Leadership Tips & Training Leadership: A Never Ending Journey

Journey-Process of development- a gradual passing from one state to another regarded as more advanced, for example, from innocence to mature awareness. - Encarta Dictionary

My daughter graduated from high school just a few short weeks ago. She completed one part of her educational journey. The journey began as she cried all the way home from the hospital just two short days after her entrance into this world, proclaiming to the world her leadership potential. She was disciplined her first day of Kindergarten for kicking a boy who had bullied the other kids. Since that time she has taken some detours and some vacations, along with many miles of consistent travel. She has tried gymnastics, singing, soccer, softball, basketball, and even a little rap along the way. Sarah has gradually grown into a caring leader on and off the athletic court. Now, she is a veteran high-school student ready to begin her rookie year of college. The journey continues!

First Place leadership is also a journey that continues on and on. It begins as a vision or dream placed in a person's heart. The dream becomes reality when one steps out in faith and answers God's call to lead others on a total wellness journey. A First Place leader may have many twists and turns along the way that cause discouragement and disillusionment. However, if the leader stays the course, the bumps along the way will give way to inspiration and eventually growth. As Galatians 6:9 tells us, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 

None of us will ever become the perfect leader that knows all the answers. There will be trials and tests along the way that we will pass and those that we will fail. However, just as the definition of journey indicates, the leadership journey will continue to gradually take us to higher levels of leadership.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV )
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

The key to a leadership journey that never ends is that it always moves forward. Holly Kutil, a networking leader from Ohio, sent me an email recently that ended with this statement: "If you are coasting, you are going downhill," which is very good advice for all leaders! If you are not moving forward on your journey, then chances are that you are either standing still or going backwards - downhill.

I have a favorite quote that I use at orientations, but it truly motivates me to continue on this leadership journey.

"Not many of us are living at our best. We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills. We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence, what glory awaits us if only we had courage for the mountain climb," what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God." -J.R.M.

This summer, don't be tempted to quit the leadership journey. Instead, stay the course, moving forward, and growing with the bumps and detours along the way.

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.