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Sunday, January 28, 2024

When a book you’re not inspired by can still be useful

I’m a book hoarder.
My wife hates it.
Consequently, I now have three book stashes until we have more space for the collection to be reunited.

Of the hundreds of books I own, I’ve read (probably) just over half.

Of course, a significant portion of these are reference books like commentaries - nonetheless - it shows that I love a book.

If the book is useful beyond looking grand upon my bookcase, all the better.

I write this because I understand the inspiration a book can provide.

But, when you’re a part of a preaching unit this literary inspiration can cause problems.

Why?

Because, if you get fired up by a book outline then everyone else needs to, at minimum, skim over the text.

Now, hopefully, this doesn’t ruffle any theological feathers. 

But, what do you do if the spark of inspiration isn’t contagious?
What if someone else outright dislikes the book?
What if they fundamentally disagree with the book?

In the past, I’ve found myself leading a bible study based upon a “theologically progressive” book.

In short, we read a passage each week and then discussed why we didn’t agree.

But, you can’t do that productively from the pulpit.

Everyone in the pulpit should be (pun intended) preaching from the same playbook.

Nonetheless, there is one way a book can help guide your preaching.

Outlines.
Chapter division.
Overarching topics.

These can help you segment a passage of scripture without dictating the direction that a sermon will take.

Sometimes, the most - possibly only - inspiration you should get is from the contents page.

Monday, January 15, 2024

The largest dating gamble in the church

The minister’s kid.

This is the largest dating gamble in the church.

Why?

Because, if it goes wrong… 

You’re highly likely to lose the church in the breakup.

If you do stick around then, potentially, you lose one of your primary spiritual supports (your minister) if the breakup is messy.

If it goes well…

Your relationship is under a larger microscope.

There will be expectations on your future together.

This is the risk of dating the pastoral offspring…


Friday, January 12, 2024

The joy and trials of starting something new

The stereotype is that teachers do very little over the school holidays.

This six week break will be anything but lazy for me.

For, this upcoming year, I’ll be teaching something new.

New for me.

New for the school.

Since I’m teaching a brand new subject for my school, this means that there are a lot of things which are not in place.

Subject outlines.

Teaching programs for the semesters.

Assessment timetables.

Assessment tasks.

A subject specific student handbook.

Student handouts.

Currently, the subject folder for my upcoming subject is empty.

So far… I’ve created…

A 76 page student handbook.

Two 40 page teaching programs (basically outlines for the topics with teaching material)

A very colourful subject outline.

Student handouts for the entire first topic.

And I’ve still got a heap more to go over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

But, I’m also loving the task of creating something from scratch.

I’ve got freedom to find resources and choose how I’m going to use them.

I’ve got the freedom to decide what parts of the syllabus I’ll teach.

I’ve got the freedom to begin plotting assessment tasks.

Of course, I assume that I’ll still feel completely out of my depth no matter how much prep I put in during the holidays…

And that my head teacher will have a lot of useful suggestions which will significantly modify my current outlines…

But, this is the joy and toil of something new.

Late nights.

Lots of books.

Thoughts hitting you in the shower.

Ideas popping into your mind before you go to sleep.