Are You Giving Effective Leadership?

Leaders can have tremendous effects upon followers. Their impact upon the organization they lead (or the Teaching Children Effectively™ course they teach) can be profound and powerful. Fiedler and Chemers, whose extensive research on leadership has become classic, found that “The quality of leadership more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization.” Such a statement should be sobering to us as instructors of teachers as we stand before our students and train them to evangelize and disciple children. Did you realize that you and I share a vital responsibility in the success or failure of Child Evangelism Fellowship® and within that, the TCE™ courses?

What makes a leader effective? What are the qualities that keep him or her on the cutting edge? Although leadership has been a topic of intense debate and much speculation for thousands of years, there are several leadership qualities which surface again and again in research literature. Recently I did an in-depth study about effective leadership. Let me share three qualities that stood out.

1. The ability to communicate The ability of the leader to communicate positively with followers is of utmost importance. In our leadership role as IOTs, we must communicate a vibrant forward-looking vision, a vision of multiplying ourselves so that we can reach more children with the Gospel. As leaders we must be able to present an appealing vision which emphasizes the values, strategies, and mission of the group in such a way that our students and other followers will be motivated to support the effort. This in turn gives the leader more credibility with followers and motivates them to higher levels of achievement. There is no doubt that good communication skills contribute greatly to a leader’s success. How are you communicating with others? Will you commit to increasing your communication skills for a more effective ministry?

2. A high concern for people Effective leaders are concerned about the well-being of people. According to research, one of the three qualities critical to a leader’s success is a caring, responsible, and respectful attitude. He or she has a special sensitivity toward the needs of followers and the situations that may affect them. He or she is friendly and considerate, showing concern for their needs and feelings, demonstrating trust and respect and treating them fairly. Are you working to increase this type of concern for your students and co-workers?

3. The empowerment of followers A leader who empowers others works hard to develop and strengthen the capabilities of followers. This involves training. Every time we train a student to use the Wordless Book or to present a Bible lesson or to hold a Good News Club® we are empowering them to have a vital part in the ministry of CEF® and to have an impact in the lives of boys and girls. We are multiplying ourselves in others and empowering them to do the task. It seems like we automatically fulfill this quality of effective leadership as IOTs, however, will you ask God to make you continually more effective in this area?

As an instructor of teachers and a leader, you play a crucial role in Child Evangelism Fellowship and in the Teaching Children Effectively program. The success or failure of the organization is determined by the quality of leadership. Therefore, leadership is not a subject to be treated lightly. May God help each one of us to be ever mindful of continually developing our skills: the ability to communicate, a higher concern for people and the empowerment of our students to reach children for Christ. As a result, we will be more effective at working together to make a greater impact on our world through impacting the lives of the world’s children!

Martha Wright
Vice-President of Education

Thinking of Illustrations

Coming up with good illustrations requres a lot of thought, and thinking is hard work! Remember the old Winnie the Pooh cartoons where poor Pooh is walking around in circles tapping his forehead and muttering to himself, "Think, think, think!" That describes a lot of us as we try to keep our teaching fresh and relevant for our TCE students.

During the IOT advanced training held at our CEF International Conference in May, we enjoyed an evening called Instructors' Cafe Live. It was a fun evening of chatting, eating and idea swapping. There were various tables set up to discuss different topics of interest to IOTs. One of those topics was illustrations.

The facilitator of the illustration group kept notes on what was shared regarding finding, filing and using illustrations in teaching TCE courses. A request was made that we publish the notes from that group in particular. Following are the random ideas that were compiled from those discussions.

1. What makes an illustration effective? It relates to the topic; real life situations; something demonstrated in the lives of the children I’m teaching (GNC); a quote that inspires me personally; if I can visualize it in my head (this helps me understand it better); if it speaks to my heart first; illustrations that are current—not outdated; something that God has taught me or I have gone through (good to use for the devotions); personal events with children.

2. How do you file illustrations? Have a file folder in my drawer & put them in when I find them; when I find them I put them in my lesson plan or file folder on the corresponding TCE subject; have a file on the computer that has illustrations and testimonies; on my computer my files are divided by TCE class subject; have an illustration pool file on the computer where new illsutrations are stored by subject. When one is put into a lesson plan, it is removed from the pool; have a notebook and write down things I hear, then file them.

