Austin Delivering His Speech
Austin, my 11 year old son, was disappointed at not placing in his speech competition at Lads-to-Leaders. He rocked his speech! He delivered it the best he had ever done. He felt really good about it. He enjoyed the lesson, put his heart out there, and felt like he would get a trophy.
He understood it wasn’t about the trophy, but he felt he had done a great job and delivered the speech well. He had worked so hard.
We were discussing this with him in the hotel room. My parents were telling him how much better he did than me, when I was his age. How I was so nervous and shaky; they didn’t even know if I would make it through the speech. Of course I never won a trophy or made it into the finalist category.
It was at the completion of this story that my mom said this powerful line that captures the purpose and good of Lads-to-Leaders.
You are the trophy that has come from your dad doing it years ago. He never won a trophy, but from the seeds that were planted you have come today participating in preaching the Bible, leading a song, and competing in Bible Bowl. If he would have won a trophy, it would be in an attic gathering dust, but you, and your siblings, are the trophy that have come and that is what matters!
Sometimes Lads-to-Leaders gets a bad wrap because of its emphasis on competition, but the competition is only to accomplish the purpose of training and motivating. It is not the goal or end, but only a part of the process. The real trophy is the product that comes!
22 comments
1 ping
Skip to comment form
Well said
Our congregation competes in SELTC, which is similar to LTL, but children compete only with themselves to earn a bronze, solver, or gold. I believe this is healthier for children to remember that it’s the journey not the trophy that counts. I participated in LTL as a child and had a bad experience with comments on my choice of attire. At the time that is what my parents could afford. I had worked so hard memorizing my Bible reading. It’s a shame that what remember is that I didn’t have the right dress on.
Agreed! I have taught/led many youth through both SELTC and LTL, and my opinion is that SELTC is by far more rewarding for both the parents and the child. We tend to forget the reason why we are doing this in the first place…to give our youth opportunity to learn Christ-like leadership principals and then showcase what they’ve learned and be encouraged by it – not pit them up against each other and then be disappointed when they have tried their best and ‘fall short’ of their, and their parent’s, expectations.
I think it’s also important to remember, though, that all children are different and that there are PLENTY of other ways to instill those same values and that same knowledge in children. For many, the competitive atmosphere is a huge turn-off. It’s a tool that may motivate some, but should not be seen as mandatory for a developing Christian. Also, when it comes to the female participants, why is no one talking about how silly “Lads to Leaderettes” sounds? It’s that kind of misnomer that makes people label members of the church as sexist. Maybe avoiding some of that and worrying more about how we present ourselves to the world (we are to forsake all others and to be fishers of men, no?) is more important than debating the many types of tangible and metaphorical trophies one can accumulate in life.
<3
It is called Lads to Leaders and Leaderettes, not Lads to Leaderettes.
I love this wisdom; thank you for sharing. My 11 year old daughter also presented her speech well; the best she’d ever done. Although this was her first year presenting a speech, it was her ideas, her work that she put into developing her own ideas coupled with scripture to make it a convincing testimonial why Jesus is was & always will be her personal Super Hero. She did not make it to the finals as we were hopeful she would, but it is ok. Coming up with & writing her own speech & then giving it before people she knew & did not know has provided her with much valuable learning & blessings. She will work harder on preparing for next year & already has come up with some ideas. I love that my children want to share Jesus with others & especially with our neighbors & friends. You are right that the seeds have been sown in these children & what better trophy can we hope for than for our children cultivating not only a faithful relationship with God but also sharing the gospel with others. Thank you for sharing the Godly wisdom of Grandma.
My son did L2L one year, and I was so turned off by the competitive nature of it, we have never been back. I think it has severe philosophical issues.
I’m sorry your son was disappointed. Honestly, that’s a big reason our church does LTC instead of L2L. It should be about encouragment, participation, involvement through the year, and getting to know adult mentors. The rest of the world is tied up in competition and trophys; let church be a safe place from that.
It is good to be reminded that we are all trophy’s to God in addition to our parents. Life is very competitive, L2L is not only helping youth grow Spiritually but also preparing them for the way they will be expected to perform in real world settings.
Two of my daughters participated in the program for at least 5 years. I have recently talked to one of them to see how her sons and husband felt about it for their first experience there. We discussed what it was like to be among thousands of people proudly glorifying the Lord in many ways. They saw that it was ok to be excited and share the good news. My daughter made the comment that as a child she didn’t do very well. I quickly corrected her and told her that she did very well indeed! In the past few years she has been on 2 missionary trips to India, spoke at a Ladies Day, teaches bible class faithfully and raises my grandbabies with God as their leader. What more did she need to realize how helpful L2L has been for my family!!!! Thank you for sharing.
