As we continue to highlight each of our Six Foundational Pillars of Stoa, this time, we will focus on the fourth pillar.
Pillar Four: We pursue competitive excellence.
What is competition? In Stoa, we expect you to not only learn speech and debate skills but to compete with them.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” You are
sharpening each other, and our goal is pursuing competitive excellence. Competitive excellence means competing with integrity. We practice integrity in performing speeches, integrity in citing evidence and following the rules, integrity in relationships with others and ourselves.
Competitive excellence means good sportsmanship. We treat opponents with kindness and respect. We let others perform their speeches first and help other competitors with their Expos props. We admit when we make a mistake, accept defeat graciously, and forfeit a round when appropriate. 1 Corinthians 9:24 reads, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
This is our goal: to run in such a way as to win the eternal prize. Let’s pursue competitive excellence together.