Seeking Success? Avoiding Failure? Where Is Your Focus?

From time to time we are honored to have a guest post on our blog. Today we are privileged to hear from Mr. Jim Neigh, CEF Vice President of International Ministries. Recently, Jim wrote an article for IM’s publication, ILink, that we thought would be an encouragement to you. We all deal with feelings of failure at times in our ministry, but how we deal with failure is often a matter of perspective. Following is Jim’s article on this subject, used with his permission.

A few years ago I came across a book by motivational speaker and writer John C. Maxwell titled Failing Forward (Thomas Nelson Publications). I highly recommend it for your reading (and your library). Reading the book started me thinking about how failure affects our lives and the ministry of CEF. The book caused me to ask myself questions like: How do I perceive failure? How do I respond to failure? Is failure inevitable? Do I allow failure to negatively affect future action? If I were to ask you those questions, how would you answer?

Someone once said that success is 99 percent failure. J. Wallace Hamilton said, "People are training for success when they should be training for failure. Failure is far more common than success." It is important that we be trained and equipped to be successful in ministry, and we need to be putting such training into action. But when one comes back to Mr. Hamilton's words "Failure is far more common than success" one realizes that we are too often ill equipped to deal with failure in our lives and ministry. That includes personal failure and failure in the lives of those we know and those with whom we serve.

How do you perceive failure? How do you respond to failure? Are you learning from it and getting on with your life and ministry? Or do you let it get you down and keep you from doing ministry as effectively as you could? Let me share a thought from Donald Luce in his book Time-Out Leadership (Thomas Nelson Publications).

"Are you dedicating your energies in the pursuit of success, or are you spending your energies trying to avoid failure? No one likes to fail. The disappointment and embarrassment can be debilitating for many, especially for those with big egos.

"How do you get over the failure complex then? Start by seeing each failure as an opportunity to learn. If you succeeded in everything you did on the very first attempt, you would have no basis for what success feels or looks like. You acquire new skills only by understanding the dynamics of why they work. That usually happens when you grasp the consequences of not applying the skill. When you get it wrong, you have the opportunity to evaluate what you can do to be better the next time. You get the chance to improve on your style or design. Celebrate failure. Through it you will understand success."

Think of men in the Bible who could have been considered failures: Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and many others. But they were not failures. They failed, learned from their failure and went on to be used mightily of God for His purposes!

The idea of using failure as a stepping stone to more effective ministry has been in the minds of leaders throughout the ages. Here are some short quotes. Read them slowly and think about the impact each statement can have in your life.

• "When we give ourselves permission to fail, we at the same time give ourselves permission to excel." - Musicologist Eloise Ristad

• "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." - Thomas Alva Edison

• "Failing doesn't make us failures. It makes us experienced. Failing should never be used as a means to disqualify." - Author unknown

• "What you have to tell yourself is, 'I'm not a failure; I failed at doing something.'" - Author Erma Bombeck

• "Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, 'No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.'" - Author unknown

• "Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him. Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action." - Oswald Chambers

Consider these thoughts before the Lord in the light of Ephesians 3:20, then determine to "fail forward" to His glory and for the sake of the children!

One Bloom at at Time

In his book, Minute Motivators for Teachers, Stan Toler observes, “A gardener doesn’t raise a crop of roses. He cultivates the flowers one bloom at a time.”

What is true of gardening is also true of teaching. As you train your TCE students, you must cultivate them one at a time. Of course, when you work with roses you've got to expect a few thorns! We've all encountered those "thorny" students in our courses, haven't we? But God can helps us work around those obstacles as we seek to cultivate each student so he or she can blossom in the ministry of reaching children.

Following are some of Stan Toler’s suggestions for being a good trainer/cultivator, which we have adapted for our ministry as IOTs:

1. Teach Sincerely
Your TCE students are not only affected by your skills, they are influenced by the way you live. The greatest lessons you will ever teach will come from your own experience in reaching children. Your transparency before your students will be a greater source of inspiration than your facts or theories. Be real with your TCE students. Let them know about times you struggled as well as the victories you have achieved.

2. Teach Purposefully
Vibrant teaching focuses on building productivity and responsibility. It observes weaknesses and teaches strengthening. It recognizes possibilities and offers plans. It estimates damages and offers reconstruction. These are good principles to keep in mind as you evaluate and grade your TCE students. Remember, it’s not about the grades—it’s about encouraging your students and helping them strengthen their teaching.