We have three boys and one girl that were there this year, so I had the privilege of listening to many speeches. My motto was that “I ran to all rooms for all boys so that by all means I might hear some of their speeches.”
I love hearing all the speeches I had a chance too. They were all so unique and original. I love the fact that they all get to share their speeches with the other boys and family members and with us.
My middle Son said that when it was his turn to speak he had forgotten that he was even there to speak because he was so caught up in the other speeches. I think it was wonderful that the kids get to hear each other and hear the different types and skill level of speeches and speakers. I absolutely love it when I see the boys encouraging and complimenting each other as they sit on those chairs in front.
I think my kids do well in spite of the trophies instead of because of the trophies. I liked that they all got ribbons this year to at least give them a record of being there. I want them to feel that they have done their best and that is all that any parent can ask. They are all winners just for getting up and presenting their speech to the best of their ability.
What incredibly wise words.. As a parent who is anxiously waiting for my son to be old enough to participate in our congregation’s Lad to Leader preparation, this are words to help me be a better encourager to him.
We participate in Heart of America LTC (HOALTC), and I believe it can do great things for a church. As was mentioned above, LTCs are somewhat different in L2Ls in that the competition is against sets of rubric rules and yourself, rather than other students. I know there are merits and shortcomings of both perspectives.
Regardless, what I love about these opportunities is that they provide a framework for children to do things we’d all like to see them do but that it’s easy to put off until later (which becomes never) if left to our own devices. I had my elementary grades Bible class students reading orally five times each for the pre-convention Bible Reading Challenge event. It was great experience for our developing readers. They worked as a team to create a short video about having “No Fear” (our 2016 theme). Our high school participants got together on their own time to arrange and practice music selections. They studied Joshua, Judges, and Ruth together.
Over the years I’ve watched them deepen their friendships, knowledge, and skills thanks to the framework LTC provides, and have been encouraged to see families rally around children for a spiritual purpose at a time when it seems extra-curricular activities can nudge out faith-building activities. Is it perfect? No, there is always room for improvement. But do the benefits outweigh the negatives? I believe so. We can’t wait to start working on HOALTC 2017 – Acts: WITNESS!
Love it my brother. What a great opportunity to learn and grow for our children. We need to learn to praise and acknowledge the talents of others without feeling inferior to them. The children I have seen when surrounded by such positive support like your son have used the competition to drive them to be better in a God honoring way. I love the way it prepares them to go into a world where not everyone gets a trophy. My son didn’t get one either. He was disappointed. He was playing crazy games with his brother five minutes later. He is excited about doing better next year. Hard to watch your kid Be dissapointed for that time, maybe one of the other powerful and valuable lessons parents could learn. Sorry, got carried away. Thanks for the post!
My son did not win the first year. We talked about what it took to win, and what the people who won did that he didn’t do. We told him if he wanted to win, he had do those things. (Be loud enough, Be confident, Be very familiar with the material you are presenting). He decided he wanted to do what it took to win, so he worked extremely hard the next year . He came home with his trophy the next year. Our church kids know sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It is important to learn to be a good winner and a gracious loser. Almost everything you do in life is a competition ( sports, jobs, school,etc), so these are very important life lessons.
Why give trophies? It’s preaching the Bible! That is what is going wrong with everything is everyone thinks they should receive a trophy for doing a good job. How about use it as a learning experience to build them all up instead of saying well, even though you have the courage to stand with God everyday against what many of their peers are doing, being involved in spreading and working in the Bible everyday, you just aren’t that good at speaking so you lose. Why does learning and Soreading God’s love and grace have to be about a competition? That’s what sports are for! God is not a sport put onto a bracket of who the best person is preaching The Word, God doesn’t care how well you dress, preach The Word, or lead a hymn; God only cares that you do it! There are too many things in this world based on competition, when you make The Bible about a competition many will turn away from it because a human judge tells them they aren’t good enough to get a Trophy!
