Leadership Tips & Training The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

Miss Martin was my P.E teacher and cheerleading sponsor when I was in junior high school. I have never forgotten her words of encouragement so many years ago. The words she spoke came after a great defeat in my young life. I had competed for a position on the varsity cheerleading squad and was terribly disappointed to find out that I was not chosen to be the one freshman on the varsity squad. I had been the head cheerleader my eighth grade year, and my dream was to cheer every year in high school. At 15, it seemed like all my dreams had gone out the window, and I felt totally defeated. I can still remember Miss Martin's words, as though she spoke them yesterday. She came over to me and put her arm around my shoulders and said, "Nancy, I believe that you will be a cheerleader in high school, and in fact you will more than likely be the head cheerleader when you are a senior.   You just give it one year and you will be back cheerleading!"  Those were the words I needed to hear and those were the words that gave me hope. She gave me a gift that day - the gift of encouragement!

First Place Leaders have many opportunities to give the gift of encouragement to their members throughout a 13-week session. Members often times come to class discouraged and defeated. These are challenging times for a leader, as well as open doors to share a word that will bring hope and healing. Isaiah 50:4 says, "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." Many weary First Place members just need to hear a word from their leaders, a word that would sustain them in their disappointment or discouragement. A leader's words can become cemented in a member's mind and be a healing balm to their heart. 

You may be asking, "How will I know what to say?" "How can I encourage someone, when I can't even encourage myself?" I have a few suggestions for encouragement gift giving:

• Encourage yourself! Take time each day to spend time with the Lord. Read His Word and pray daily, seeking refreshment and refueling. Read a daily devotional, highlighting any words that bring you encouragement or conviction. Memorize and meditate on one scripture a week. Each of these suggestions, if done in a consistent manner, will bring you encouragement.

• Share with others how God encouraged you. God never wastes His Word. Isaiah 55:11 says that His Word, "will not return ..... without accomplishing what He desires...." If God used His Word to encourage you, then He will use it again and again to encourage those with whom you share it. 

• Be prayed up before giving the gift of encouragement. When I go Christmas shopping, I do not buy everyone on my list the same thing. I try to buy gifts specific to each person's interests, needs, and personality.   So too, when I speak words of encouragement to my First Place members. I choose my words to fit their special circumstance, need and personality. I would recommend that you read, Your Personality Tree, by Florence Littauer, to gain a better understanding of how to relate appropriately to different personalities. 

I suppose you want to know the rest of the story! Miss Martin was somewhat prophetic! The very next year I made the cheerleading squad and I was the head cheerleader my senior year. She helped me to see the possibilities of the future and to not dwell on the failure of the moment. I not only remember her words, but I share those same words over and over again with my members. I tell them that, "Yes, you can lose weight and you can memorize scripture!" I want them to visualize a future where God reigns in their life and where once they experienced failure, they will now live a victorious life!   It truly is the gift that keeps on giving - the gift of encouragement. Give it away this Christmas and throughout the years to come!

Lead on!

Nancy Taylor
Leadership Training Director
ntaylor@firstplace.org


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.