3. Teach Methodically
Methods must fit the occasion and lessons must be aimed at the learning level of your students. And don’t forget, steady doses are better than overdoses. Don’t unload the truck on those TCE students! Layer your teaching a little at a time. Be clear and methodical, especially in those skill-building classes like Scripture Memorization and Bible Lesson Preparation and Presentation.

4. Teach Sacrificially
Every leader is given a moment—a window of opportunity that may never open again—to influence a life. You may have to subtract time or energy in order to add the resources for someone’s development. As you no doubt realize, being an instructor of teachers is not a 9 to 5 job! Some of your TCE students are going to require a greater sacrifice of your time and energy than others to succeed. Invest in your students—they are the future of your ministry!

5. Teach Sympathetically
The best teaching comes from the heart. Your students not only need your experience, they also need your attention. Teach them by not only respecting who they are, but also by what they will become. Howard Hendricks reminds us, “Teaching that impacts lives is not from head to head, but from heart to heart.” Let your TCE students see an instructor who is patient, kind and compassionate. What they learn from your heart will be remembered long after they have forgotten what they learned from your mind.

Someone once said, “We should be in the business of building people up. There are too many people in the demolition business.” You have a unique opportunity as an instructor of teachers to build child evangelists and disciplers. But you won’t accomplish that task if you view your students as a crop of teachers. Cultivate your students one bloom at a time and watch your garden grow and flourish!

Judas Asparagus?

Do you sometimes wonder if the children you teach are really listening and understanding what you say? We know it’s easy for kids to get the facts mixed up or to misunderstand – especially if we are not careful in our explanations and applications!

Here is an overview of Scripture from one child who was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible:

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one,' but I think He must be a lot older than that.
Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world. He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something. One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.') During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Wow! Hopefully, some of his version of Bible events made you smile! But the unfortunate truth is that many children today are growing up with little or no true understanding of Scripture. It’s been said that the current generation is one of the most biblically illiterate in many years.

This is all the more reason for those Bible Lesson Preparation and Presentation classes you teach in the TCE courses! Be sure your teachers understand how to study God’s Word. Help them apply proper biblical hermeneutics as they work through the “RCA” steps of preparation. The more clear and accurate they are in their teaching, the less confusion there will be among the children.

We sure don’t want our GNC kids to be telling people about Judas Asparagus! Challenge your teachers to study hard and communicate God’s Word with clarity and simplicity.

God Knows My Name!

Have you ever thought about how personal our God is? We understand that God is omniscient – all knowing. That means, among other things, that He knows our names, our personality traits and our “quirks.” Each of us had to come to God by faith in Christ, personally, for our salvation. And God continues to deal with us personally and individually.

In our TCE courses, we often remind our students of the importance of personalizing their teaching. We encourage them to avoid using terms such as we, us and everybody. Though inclusive, those terms are impersonal and may not communicate to a child the relationship God desires to have with him or her. Instead, we say “God loves you; you have sinned; Jesus died and rose again for you.” When they trust in Christ as Savior, we teach them to remember on their hand, “I (Jesus) will never leave you (child’s name).”

Recently, a testimony came across our desk that was a beautiful reminder of two things: how important it is for a child to know God in a personal way and how far our loving God will go to reach out to His children.

Our thanks to Emily Ramsdell, CEF director in Syracuse, NY, for sending us this wonderful testimony. It comes from one of her teachers, Gail Buel, who teaches an after-school GNC. Her club was beginning the Wordless Book Visualized lessons to go along with a witnessing emphasis using the Wordless Book bracelets:

Last week we began teaching the gold page, which is about Heaven. One of the illustrated pages contains pictures of "things that will be in Heaven,” including a picture of the Lamb's Book of Life.

One of our little girls, Alicia, grade 2, was listening so intently to the teaching. When I said that each person who has placed their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins will have their name written in the Book of Life, she smiled to think her name was there since she had made that decision, but then frowned and raised her hand.

When I called on her, she said she was very sad because she just knew that her name would not be spelled correctly in the Book—apparently, this has been an ongoing problem for her, and she had tears in her eyes and a quivering little lip as she told us all about it. After reassuring her that Jesus knew how to spell her name and giving her a hug, we moved on, but she seemed unconvinced.

