Quality time in Manitou

Awesome Small Group

One of my responsibilities on staff is to lead a small group; this session to lead with Sam. Our guys were awesome and we all grew together, and yes, that is a picture of Sean eating three pieces of pizza at once. The girls small groups couldn't even eat a full pizza, my guys ate five.

The William C. Doublestein Official Seal of Approval

Here is a copy of my speech introducing my official seal of approval. This is for the Summit staff auction, a fundraiser for smuggling Bibles, Christian flags, "Jesus" films, and video players to the people of Sudan. Session 1 raised $178.


Hello and good evening,

By now I suspect that most of you have heard speculation on the significance of the William C. Doublestein Official Seal of Approval, and it is my hope that in the few minutes I can clear up any misconceptions. You may be wondering, what value is my approval to you? Will it change your life? Will it take you places you’ve only dreamed? Will it make people like you? Think you’re cool? Will it capture the attention of that special girl enough to make her fall in love with you? And of course the answer to all these questions is a loud and strong YES.

When you buy my approval, you will join a group of the coolest, most-looked up to, trendy, and classy people in the entire world. Complete with your very own certificate of authenticity, video message for your Facebook, and immortal display of your name on the approval board to be displayed in the Summit hotel (possibly forever), it is certain that opportunities like these don’t present themselves every day. But don’t take my word for it.

Jon Eliot McClure, a Texan approved in 2009 had this to say: “The William C. Doublestein Seal of Approval helped give me the confidence to start coaching middle school basketball teams, and run training camps through the summer. It has also boosted my awesomenisity and oober style while landscaping in Texas, where I plan on becoming a fireman.“ Thanks Jon.

Or perhaps Esther Jentzen, a Michigander also approved in 2009, who said (and I quote), “It has given me so much confidence to know that I HAVE WILL'S APPROVAL!! Before I had the William C Doublestein Seal of Approval I was lost, just a typical kid not knowing what I could achieve. But now I have a new found faith in myself and am inspired to follow my dream of being awesome.”

Ladies and gentlemen, in closing I want to present to you a question. Dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to have the William C. Doublestein Official Seal of Approval? Think on this, and bid for the kids of Sudan. Thank you.

Week 1

Hey everyone. I've been here for just over a week and wanted to give you a few of the highlights:

-Attending lectures including "Marriage and Family," "Christianity and Anti-Intellectualism," and "Taking a Stand" by Dr. Jeff Myers, "Sudan" by Dr. Peter Hammond, "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" by Dr. Frank Turek, "Economic and Cultural Marxism" by Dr. Mike Adams, and "Christianity and Culture" by John Stonestreet.

-Attending the open forums of Ryan Dobson, Dr. Mike Adams, Dr. Peter Hammond, and Dr. Jeff Myers. Open forums are times for students to ask any questions they choose.

-Hiking Red Mountain and the Incline.

-Learning from the most powerful small group yet.

-Watching Robin Hood with Summit staff.

-Rock Climbing.

-Making breakfast and lunch for about 170 people.

-Writing one and a half chapters of my book.

-Keeping up with about a million relationships all over the country, especially my girlfriend Katrina.

Until next time friends. Try not to be too jealous :)

-Will

William C. Doublestein v. 2.0

Hey everyone, I'm back to blogging! Hopefully this will be a good way of keeping you up to date on my life while I'm living in Colorado. But for those of you who only know me from Summit, you may care for an update of how far I've come over the past year. Here are a few of the highlights:

-Reading- Before last summer I hadn’t read a book for pleasure in years. The reason for this was my frustration with mainly reading books on Civil Rights and the Holocaust in public school, and I had no idea the gems that are out there on subjects that interest me for brilliance rather than politics. Since then I am proud to have read 15 books, and this summer I will be writing my first. Here's the list in order of amazingness: The Last Battle, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, A Grief Observed, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Magician's Nephew, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Horse and His Boy, The Silver Chair, The Case for Christ, Mere Christianity, For Men Only, The Four Loves, The Abolition of Man.

-Leadership- As someone who has been blessed with an extremely supportive family and incredible opportunities, it's my responsibility to use what I've been given to make a difference for Christ. Much of this I believe is tied to taking leadership. Perhaps the most explicit example of this from last year has been my involvement with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Ball State. The future holds a lot of potential for growth in our chapter, and I've decided to be involved in making change on our campus.

-Confidence- This past semester I focused on increasing confidence in sight of nervousness. I tend to get extremely nervous when being judged and evaluated for school, and I made great strides by successfully completing a conducting course where I regularly conducted a 50 person band and by successful performing a solo percussion recital.

-Masculinity- After working at Summit I realized the importance of having heroes and upholding godly masculinity. The Patriot, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, and Braveheart have helped, but there's lots more man movies to see.

-Imagination- My goal is to write a book in a year, from December to December. It's going to be a fairy tale about shadows and reflections, and thinking outside of the box has helped me to keep my thinking from relying on the senses.

-Relationships- You can trust me without the details, there's been a lot of growth.

Hopefully that gives you a pretty good overview of my year. There has certainly been bad times along with the good, and I can't wait to see how I'll grow again this year.

-Will