Our Team
Coaches
Josiah Hemp
CEO & Head Coach
Coaches: LD, TP, Moot Court, Platforms, Interps, Limited Preps, writing, & general public speaking.
Josiah is the founder of Rhetoric LLC. His past accomplishments include: placing 2nd at the NCFCA National Championship in Lincoln-Douglas, numerous top awards in Team Policy Debate and Moot Court, and awards in 8 kinds of speech competition. He is studying journalism at Patrick Henry College. He is a member of the varsity Moot Court Team.
Josiah is passionate about equipping students to become better communicators for God’s glory. He uses his strong analytical abilities and clear communication style to coach and teach with excellence.
Wyatt Trull
Coach
Coaches: TP, LD, Limited Preps, & Platforms.
Wyatt Trull competed in NCFCA for four years. He won tournaments at the regional and national level in Lincoln Douglas, Team Policy, Apologetics, and Extemp, qualifying to nationals in each of his last three years in four events. At the National Championship, he placed 9th in Lincoln Douglas in 2021, 3rd in Lincoln Douglas in 2022, and at the 2023 National Championship, he was blessed to win 1st place in Team Policy, Team Policy speaks, and Apologetics, as well as placing 4th in Impromptu.
Wyatt is attending Patrick Henry College this fall where he plans to continue pursuing the Lord and honing his skills for His glory! Wyatt hopes to come alongside students to help them achieve not only excellence in competition, but also excellence in character and integrity while doing so.
Ben McKay
Coach
Coaches: LD, Platforms, Interps, Apol, & Impromptu.
Ben is renowned for his winsome speaking style, kindness, thoughtfulness, and humility. Although his senior year was cut short in 2020, his five years in NCFCA included many notable accomplishments in LD, Moot Court, Platforms, Interps, and Limited Preps, including various speech placings at the National level of competition. Additionally, in the final tournament of 2020, the Anderson National Mixer, he came in first place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, qualifying to the national championship.
Ben is passionate about equipping his students to serve God’s Kingdom. He seeks to help his students think critically, communicate graciously and effectively, and to demonstrate the truth of Christ to a dying world.
Emily Butts
Coach
Coaches: Apologetics, Impromptu, Platforms, Interps, & General Public Speaking.
Emily Butts competed in NCFCA for seven years. She has been privileged to place in 8 speaking events, including winning 5 speeches at Regionals and winning Apologetics and Impromptu at the National Championship. Emily is attending Anderson University to major in Elementary Education.
Emily loves to watch students catch the spark of excitement that she feels for public speaking, and she pours great enthusiasm and joy into her coaching. She desires to help her students fulfill the call of 1 Peter 3:15 as they articulate the hope they have in Christ through excellent, grace-filled speaking.
Luke Pollock
Coach
Coaches: TP, LD, Moot Court, Parli, Platforms, Extemp, & General Public Speaking.
Luke Pollock has competed in NCFCA all 4 years of high school, in every style of speech and of debate. He has won regional and national tournaments in Lincoln-Douglas, Team-Policy, Moot Court, Extemporaneous, and Digital Presentation. Outside of NCFCA, he has won the American Legion Oratorical Contest for his state, placed first in Extemporaneous and Lincoln-Douglas and qualified to NITOC in Parli in Stoa, and has participated in the Calvin Coolidge Cup for three years.
Luke has experience in and passion for coaching speech and debate. He is attending the University of Alabama as an Honors student to continue building his skills in communications (his major), while also competing on his college Mock Trial team. Luke hopes to teach students ranging from veterans to those just starting out to develop their communication skills just as his coaches have helped him.
Joshua Wales
Coach
Coaches: LD, TP, Platforms, Limited Preps, & General Public Speaking.
Joshua Wales competed in NCFCA for seven years. During his time in the league, he won tournaments in Moot Court, Team Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Apologetics, Impromptu, and multiple other events. He was blessed to win the Region VII Championship in Lincoln-Douglas, Apologetics, and Impromptu, and placed 2nd in Apologetics at the National Championship.
Joshua is attending Covenant College, where he continues pursuing the Lord and teaching others how to share the Gospel with excellence and eloquence. Joshua believes speech and debate is an opportunity to hone your mind to display Christ and is passionate about coaching his students.
Hope Thigpen
Coach
Coaches: Platforms, Writing, & General Public Speaking.
