Leadership Tips & Training Teaching the 2nd 13-week Session

After completing our first session of First Place, what do I teach the second 13-week session?

This question continues to surface very often, as new leaders are drawing close to the end of their very first session. Here are some suggestions:

• Plan to offer an orientation meeting for anyone who is interested in joining First Place for the first time. You will want to conduct this meeting about 2 weeks prior to the start of your new session.
• Make a copy of the blank session overview form, found in the leader guide pages 82-83 and use it to plan your entire session.
• Choose one of the First Place Bible studies to use the next session. There is no set order in which you are to complete the studies. New and returning members will complete the same study. 
• The first two meetings are basically the same as the first session. You will present the food plan, how to fill out the CR and review the nine commitments. Returning members will only benefit from a review of the food plan. You will also want to plan an activity that will help them get to know one another during the second meeting.
• You will want to combine both the new members with the returning members. This will be motivation for the returning members and encouraging for the new members. New members bring enthusiasm back to the returning member and the returning member can help guide the rookie member.
• Survey your members to find out their interests, and ask what they hope to gain from participating in First Place.This will help you plan further activities for the class.
• You will want to assign the most important wellness worksheets again, such as Finding Your Healthy Weight and Choosing Your Calorie Level to help the new member get started and to help the returning member re-evaluate where they are and where they want to be. 
• Then choose the wellness worksheets from the Member Guide and the Bible study that will help the members reach their desired goals, based on the member survey.

      
To make things more interesting, ask members, especially the returning members, to volunteer to facilitate discussion of a day or week of the Bible study. You may also want to ask them to research a topic, such as high blood pressure, weight training, or fiber and make a report of their findings   to the class.

Nancy Taylor
Leadership Training Director

Nancy Taylor is the First Place Leadership Training Director and joined the First Place staff in 1997. Nancy teaches leadership principles to First Place Leaders throughout the country and at Houston's First Baptist Church where she coordinates all the First Place groups. . Nancy also speaks at First Place workshops, rallies, retreats, and conferences, where she delights her audiences with humor and encourages them with boldness. She writes a monthly article, which includes helpful tips for leaders, for the First Place E-newsletter, and was a contributing writer to the Today is the First Day devotional book. Nancy is the resident First Place Bible Concordance because of her love for Scripture memory.