When Life Gives You Anxiety… Start a Debate Team?

Bethany DuVal • Aug 23, 2018

The panic attacks could hit at any time — on the way to school, in class, hanging out with friends. One moment, Melissa was an ordinary schoolgirl. The next, she was gasping for breath, suffocating on the sidewalk.

What made it extra baffling was that Melissa wasn’t a shy kid. She was outgoing, friendly and determined. And yet, these panic attacks were slowly taking over her life.

As Melissa started the 11th grade, she wondered how she would make it through the year. And soon, she would lose grip of everything.

Too Anxious for School

Melissa’s school was well-organized, with a dependable schedule. But it was so large, it was hard to get to know people. And it was hard to feel safe.

Melissa’s anxiety started when she was 12. By the 11th grade, she struggled to make it through the school day — if she got to school at all.

“I would actually go to school, and then I wouldn’t make it to school,” Melissa says. “I would have to go home because I’d get panic attacks.”

Surprisingly, Melissa’s solace at school was the debate team.

Most people — anxiety disorder or not — get nervous at just the idea of public speaking. But when Melissa took to the debate stage, all her anxiety disappeared. She forgot panic attacks even existed.

“I think about getting my message across, helping other people learn something new about the topic,” Melissa says. “So, it never crosses my mind that I’m nervous or that I have anxiety when I’m debating.”

But eventually, even debate team wasn’t enough to keep Melissa going. The struggle was so great, she couldn’t finish her 11th-grade year. And while her peers looked toward their futures, Melissa watched the walls of her life close in.

Searching for a Safe Haven

It took over a month before Melissa felt strong enough to return to school. But when she did, her parents knew they couldn’t send her back to the same place.

That’s when they discovered Faith Academy — an international school in Manila, Philippines, that originally started for missionary kids.

“Their primary goal is to provide … good education for the children of missionaries so that their families can stay on the field and do a wide variety of missions work,” says TEAM missionary and Faith Academy teacher Seth O’Day.

But over the years, the school has opened its doors to local students as well. And that created a crucial opportunity for Melissa.

Faith Academy was smaller than Melissa’s old school. There were fewer opportunities and no debate team. But when Melissa came on campus, she felt safe.

“Basically, everybody knows each other, so everybody has friends here,” Melissa says. “It’s not possible for you to be alone because there’s so many people who care about you here.”

Melissa’s physics teacher, Seth, opened his classroom at lunch to give students a quiet place to refresh themselves. Melissa was a regular.

And as Melissa’s sense of security grew, she started to open up. And Melissa’s teachers opened up to her.

Finding Strength in Her Struggles

The teachers and students at Faith Academy lived out their faith in a way Melissa had never seen before. Could she really trust God like they did?

Melissa had always seen Christianity as a list of rules to please God. But the teachers at Faith were different.

“When people pray here, it’s like a conversation with God. It’s not a memorized prayer,” Melissa says.

Melissa was shocked by how personal their faith was, but she wanted to experience it for herself. She started seeking God as a friend, and her heart began to change.

One day, Melissa was asked to share a five-minute testimony in chapel. She felt vulnerable standing in front of 200 people, sharing about her struggles with anxiety. But after chapel, something amazing happened: her classmates started to thank her.

“That was actually kind of weird to me because I just talked about my story. What is there to thank me for?” Melissa says. “But then I realized that some people go through it, too. Maybe they don’t have an anxiety disorder like I do, but maybe … they’ve had panic attacks before or they’ve been sad, and they just really relate. ”

For the first time, Melissa realized her personal struggles had the power to bring healing to others.

Soon, she started looking for a bigger way to help her classmates thrive.

New Debate Club Helps Classmates Grow

Melissa knew a debate team could be an exciting thing for her classmates at Faith Academy. Not only had it helped her through her anxiety, but it also led her to new places and gave her new friends. She wanted her classmates to experience that, too.

So, she turned to Seth for help. She needed a faculty advisor, and she knew her fun-loving, hands-on science teacher would be perfect.

They started out small. Four students gathered to watch YouTube videos of debates, while Seth helped them analyze arguments. Melissa asked a friend from another debate team to lead a coaching session for interested students.

By Melissa’s senior year, the team had grown to eight members — and they were getting to compete.

“They hold themselves up so well in front of a crowd now, and they can speak for seven minutes straight without stopping. It’s really fulfilling to see that,” Melissa says.

A Teacher in the Making

Today, Melissa hopes to have the same kind of influence the faculty at Faith Academy had on her. After graduation, she enrolled at the University of the Philippines to study language and literature. She hopes to become a teacher.

“It’s teachers like them who really help me and who really inspire me to do that,” Melissa says. “Because I feel like being a teacher has such a great influence on students. … They help them grow.”

Thank you for supporting teachers at Faith Academy. Because of you, Melissa is pursuing her dream to teach others what you taught her!

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.