Hope Thigpen competed for five years in NCFCA. Throughout those years, she enjoyed several events, including all three forms of debate and eight speech categories. Her favorite categories during her time in NCFCA were Digital Presentation and After Dinner Speaking. Although success in NCFCA didn't exactly come with ease to Hope, she used moments of disappointment to point her towards the ultimate goal of speaking: glorifying God. Persevering through her struggles, she was blessed to place 4th at the National Championship in Digital Presentation.
Hope is studying journalism at Patrick Henry College. Through her coaching, Hope desires for students to see the beauty of public speaking and writing to further the Kingdom of God.
Sourcebook Team
Victoria Campbell
Lincoln-Douglas Sourcebook Writer
Victoria Campbell was heavily involved in NCFCA for five years, competing in Team Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Moot Court, and multiple speech events. Lincoln-Douglas debate quickly became Victoria’s favorite event, and she was blessed to win first place in both Lincoln-Douglas and the LD Speaker Award at her last Regional Championship. She has also won National Opens in Apologetics and Digital Presentation, and placed 2nd in Impromptu at the 2022 National Championship.
Victoria is currently a student at Samford University, pursuing a double major in Music and History. Part of two philosophically based honors programs at Samford, Victoria has gained an even stronger background for value debate than she had in high school, and she is excited to use her skills and knowledge as a sourcebook writer to aid competitors and help them reach their full potential.
Nathan Dudley
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
Nathan Dudley is an NCFCA Alumnus who competed in the league for 4 years. He participated in 8 speech categories and 3 forms of debate of which his favorite categories are Team Policy Debate and Duo Interpretation. Some of his more notable debate achievements include placing 3rd at the NCFCA 2023 National Championship, qualifying to semifinals in Team Policy 8 times, and being awarded 2nd place Team Policy Speaker at the 2023 Region VII Regional Championship.
Nathan is passionate about both speech and debate, and strives to discover unique topics, arguments, and ways to present them. He strives to do all to the glory of the Lord. He will be attending Covenant College in the Fall.
Nathan Chen
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
Nathan Chen is a current NCFCA competitor of 3 years. In Team Policy, he won Regionals two years in a row and placed 8th at Nationals in 2022. This past year, he won a National Open in LD. Throughout the year Nathan earned 1st place rankings in LD speaks and placed 3rd in LD speaks at Nationals. He has also qualified for Nationals in Apologetics, Extemporaneous, Informative, and Persuasive.
Nathan appreciates how NCFCA teaches life skills necessary to navigate a post-Christian culture and desires to help young Christians develop their communication skills and resiliency to prepare them for Kingdom work.
Meredith Monroe
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
Meredith Monroe graduated from Patrick Henry College in 2019 with a degree in Economics and Business Analytics, and in 2022 from Tel Aviv University with a Global MBA. As an analyst, she uses mathematics, logic, and critical thinking skills to tell the stories hidden in a database of numbers. Meredith’s public speaking skills are primarily used in teaching Sunday School at church, but have also led to academic and professional success. Judged on both presentation and written analysis, her awards include the Excellence in Business Planning award from Patrick Henry College, and 2022 International Champion in the Monitor Deloitte consulting competition.
In a world where data is used to obfuscate rather than illuminate the truth, Meredith is excited for this opportunity to teach students how to find and effectively communicate the truth.
Jesse Castrinos
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
During his 5 years of competition in NCFCA, Jesse competed in Team Policy debate, Moot Court, Platform speeches, and Limited Prep speeches, placing in every single event. Winning multiple tournaments in Team Policy, Jesse has also won tournaments in speaker awards and Apologetics. He was blessed to compete at the National Championship during his last 3 years in the league. By the end of his senior year, Jesse and his partner were the #1 TP team in the At-Large rankings leading up to the National Championship.
Jesse is currently attending Patrick Henry College where he is pursuing a degree in American Politics and Policy and competing on the varsity Civic Debate team. Ultimately, Jesse believes that the purpose of Speech and Debate is to equip individuals to serve as Christ's ambassadors to the world through excellence in both speech and conduct.
Cooper Cobbs
Lincoln-Douglas Sourcebook Writer
Cooper Cobbs is a current NCFCA competitor who has competed in both styles of debate and numerous speech events. By the grace of God, he has won tournaments in Apologetics, Extemporaneous, Informative, and was blessed to place fourth in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2023 NCFCA National Championship.