We wanted our son to participate in the L2L training at our congregation; however, we did not want him to go to the competition. We didn’t want his motivation to be about trophies, but about growing spiritual leadership skills for life. We told him learning was more about becoming the person God wanted him to become. Sadly, when the group was practicing their song leading skills, our son was told the practice time was for those going to compete. There wasn’t time for him to practice. He was heartbroken and we were so disappointed. From that point forward, he didn’t want to participate. So, we just did what we were supposed to do as Godly parents. We encouraged him and trained him ourselves. Today, he is a good song leader. He gives talks at church and school. There are no trophies in his bedroom for these abilities and no pictures on Facebook of him standing on stage holding trophies. While I would never criticize families whose children participate was get trophies, I would caution that there is a very fine line between participating for trophies and participating for spiritual growth. Parents and leaders need to remind the children (and themselves, sometimes) that training should be for all children, not just those who go to publicly compete.
I would suggest that you all have him a trophy made up and present it to him at a future church service.
For these preaching negativity against Lads 2 Leaders that is your opinion, I guess. I am the Youth Minister at Seven Oaks with Josh, and Austin is a part of the youth that I work with. What I saw at Lads 2 Leaders was extremely HEALTHY to me in a world that tries to tell you that mediocrity is fine and that you should never be disappointed in anything. Sometimes we are going to be disappointed even if we do a great job. I mean, people don’t respond to the gospel overtime I preach, but sometimes they do. So, sometimes I’m disappointed and sometimes I’m elated. Both instances teach and motivate me to do better. I was a judge for a few events at L2L. Although I didn’t give the same high marks to every participant, I encouraged each one and let ALL OF THEM know that they did a fantastic job. I saw nothing but encouragement from other judges and convention coordinators. Look for the positives people. And if your child doesn’t get a trophy, use it as a teachable moment. Remind them what they have learned the skills to do. They will go back home and have a huge impact on your congregation.
Thank you, Josh and Ryan. While I understand that there are some who only care about “winning or losing” at L2L, the majority of the parents and church leaders I know handle L2L in exactly the right way. Honestly, the reason L2L is such a huge event is that most parents are training their children with exactly the kind of wisdom that this blog post exemplifies, and the judges are all very complimentary of ALL participants. Negative issues do not originate with the program itself.
My wife and I both grew up doing L2L with our home congregations. The idea of competition isn’t taught by L2L as much as it is parents and sponsors from each church. L2L makes it plenty clear that the convention isn’t about spiritual growth and growth as a leader. Granted, there are a few people who are there just for the trophies. If the kids are feeling upset because they didn’t get a trophy or they “felt like they were better or were told that they were better than another kid”, then as parents and sponsors we have failed in teaching them why they are there. It’s not about being better than someone else. It’s not about winning trophies. It’s about growing your faith and strengthening your abilities as a leader. I know several people who wouldn’t be the same if they hadn’t been a part of the L2L program. A stat that was recently recorded was the following: among people who participated in L2L, over 90% of them are still members of the church today. Another study was done of families who didn’t participate in L2L and showed that less than 25% of their children stopped attending church after they left their parent’s households. I personally know Austin Hyde and know that he is a pretty awesome guy (went to 10th street with him while he was at Auburn). After hearing him speak and seeing him lead singing I know that L2L had a huge part in his life. It helped strengthen his abilities as a leader in the church. Kudos to the writer of this article.
Thank you so much for writing this article! I grew up in L2L and it was something I looked forward to every year. I spent the whole year leading up to it by studying my bible for bible bowl or writing a speech or learning to lead a song. There were times that I won and times that I didn’t. And I am a better person for each of those times. I learned how to win gracefully and I learned how to lose gracefully. It breaks my heart when people have such harsh things to say about the program. I would not be the Christian woman I am today without it. When I am asked to lead a girl devo I have the confidence to do it because I know I can. When I am asked to lead song on the spot I have a list that I know I can lead. When I’m asked to read scripture, my voice does not stumble because I have read in front of people since I was 5. Some of my greatest friends have come from the girls I competed against. And I wouldn’t be able to attend the college I do today without the scholarship I have won through the program. In this life people are going to lose and some people are going to win. Why not do it in an environment that supports them no matter the outcome? The problem with L2L comes when the parents can’t handle the losing. But if a child has a support system that says, “It doesn’t matter if you placed or made finialist, you won by getting up there and speaking/singing/reading.” I heard this many times whether I had a trophy in my hand or not. So people who hate take a moment before you completely shut down on this program, before you call it “philosophically” wrong. Every Easter weekend, win or lose, I got to spend the weekend with my friends learning about God and learning how to be a future leader for his church.
[…] You are the Trophy -3-29-2016 – By far the most read post on the site this year. It was even reprinted in the Christian Chronicle. It is about some advice Austin received from his grandmother after his Lads-to-Leaders speech. […]