After the lesson, we moved on to the review game provided with the lesson. Around question #7, Mr. Drew called on Alicia to answer a question and she got it right - this entitled her to pick a special card from a stack, at random, and to say whether the picture on the card would be something that would be in Heaven, or would not be in Heaven.

Alicia leaned over to pick a card, turned it over, and was staring at a picture of the Book of Life! She proudly announced the correct answer and then called out in disbelief, "Mrs. Buel, look! My name is in the Book, and it is SPELLED RIGHT!"

Sure enough, I looked, and there was her name, "Alicia", along with a list of other names, on the pre-printed card! What an incredible gift God gave to that little girl that day in club – we were all so happy and rejoicing with her over this small miracle! He is in the details of our lives, every day, all the time! Praise the Lord!

Isn’t that a precious testimony? How special of God to provide such reassurance to Alicia!

This could be a great illustration in some of your TCE classes. Obviously, it could be used in TCE Level 1, when you teach the sessions on How to Lead a Child to Christ. It could also be used in teaching Counseling a Child for Salvation or Encouraging the Newly-Converted Child.

In TCE Level 2, this illustration might be used in teaching Developing the Child’s Appreciation of God, Bible Lesson Preparation and Presentation (related to applications) or Basic Needs of the Child.

Beyond its illustrative value though, this testimony should be a joy and comfort to your own heart. God knows you, individually and personally, and He delights in assuring you of His love. As He said to Israel: “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

Tommy's Story - A Cyber Testimony!

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We are excited about the students in our first TCE Level 1 course at CMI Online! God blessed us with eight students to be our historic first class. Included in this class is a missionary to the Ukraine and one to the Philippines. Our online instructors report that the students are doing well and progressing toward completion of the course on March 13 and eventually, their certificates.

As part of the online version of the TCE course, students are required to evaluate their teaching experience through a journal. In one of their assignments, students had to journal about their experience in sharing the Wordless Book. One student wrote the following testimony and gave us permission to share it with you. The child’s name has been changed for privacy purposes.

A nine year old boy sat in front of me. He was happy, restless, looking all around the room. His mother sat next to him, helping me with the Wordless Book chart, as I had asked her to track me so I wouldn't forget the Bible verses or links.

I presented the gold page and Tommy talked about treasures. He likes the color of the page and when I mention that in Heaven, where Jesus lives, the streets are paved with gold - well, he wants to go there. I circle back to how much God loved the world - and we are in the world, yes? He nods and I tell him how much God loves him and wants him to be in Heaven forever with Him. I tell him that Heaven is a beautiful, precious place - but one thing that can't be in Heaven is sin.

He mentions sin is something that hurts God. I agree and we talk through the dark page. He says that when you hide something that doesn't belong to you, it is wrong. His mother pipes up with stealing someone's toy and not telling them you were the one who took it. Tommy gets it. We discuss the "want to" sin nature that Tommy can understand. He is looking around the room but when I tell him that God wants you, Tommy, to go to Heaven - and that He has a wonderful plan so Tommy can enter Heaven and live with Him forever, he looks straight at me and says, "I want to go to Heaven."

I show him the red page and tell him that God sent His only, perfect Son to come down to earth; that He shed His blood and died on a cross (Bible verse); that after three days he rose from the dead and after awhile, He went back to Heaven. All because God loves us - you and me - so much. I ask him if he would like to become a child of God. (Bible verse that leads to the clean page) And he does.

At this moment, I am compelled to turn away for a second because I am overwhelmed that God would use this leaky vessel to witness to this little guy. I also need to ask him some questions and also share with him that it is a decision between Tommy and God. When he answers all the questions and says yes, he would like to be a child of God (he says, "and not a child of the devil!") we pray together and God escorts Tommy into the kingdom.

Now both his mother and I are in tears. I learn that Tommy has had a difficult life; no father; an angry spirit; in many different schools. And still, God calls Tommy His own. What a privilege to share in this moment.

What an amazing learning experience for this TCE student – to see how God can use even our “practice” presentations to bring a child to Himself! This was a life-changing moment for the student, for Tommy’s mom and, most especially, for Tommy! Do you suppose one day he will look back on his childhood and testify that he came to know Jesus as his Savior in a TCE class?

Never forget that, as an instructor, you are doing so much more than just teaching classes or satisfying your IOT requirements. When you teach a TCE course, you are adding to the great and ever-growing army of child evangelists who are reaching children and expanding God’s kingdom around the globe! Could you be doing anything more exciting?!