Cooper loves debate and writing and is excited use his skills and passions to glorify God by working on an excellent sourcebook.
Rebecca Gilchrist
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
Rebecca Gilchrist is an NCFCA alumnus, who excelled in various speech categories and both styles of debate. Throughout her time in the NCFCA, she advanced to finals in Lincoln Douglas debate and nine speech categories. In her 2023 senior season, she was blessed to win tournaments in Apologetics, Extemporaneous, Informative, Persuasive, Lincoln-Douglas speaking, and Team-Policy speaking.
She has a passion for philosophy and logic, which she seeks to share in her writing. Ultimately, her focus is to glorify God in thought, word, and deed. For this reason, she looks forward to advancing His Kingdom through writing high-quality sourcebook material.
Cyrus Aryani
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer
Cyrus competed in the NCFCA for his whole high-school career, competing in Team Policy, Moot Court, and limited preps. During his time in the league, he was blessed to receive multiple top 3 rankings in Team Policy, Apologetics, and Extemporaneous, including winning tournaments in Extemp and TP and finishing 7th in TP at the 2023 National Championship. Cyrus finished his senior year #1 in both TP and Extemp At-Large rankings, as well as accumulating 3 separate national slots in Moot Court and finishing 2nd in overall Moot Court At-Large rankings.
Cyrus hopes to glorify God in whichever capacities he is led, but currently hopes to pursue a career in aviation journalism. The current resolution is thus quite exciting for him to dive into. He is looking forward to provide students with quality research material!
Connor Appelboom
Lincoln-Douglas Sourcebook Writer & Blogger
Connor competed in NCFCA for four years. During his time in the league, he won multiple first place awards in Lincoln-Douglas in addition to several other placings in both debate and speech. In 2023 Connor capped off his debate career by placing in LD at the national championship. Starting in the fall, Connor will study journalism at Patrick Henry College.
With his interests in philosophy and theology, Connor hopes to assist others by shedding light on the debate resolutions and how to view them from a Christian perspective, both in his sourcebook work and in blog posts.
Charlee Amason
Team Policy Sourcebook Writer & Blogger
Charlee is a current competitor in NCFCA and enjoys competing in every category. In the 2023 season, she was a Team Policy and Lincoln Douglas finalist. She qualified for Nationals in 2023 in seven speeches and earned 5th place in the Moot Court National Championship. Charlee spends much of her free time researching current events, reading about philosophy and theology, and practicing guitar and piano.
Originally dragged into the NCFCA by her mother at the first tournament of 2020, she quickly discovered a passion for competing in speech and debate. Above the competition, she prioritizes bringing glory and honor to God, and she hopes to express that through her speeches and how she interacts with others.
PLUS: Coaches Josiah Hemp and Joshua Wales are writing for both sourcebooks!
Blog Team
Jordan Im
Blog Writer
Jordan Im has competed through NCFCA in Lincoln Douglas, Team Policy, Moot Court, Informative, Persuasive, Digital Presentation, Extemporaneous, and Impromptu. A finalist in each category of speech as well as in Lincoln-Douglas debate, in 2022 she’s won 5 speeches in tournaments, including placing 1st in Digital Presentation at a National Open.
A lifelong writer, she was first published for her work at seven years old. Passionate about expressing God’s love through communication within and outside of tournaments, she’s excited to share what she has learned from competing in a way that inspires, encourages, and challenges growth in others.
John Weaver
Blog Writer
John is a rising senior who has competed in NCFCA for 5 years. During these 5 years, John has competed in all styles of debate, 8 different speech categories, and used plenty of his parents' money. In 2021 he placed 4th in Team Policy and 6th in Open Interpretation at the regional championship qualifying for Nationals in TP. In 2022, John semi-consistently made finals in Open at regional qualifiers.
John is very excited to work with Rhetoric LLC and hopes his blog posts can help newer students see what he has learned through his five years of experience.
Christian Park
Blog Writer
Christian is a current NCFCA competitor who competed for 2 years in Lincoln-Douglas, Team Policy, and Moot Court. In the 2022 season, he qualified to nationals for both debate and Moot Court, received multiple speaker awards for debate, won 1st in LD at a qualifier, and placed 8th at the National Championship.
Christian found a passion for debating and hopes to spread some of his experiences and thoughts with new and veteran debaters through Rhetoric LLC's blog.
Join the team!
If you are passionate about equipping Christians to communicate excellently, consider applying to join the team!