Newsletter - October 2006

Dear Friends:

How are you? I trust that you are doing well on these fall days as we begin to select the warm sweaters from our closets and coddle the cup of coffee a little longer in the chill of the morning.

While you enjoy that coffee, I want to share some thoughts with you. First, I am excited to tell you that later this month FaithWalk Publishing will release my new book entitled The Bible Study Teacher’s Guide. This book has been a real pleasurable project for me because, in preparation for the writing, I was able to interview a number of master teachers who were eagerly willing to share their experiences and insights for the benefit of those who would read the book in an effort to improve their Bible teaching skills.

I found that a universal characteristic of a truly gifted teacher is the sincere desire to learn and then to share what they know and what they do with others. In fact, their responses were so inspiring to me as a teacher of the Bible, that I thought I would share a few of their best tips with you, too:

“Truth and insight passionately delivered is the real burden of teaching.” – Dr. Don Denyes, pastor/seminary professor

“The Great Commission suggests that what we teach others is what Jesus is teaching us.” – Rev. William Dondit, pastor/Bible teacher

“Every teacher who is effective will be so because he has exercised his brain (through reading) and is genuinely passionate about his subject.” – Jo Kadlecek, professor/author

“Let the truth change you and then pray it will change others.” – Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor

“Love people, love truth, learn constantly from others, get experience, and keep growing.” – Dr. William Rudd, pastor/seminary professor

“We must depend on the Spirit for guidance. To be ‘teacher-taught’ Is one thing; to be ‘Spirit-taught’ is quite something else.” – Dr. Warren Wiersbe, teacher/author

Aren’t these great? Do you catch the passion these men and women have to learn and then to teach what they have learned to others? Do you know that Scripture tell us we are to do the same?

As we look at Paul’s words to his protégé in II Timothy 2:2, he says, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” Paul taught Timothy, Timothy is to turn around and teach others, and then Timothy’s students will teach even more ‘others’ until, generation after generation, the message of the Gospel is taught and all the world will know about Jesus and His love. We should be glad Timothy was a willing learner and an effective teacher because we have knowledge of the message of God today because it was passed on from Paul to Timothy, from Timothy to others, from those ‘others’ to others still, and then, at some important point in time, it got to us.

Now it’s our turn to run in this great Gospel Relay. What are we going to do about it? I believe God has placed in each of our lives someone we can teach: maybe our own children or grandchildren, maybe a co-worker, maybe a Bible study class, maybe the neighbor who has some tough questions, or maybe a young believer who wants to know more. We all have more spiritual acumen and Bible knowledge than someone. We should find a willing learner and teach them about the God we are learning to know. We should teach them from His Word and awaken their curiosity and interest with the wealth of information and wisdom that is in it.

Another challenge that master teachers left me with and that I think Paul implies in this verse is that we should never stop learning. We should never slow down in an active pursuit of God, His Word, and knowledge of the world around us. Proverbs 1:5 says, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.” We can never learn too much!

One way we can learn is to read and study on our own until we know deep within our souls what God’s message is to us. An additional way, and one that is exampled throughout Scripture, is to learn from someone else. We can find someone who is further along the spiritual journey than we are and ask them to teach us. As we observe their lives, listen to their words, and allow them to teach us to pray, we will begin to walk with God in moment-by-moment awareness and to understand God’s Word on a whole new level.

The birth of the book this month makes me think thoughts about teaching and learning. Maybe some of these thoughts will inspire you to learn a little bit more and then to teach what you know to someone else who wants to learn. You don’t need a seminary education to do that – just a willing heart.

God bless you as you pass His great message on to someone else!

Bev

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