Please pray for our CMI Online courses. We have encountered extraordinary levels of spiritual opposition in nearly every step of this program’s development, but our God is great! Along with praying for the courses, remember to direct people to them if their circumstances will not allow them to attend your local course.

We have added a new feature to our sidebar called CMI Online News! We will keep this feature updated regularly so you will know what’s currently being offered and what’s coming up in our online training. Please be sure to check out this feature – and use it as a prayer guide.

Whether you are a local instructor, an LTI or an online instructor, we are all in this together! We are a family! Let’s support one another with our prayers and encouragement as we seek to train others to reach the children!

Illustration Appreciation - part 4

“I need a good illustration for this class – somebody help!”

Have you ever felt like that? We know the value of using good illustrations to inspire and motivate our students, but it’s not always easy to come up with just the right story, statistic, testimony, poem, song or other item that will say exactly what we want to communicate.

Pastor Leslie Flynn says there are lots of good illustrations out there: "The aspiring communicator must be a close observer of life. An inexhaustible store of illustrations abounds everywhere, even in the common things of life." The trick, of course, is knowing where to find them—and what to do with them!

In our previous three posts on the subject, we discussed why we use illustrations in our teaching, what makes a good illustration and what to avoid in choosing and using illustrations. In this final post, let’s consider where to find illustrations and how to organize them.

Finding Illustrations

 Personal Experience There is no better illustration than that which comes out of your own experiences. When you draw stories and examples from your life, you are sharing more than just a good illustration—you are giving your students a glimpse into your world. Think of the lessons God has taught you in everyday experiences, in your family, in your travels and in your ministry. Chances are many of your students have had similar experiences and can relate to your example. Get into the habit of writing down the lessons God teaches you so you will have them to draw from in your teaching.

 Reading Keep illustrations in the back of your mind when you are reading books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, blogs and even cartoons. Historical and biographical reading can provide a rich source of illustrative material. News articles can offer statistics and stories that are localized and current. If possible, clip or highlight material that can be used as illustrations. Try to get those illustrations into a file as soon as possible before they are lost or forgotten.

 Observations Look around you! Life is full of things from which illustrations can be drawn. There are illustrations to be seen in nature, in the animal kingdom and in the lives and experiences of others. Think of all the illustrations the Lord Jesus drew from the natural world (seeds, fish, the wind, birds, etc.) and from people (the prodigal son, the woman with the lost coin, the shepherd searching for his lost sheep, etc.). Jesus used what His audience was familiar with to get His point across.

 Children Since we are a children’s ministry, you should definitely be aware of children around you and be watching and listening for things they say or do that could illustrate a point. The Lord Jesus did this too, as we well know, in Mark 10 and Matthew 18. What better way to illustrate content in your TCE classes than to draw those illustrations from the lives of children!

 Resource Material There are an abundance of resources available that provide quotes, stories, testimonies and other illustrative materials. You can purchase many good illustration books at Web sites such as http://www.cbd.com/. Just type “illustrations” into the search box and you will get pages of resources. Following are four examples from the CBD Web site.

To make it even easier, we placed the covers of these four books in the sidebar on the right under "Illustration Resources." Just click on a cover and you will be linked right to its page on the CBD Web site where you can get more information or even order it at CBD discounted prices.

• The Story File: 1,001 Contemporary Illustrations, by Steve May, Hendrickson Publishers, 2000. (includes book and CD-ROM)

• Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes, by Charles R. Swindoll, Thomas Nelson, 2009

• 1,001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers and Writers, by Edward K. Rowell, Baker, 2004

• Practical Bible Illustrations from Yesterday & Today, by Charles H. Spurgeon, Amg Publishers, 1997.

There are also Web sites where you can download free illustrations. Most of these sites have illustrations arranged alphabetically by topic. You may want to bookmark a few of them for quick reference when you need to find an illustration.

www.bible.org/illus.php

http://www.sermonillustrations.com/

http://www.preachingtoday.com/

http://www.sermoncentral.com/

www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/a.htm

www.geocities.com/christianillustrations

http://www.sheepcribone.blogspot.com/


Organizing Illustrations

How many of us have heard a good story or testimony, jotted down a key word or two on a scrap of paper, then either lost the paper, or couldn’t remember what the story was from our sketchy notes? How frustrating! Once you find a good illustration, you need to record it in a way you can easily retrieve it when needed.

