Leadership Tips & Training Twenty-five Ways to Celebrate First Place!

First Place is celebrating twenty-five years of ministry in 2006.  This is a year of celebration in the life of First Place staff, leaders, and members!  I love a party, so I have compiled a list of twenty-five ways you can celebrate this special anniversary with your First Place class – all year long! If you come up with more ways to celebrate send them to me and I will share it in our next newsletter!
To help with your plan, take a look at the meanings of celebrate from the Encarta Dictionary:  show happiness; mark an occasion; perform a religious ceremony; praise something.  Let’s Celebrate!

   1. Attend the kick-off events in Houston, Texas:
      January 14, 2006
      First Place Workshop
      First Place Pasta Rally
      January 15, 2006
      Houston Marathon
      http://www.hphoustonmarathon.com/

   2. If you are unable to attend the kick off events in Houston, plan your own kick off event.  Host a First Place Rally on a Friday night followed the next day by a First Place 5K Fun Run or Walk.  Take pictures and send them to us to put in the monthly e-newsletter.

   3. First Place Relay.  Plan a First Place Relay event, such as a marathon, half-marathon, or 5K and invite different First Place groups in your area to participate in the events as a team.  For example, if you have 13 members in a First Place class, then each would run/walk two miles and then hand a baton off to another member until they finished a marathon!    

   4. Keep a blessing basket in your First Place classroom.  Each week, have members write down one or more blessings they have experienced that week. During the prayer time, read the blessings and have a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings of the week!

   5. If your church has a weekly newsletter, ask permission to have a First Place Matters section each week. In this section, include how much weight was lost that week and any testimonies of God working in the lives of your members.

   6. At your victory celebrations in 2006, use silver as your theme color in honor of the 25th year of First Place.  Present each person with a small silver wrapped gift box (empty) as the award for completing the session.

   7. Using the New First Place Favorites cookbook, have your members each choose one recipe to prepare for the class and have a First Place Recipe Tasting Party!

   8. Have a T-shirt party!  Everyone creates a First Place 25th anniversary T-shirt and wears it to class.  Ask three people (not in First Place) to judge the T-shirts.  Give prizes for the funniest, the most beautiful, and most colorful.

   9. Have a First Place Prom in May! Instead of a 50’s theme. Have everyone dress in the 80’s (big hair) with an 80’s theme in honor of when First Place started.  To really make this inexpensive, require everyone to purchase their prom dress at a thrift shop!

  10. Open a F.O.C.U.S. Week savings account!  Save $20 a week and by September 14th (deadline for payment), you will have the money to pay for a wonderful week in Round Top, Texas, where you will be celebrating God’s presence from sunup to sundown!  Present this to your members and see if any would want to join you, and make this a weekly segment of your class.  Using a chart, track each person’s giving toward their F.O.C.U.S. Week savings account and celebrate God’s provision!

  11. Attend the First Place Leadership Summit, July 28-29, 2006. Invite a potential leader, co-leader or assistant to come with you to be refreshed, motivated, instructed, and inspired to lead in the coming year.

  12. Use five minutes of your wellness spotlight each week to have a celebration.  Ask members to share anything they would like to celebrate: victories in their eating or scripture memory, weight loss, exercise or anything they would want the class to celebrate with them.  Give a brightly colored balloon to each person who shares, and give out noise makers for people to use in response to what is shared.

  13. Ask members to create a David Letterman top ten list for First Place.  For example, “The top ten characteristics of a First Place member” or “The top ten reasons for filling out a CR.”  Have your group vote on the best list and send it in to First Place.

  14. Create a First Place Scholarship Fund.  At each victory celebration take a love offering to be used to give partial scholarships for those who have a desire to join First Place, but are prohibited from doing so because of their financial needs. 

  15.  Plan a First Place reunion.  Invite former members and current members to celebrate what First Place has meant in their lives.  Make it fun by having someone provide music or plan a fun skit about First Place.  Ask some to give their First Place testimony.

  16. Create a First Place Trivial Pursuit game and play it during class or at your victory celebration.

  17. Attend the First Place conference in Ohio, September 15-16, 2006. Have a contest (Biggest Loser) and give the registration fee as the prize.

  18. Gather your member’s favorite “high calorie” recipes and as a class lighten them by substituting high-fat/sugar ingredients for healthier choices.   Then create a First Place Anniversary cookbook of your own! Sell copies of the cookbook at your church as a fundraiser!

  19.  First Place Shower!  In honor of First Place, host a shower for your church or community food pantry. You may even want to do this at the beginning of a  session, asking members to bring in foods they purchased prior to First Place that do not correspond to the Live-it, for example: sugar, shortening, or cookies.

  20. First Place Quilting Circle.  Those members who quilt may want to create a quilt with squares representing the different Bible studies, commitments, or First Place events.

  21. First Place Scrapbook Party!  Take pictures the first day of a session and ask a member to be the official photographer for the entire session.  For the victory celebration, have each member create a page for a First Place Class Scrapbook. Use the scrapbook as a way to publicize your First Place ministry.

  22. First Place Night of Prayer & Praise.  Plan a praise service for your First Place class, inviting someone to lead worship.  Have members quote the scripture memory verses and pray them for one another.  Use the Bible study’s reflection days as a guide for the service.

  23. Have your class contribute toward the purchase of a Member Kit or several First Place Bible studies and donate them to your church library in honor of First Place.

  24. Make a First Place video starring your class members!  Have someone interview each member, asking one or two questions about their experience in First Place.  Use it to promote First Place in your church or send it to First Place to use in some way.

  25. Ask each First Place member to write a list of the 25 ways they have been blessed by participating in a First Place class.

Now, go out there and celebrate!

Lead on!

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.