Leadership Tips & Training No Excuses - Just Teamwork!

My daughter and I recently participated in a mission project in our city. We were ministering to children and adults in an inner-city housing project. It was a wonderful experience in which we learned so much about ourselves and about how much the Lord loves the world. I also learned something really special about my daughter. The mission project began on a Sunday evening. We were to canvas the area and give out flyers to publicize our week of Vacation Bible School, youth activities and adult Bible study. However, my time was cut short when I received news that my daughter cut her finger while trying to operate a snow-cone machine. We spent the next four hours at the hospital emergency room. She eventually received nine stitches in the tip of her finger. It was quite an ordeal, as Sarah was already not feeling well due to a cold. The next day, I woke her up and told her she did not need to go to her job that day, and she could also stay home and not participate that evening in the mission project. Well, she would not hear of it! She told me that she had to go to work; that they would be counting on her to be there. She went on to inform me that if she was not there to do her job, someone else would have their job to do, plus hers!   She insisted on going to the mission project and fulfilling her commitment to do her part. Wow! What a lesson from a seventeen year-old girl! She knew the meaning of teamwork!

Sarah has played basketball most of her life and I believe that this experience developed character in her life. She knows that every member of the team has a special job that only they can do, and when they are not there, someone else will have to shoulder their load. She has also learned that when you commit to a team, you do not quit! This is one thing my husband and I tried to instill into our children when they were young. Whenever they wanted to sign up to play a sport, we told them that when they signed up, they committed to playing for the entire season. There were no excuses for quitting. We stood by this, even when secretly we would have liked them to quit a few times. I am so thankful that we remained consistent in enforcing this rule, because now I am seeing the fruit of that commitment. 

  As a First Place leader, I have seen some members join First Place, only to drop out or lose interest as the session progressed. Situations come up in their lives that overwhelm them and distract them from the initial commitment they made to First Place. On the other hand, I have seen members who have had every obstacle imaginable, and yet they faithfully attended week after week. I have had members bring in a First Place lunch to our class in a driving rainstorm, and those who have had to call a taxi in order to get to class. The difference in the two types of members is the level of commitment and the understanding of teamwork.  

I consider myself a coach and my First Place class a team. Each week I pray for my members and set out to encourage, inspire, challenge and motivate them to press on. One of the most effective coaching tools I have found is delegation. I ask members to volunteer to bring in prepared recipes, teach wellness spotlight lessons, facilitate the Bible study discussion, or come early to help weigh in the other members. As the coach, I give each of my "players" their assignments and communicate that the rest of the team is counting on them to do their part. The members in turn feel valued and their commitment level usually rises with this added responsibility. I send out prayer requests throughout the week, keeping them connected to their teammates on a regular basis. My co-leader and I share responsibilities. We each take turns facilitating the Bible study discussions and weighing the members. We model before our members the importance of teamwork. The prayer request forms also provide a stimulus for teamwork. Each week they pick a new form from the basket and they know that they are to pray for and encourage the person whom they have picked. 

Teamwork involves working hard together for a common goal and it also involves celebrating together. Make it a point to celebrate something every week. It can be a time of giving thanks and praise to God for who He is and what He has done. The celebration can be testimonies of victories members have experienced that week in eating, exercise or in scripture memory. Take time to celebrate together as a team by sharing the total weight loss for each week. All these coaching tools will be useful as you build a First Place team of members who will be without excuse, because they have learned the value of teamwork! 

Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. -Philippians 2:2-4

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.