3. Where do you find your illustrations?

• The Instructors' Cafe


• Country Living magazine (funny things kids say)


• E-mails with quotes, statements from various people


• Our Daily Bread or other devotionals


• Reader’s Digest


• Google search for kid related stories


• E-Sword (has a section of illustrations)


• sermonspice.com (video clips)


• The Story File by Steve May (an illustration book)


• Children’s Defense Fund reports


• Nwspapers (look for local statistics related to children (ask someone clip newspaper articles for you)


• reverendfun.com (cartoons)


• religioustolerance.org


• Quotations from Children’s Bible Essay’s


• The Speaker’s Quote Book by Roy B. Zuck (good to use for introductions & illustrations)


• Things that kids say in club (note: have a helper write it down for you)


• Pastor’s sermons


• Answers in Genesis


• Liberty Counsel (lc.org) for updates on school happenings


• Other IOTs


• Books used in personal reading (devotional, biographical and personal experience books are good);


• Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan.

4. How do you keep from repeating illustrations or overlapping with other instructors? Only use an illustration for six months so you keep updated/fresh; if another IOT in my TCE course uses one of my illustrations I refer back to it and try to tie it with my class; before I teach, look over my lesson plan and try to update and improve on my illustrations; change at least one illustration each time i teach; discuss with co-workers what intro/conclusions & illustrations each are planning to use so there is no overlapping;

An additional note on using quotes as illustrations: Try to find some background information on the person you are quoting so TCE students have a frame of reference for the quote they are hearing (i. e. who exactly was William A. Ward, who said so many insightful things about teaching? Google his name and find out!)

We hope these ideas are helpful and have perhaps made you think about how you find, file or use illustrations. If you have anything to add to these ideas, please click the COMMENT link below and share them with the rest of us!

Rekindle the Light

Every human being loves to feel appreciated. No exceptions! Sometimes a word of appreciation provides just the spark we need to keep going.

Albert Schweitzer once said, “Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”

As teachers and instructors of teachers, we all love to hear words of appreciation from our students. Their gratitude helps validate our ministry and gives us hope that God is still using us to touch lives. Many of us keep “encouragement” files where we store those kind notes, letters and emails from students. We often turn to that file on days when we need a reminder of why we do what we do!

It’s easy to get so caught up in our own need for appreciation that we forget about encouraging others the same way. Why is it we are so quick to criticize, complain or judge, yet so slow to appreciate? Try this little exercise: close your eyes for a few moments and think about someone whom God used in the past to rekindle that light in you. Perhaps it was a teacher, a mentor, or maybe just someone who shared a word of encouragement at just the right time.

Now, here’s your assignment! Sometime in the next 36 hours, commit to sharing a word of appreciation to that person. It could be a phone call, letter, email or even a personal visit. If that person is no longer living, you might want to drop a note to a family member or at least offer a prayer of thanks for that person’s life.

Do you think your appreciation will make a difference. Writer Barbara Glanz challenged a group of people to do this assignment. One man in her group reported back that he had thought immediately of his 8th grade teacher—a woman who had been everybody’s favorite teacher because of the way she challenged them. He located this, now elderly, woman and wrote her a note of appreciation. To his great surprise, she wrote back.

Here is her letter:

“Dear John, You will never know how much your letter meant to me. I am 83 years old, and I am living all alone in one room. My friends are all gone. My family is gone. I taught 50 years and yours is the first ‘thank you’ letter I have ever gotten from a student. Sometimes I wonder what I did with my life. I will read and reread your letter until the day I die.”

The man was incredulous. He said with tears, “She is always the one we talk about at every reunion. She was everyone’s favorite teacher. We loved her! But no one had ever told her.”

So…write that letter or email. Make that phone call or visit. You just never know how God will use your act of kindness and appreciation to rekindle a flame in someone’s heart!

Here’s the last part of your assignment: Click the COMMENT link below and tell us who God brought to your mind. No names please—just tell us if it was a teacher, coach, relative, mentor, etc. If we all do this assignment, there are a lot of folks out there who are about to get rekindled!