Encouragement

I’m forgetful. I’m a very good forgetter of important things. Somehow, I manage to forget some of the most critical parts of my life. Like loving God and my wife. That I’ll die. My life is not a vacation. Simple things that are hard to remember all at once. I decided it was time to write a manifesto. Things I need reminded of daily. Things I know somewhere in the deep recesses of my heart, but that I can’t seem to surface without some brain-jarring via morning reading. I’ve printed this list out to read through each morning, before I do anything else. It takes less than 4 minutes to read aloud and it’s full of truth, high fives and pointer-fingers driven into the chest. It may seem a bit harsh at times, but it’s what I need from myself. Feel free to remind me when you see me forgetting these things. Also, I’d love to hear if you do anything to remind yourself of truth you need to hear each morning. ...

When I was leading a Bible Study for leaders in our movement at Ohio University, I wanted to spend time affirming the guys in my group and helping them encourage one another. Just before we started our Bible Study, I scrapped our plan for that evening and the Encouragement Hot Seat_ _was born. Here’s how it works. Everyone sits in a circle, and we randomly start with one member of the group. It’s great if the group leader (or the one who has arranged for the The Seat_ _to happen) selects a person to start with and then sets the tone for the time. Say we start with Charlie. I, as the leader, spend 20-60 seconds or so telling Charlie what I admire about him, appreciate about him, and how I have seen him growing and developing. Each other person in the circle takes their turn sharing about what they see in Charlie until everyone in the group has spent time encouraging him. Then we move on to another person and the process repeats. None of this has to have a clear flow or direction–just let people start speaking as they feel led. People will naturally know when it’s their turn to encourage. The Encouragement Hot Seat has become one of my favorite activities for uplifting a team or group (especially in winter months). It’s incredibly simple, and I love it for four huge reasons. ...