Not teaching vanilla

Next week I'm giving a series of talks on Deuteronomy at a camp.

As a speaker wanting to avoid potential awkwardness, I checked if the group had previously done a study on the book.

This request, accompanied with the first suggestion of the topic, was met with the light-hearted question "Has any youth group ever had a series on that book?!?"

I suspect, the answer is "Probably not."

I think many youth groups haven't heard a series on Deuteronomy due to the leaning of too many youth ministers to teach vanilla.

To teach the plain. The ordinary. The flavourless.

I'm not suggesting that a wave of lengthy series on Zechariah should sweep the globe, but (like it did with Deuteronomy), if it fits the message that you think the your audience needs to hear, it shouldn't be avoided either.

I'm really looking forward to next week and plumbing some of the depths of Deuteronomy.