time, we have elected officers, volunteered at the phone bank at Republican HQ'ers, and canvassed an area of Stark County.
Let's keep up the pace. But pray for strength, it will be maddening up until Nov. 7th. We're gonna have lots of fun the week of Nov. 1 - 4.
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Stark County Gen J'ers,
We did it! We launched ealier last month and now we met on Thursday, Sept. 28 and our students elected the officers. Each student running had to present a candidate speech and they were voted on by their peers in the club.
Randy Pope, who had earlier been a candidate in the Ohio 61st House District, is now running our internal Student Action Team, separate from Virginia Headquarters. He has arranged for our students to make calls at the Stark County Republican HQ's this coming Thursday evening, and door-to-door lit drops in North Canton on Saturday afternoon. We're getting started earlier than the Virginia organized SAT's because our candidate is behind in the polls.
Last Thursday evening, after the meeting, we had over 793 newsletters Right to Life of Stark County just received, hot off the press, so RTL asked us to put edge sealers and address labels on them. Our students and adult sponsors went right to work! We finished them that night.
We're all starting to feel real good about our club. Hopefully, before this school year is out, we can get them to blog here.
We're busy all the way up through the November elections.
One of our student officers went out tonight and recruited other stundents, not yet Gen J members, to make phone calls for a candidate by the name of Debra Owens-Fink for the Ohio State Board of Education. She is currently an incumbent that has held the line on Intelligent Design and she is a firm friend, politically, to home educators. So we are busy there, too.
We did it! We launched ealier last month and now we met on Thursday, Sept. 28 and our students elected the officers. Each student running had to present a candidate speech and they were voted on by their peers in the club.
Randy Pope, who had earlier been a candidate in the Ohio 61st House District, is now running our internal Student Action Team, separate from Virginia Headquarters. He has arranged for our students to make calls at the Stark County Republican HQ's this coming Thursday evening, and door-to-door lit drops in North Canton on Saturday afternoon. We're getting started earlier than the Virginia organized SAT's because our candidate is behind in the polls.
Last Thursday evening, after the meeting, we had over 793 newsletters Right to Life of Stark County just received, hot off the press, so RTL asked us to put edge sealers and address labels on them. Our students and adult sponsors went right to work! We finished them that night.
We're all starting to feel real good about our club. Hopefully, before this school year is out, we can get them to blog here.
We're busy all the way up through the November elections.
One of our student officers went out tonight and recruited other stundents, not yet Gen J members, to make phone calls for a candidate by the name of Debra Owens-Fink for the Ohio State Board of Education. She is currently an incumbent that has held the line on Intelligent Design and she is a firm friend, politically, to home educators. So we are busy there, too.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Stark Co. Gen J is taking off!
Stark County Gen J'ers,
That was some meeting tonight, wasn't it? Ned Ryun was everything that I thought he would be. He's the man! His presentation was outstanding.
Before the meeting started, I asked him how he started with Gen J. He said the concept was originally a brainchild of him and his brother combined. Then, they pitched it to Home School Legal Defense Association and explained to them that there was a need to put home schooled students into productive rolls by giving them a grassroots experience in working with candidates "on the ground". So, they succeeded in convincing HSLDA leadership, and the rest, as he said, is history. Evidently, Tennessee is a state in which Generation Joshua has had some of the most success, but he is hoping to replicate that kind of success, here in Ohio. There are several other clubs located around Ohio.
That was some meeting tonight, wasn't it? Ned Ryun was everything that I thought he would be. He's the man! His presentation was outstanding.
Before the meeting started, I asked him how he started with Gen J. He said the concept was originally a brainchild of him and his brother combined. Then, they pitched it to Home School Legal Defense Association and explained to them that there was a need to put home schooled students into productive rolls by giving them a grassroots experience in working with candidates "on the ground". So, they succeeded in convincing HSLDA leadership, and the rest, as he said, is history. Evidently, Tennessee is a state in which Generation Joshua has had some of the most success, but he is hoping to replicate that kind of success, here in Ohio. There are several other clubs located around Ohio.
Well, to review the meeting a little bit, Ned gave the overview in his Power Point presentation this evening. However, the really helpful thing was him answering all the questions about getting started. Also, when we came back after the break and he hung around to help us in bringing it together, his input was what we needed.
I certainly appreciate all the families that were present tonight. It was a mix of some I had known since 18 years ago and some I have just gotten to know this year. And I believe we have a great group of students. In speaking to our students, let me say a couple of things to each of you. First, you are in a county where home schooling grew up. CHEO, in the very beginning, was started and based in Stark County. And when CHEO moved, CHESCA was born to keep the local group going. This is significant to you because you have some of the most stalwart home school parents around. Second, our support group has had a distinction of being politically active for many, many years and we have a vast amount of resources, locally, to help you in the Gen J mission, which is, to teach young people to be effective, well-rounded citizens for Christ, and to equip them with the tools necessary to maintain liberty and the exercise of self-government.
So, there you go Stark County Gen J Club. We are embarking on a new mission field. One where the harvest field is definitely ready. Engaging the culture is what Gen J is all about. Ned put it so well. Everywhere he goes he hears how wonderful the Gen J student action teams are and how they are in high demand with candidates.
Ohio is primed for you to move out. Let's show everyone how civic-minded the students are in Stark County. We also need to recruit and bring other students into the club to make it as effective as we can. As Steven Curtis Chapman puts it, we need to dive in.
Next meeting on Thursday, September 28, at Harvest Christian Center, 116 9th St. NW, North Canton, Ohio, 44720, at 6:30PM. Candidating and election of officers will be the prime item on the agenda.
For those who would want to join Gen J of Stark County, see our e-mail list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GenJ_Club-Stark_County/ Also, see more information, locally, here: http://www.chesca.org/pac/genj/
Mark Stevenson
Generation Joshua Club of Stark County
Monday, May 01, 2006
First Stark County Gen J Meeting
Hi Gen Jer's,We had our very first Stark County meeting on Tuesday, April 25th. Six students were in attendance and we have officially started the club. I am including a couple of pics for your viewing. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16th. If you are interested in attending, we would like you to
consider becoming a member. The following linkis where we are announcing the club from.
Mark Stevenson
Stark County Gen J Club Adult Leader
Welcome!
Check out the advert for our first meeting (over there on the left). Make plans to attend! We've already had one planning meeting, and would love to have you join us!
