Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Washington Briefing

Hey y'all!

Brrr....hot chocolate time! Are your trees "shedding" yet? The ones here are very reluctant to change colors, but when they do it'll be beautiful! This is a very overdue post, but read on.....

The Washington Briefing was really great, and I'm so glad I was able to go again. The only thing I'm not too pleased about....I'm not a big picture person. I like taking pictures, but I never seem to remember until too late that "I have a camera!" So I don't have any decent pictures for you all. But I worked really hard to get find links to make up for that, so have fun checking them out.

There was a real sense of excitement and energy, mainly because of the McCain/Palin ticket this presidential election, I think. The first speakers Lou Dobbs and Joe Gibbs really set the tone for Friday. They were funny, crisp, and energizing. Then, an interesting topic: Demographic Winter, introduced by Don Feder, with a teaser trailer (it's a fascinating documentary; I saw it last year). After that I went in and out of the conference room, so I don't really remember who else spoke that afternoon....

Saturday was another great day. I heard some of Shawn Hannity, as well as Ken Wales (producer of Amazing Grace and in a few years, a sequel to Chariots of Fire), and Star Parker. There break-out sessions that promised to be interesting, but we left early that day because we were tired from activities earlier in the week.

The two speakers who impacted me the most would be Lila Rose and Steve Baldwin. The latter was a humble man with...well, it's kind of hard to describe him. He was saved later in life...he is the real deal. I don't really remember all of his speech, but I do remember his attitude. Humble and bold. Hilarious but also serious. Calm yet absolutely brimful of energy. He has a passion for reaching young people, especially unsaved ones. Praise God for men like him!

Lila Rose
(more about her in another post!) is a twenty-year old with a practical vision for making a difference about abortion. She began by going undercover as a pregnant girl seeking an abortion and recording the Responses of the Planned Parenthood personnel. Now she has her own group, Live Action, which is "dedicated to the respect and protection of all human life including the unborn. We use new media and educational presentations to share the truth about life and the threats to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness posed against the born and unborn." I'm going to do a "Website Highlite" about her site and I hope to interview her sometime in the next couple weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

So yeah, I would definitely encourage people to attend the Briefing. You get a lot of inside information, as well as the opportunity to see/meet conservative leaders. A date for next year has already been set: September 18-20, at the Omni Shoreham (a magnificent hotel). Mark it on your calenders, and don't forget, students get a special rate.

See you there!

~Ericka

::EDIT:: Aha! Go here to watch Stephen Baldwin's speech.