"Practice makes perfect" is one saying that applies to a leadership training program in the Netherlands.

The question of how to provide more speakers for regular church services has been on our minds in the Netherlands and Germany for some time. Some months ago our UCG-Holland treasurer Marcos Rosales came up with the idea of reviving a type of "Spokesman Club" for any of the men who might be interested. So he and a small group from the UCG-Holland congregation began meeting every 2-3 months or so on a weekday evening for a practice speaking session. With the Netherlands being a relatively small country with an excellent highway network, the time commitment involved for the men (with their family and job responbilities) was manageable. Each of the men present could give a 10 minute speech, with one of the men functioning as a director/evaluator during the session (on a rotating basis). I had positive reports on each session, with the men involved all being enthusiastic about the opportunity.

After about a year or so of the revived Dutch Spokesman Club having regular practice meetings, it was time for the group to demonstrate its progress in a special afternoon club session following regular church services. So today was the day! A "table topics" session was included, allowing the entire congregation to participate in that part of the meeting (in the top photo you see Martin Arendsen making a comment during the topics session). Afterwards it was time for the men to give their speeches, and their messages were well received by the "audience", making the special session a success. Have you ever heard the cynical comment in reference to former days in the WCG (as I have) "What was good about it?" Well, Spokesman Club is an example of speech training that provided a positive benefit for hundreds of men, even helping them on their job (as a number have told me). That "oldie but a goodie" has done the same thing in the last year for the men involved in the Dutch Spokesman Club – congratulations to you all!