 Write it down Keep a small notebook or voice recorder handy to make note of illustrations when you spot them. Be sure you record enough information so you will remember the key thought. Even if you don’t know how you will use it at the time, a good quote or story is always worth writing down for future use.

 Keep a file You need to develop a system that works for you. If you know the particular class in which you want to use the illustration, either file it in a folder for that class, or type it into your lesson plan as soon as possible.

If you’re comfortable with the computer, you probably already have a folder for each of your TCE classes containing your lesson plan, PowerPoint and other materials. You can put an illustration file in each class folder or just enter the illustration directly into your lesson plan. You might also want to keep a general “Illustration Pool” folder, where you can accumulate illustrations for future use.

If you’re not that comfortable on the computer, keep a file folder in your office for each of your TCE class sessions and deposit illustrations in the appropriate folder. You can also have a miscellaneous folder for illustrations you’re not sure where to use.

However you choose to organize your illustrations, try to make regular deposits in your illustration files. Occasionally, you need to go through your lesson plan and consider adding a new illustration, or changing out an old one. Updating your illustrations keeps your teaching fresh and current. Leslie Flynn says, “Illustrations stored for ready withdrawal will make us richer communicators of the Word.”

We trust this series of posts has been helpful in reminding you of things you already knew about illustrations, and perhaps challenging you in areas you had not considered. If you have further suggestions or ideas about finding and using illustrations, click on the Comment link below and let us know!

Illustration Appreciation - part 3

In his book, Come Alive with Illustrations, Leslie Flynn says, "The best illustration is one that is given not to be seen, but to be seen through." This is great advice, but often not heeded. Sometimes we can be in danger of our illustrations overpowering our message!

So far in our discussion on illustration appreciation we have considered why we use illustrations in our teaching and what it is that makes a good illustration. Today we turn our attention to some dangers: What should we avoid in choosing and using illustrations? How can the wrong illustration—or the right illustration presented the wrong way—be deadly to our teaching? Are you wandering into any of these danger zones?

• Don’t announce your illustrations If you have the right illustration in the right place, you don’t need to announce it. Dr. Howard Hendricks gives the following example:
  
  "Never start an illustration by saying, ‘Now, I want to illustrate this point, because it's a very important point, and I was reading in the Bible the other day, and I came across an illustration out of the life of Elijah, and it was a real grabber, and I want you to see it, 'cause it'll drive home the point.’
  
  In all that piffle I haven't said anything, but I've consumed a lot of time. How much better to say, ‘One morning Elijah's servant awoke him early…’”
  
  In other words, just proceed from your point directly into the illustration. Announcing an illustration focuses the audience on the illustration instead of the point being made. This is especially true when using an illustration as your introduction. You never want to say, “Let me begin this class by telling you this story…” Just go right into the story!

• Don’t apologize for your illustrations Nothing will sabotage your credibility faster than planting doubts about the value of your illustration! Starting your illustration with apologies like, “This isn’t a very good illustration of this point but…” or “This story may or may not help you understand what I’m trying to say…” tells your audience you are not sure of your own teaching!

• Don’t over-explain your illustrations You need only a brief word or two to help your audience connect the illustration to the point being made. Don’t insult their intelligence with lengthy explanations of the “moral of the story.”

• Don’t use an illustration just because it’s a good story Remember, your illustrations should enhance your main point. You may have heard a wonderful story or exciting testimony, but if it does not enhance your topic, save it for another class session.

• Don’t get stuck on one type of illustration If you always use statistics or always use poems, etc. your teaching becomes predictable. Remember that different students respond to different types of illustrations. Strive for variety! Take a look at several of your class sessions and see if you are over-using a particular type of illustration.

• Don’t use too many illustrations Illustrations are like windows, giving light to your subject, but too many windows produce glare! Remember your main point is what you want your students to remember, not your illustrations. If you take most of your class time sharing illustrations, your students will not get the information they need.
  

Hopefully, this discussion has given you food for thought. If you have wandered into any of these danger zones in using illustrations, make plans to avoid them next time you teach.

Next week we’ll chat about how to find good illustrations and how to organize your illustrations to make your preparation for teaching more efficient. If you have comments on this subject, please click the “comment” link below and let us hear from you.