Tag: teaching

My Worst and Best Teaching of the Year

Last week included my worst teaching of the year and also my favorite.  The funny thing is that they were supposed to be the same content.  Sometimes you write a teaching, you think it’s going to be great and then it falls flat.  It’s worse when you are writing not only for yourself but also for other teachers on other campuses.

After teaching our high school students on Sunday night, I went back to the drawing board because, while it wasn’t a terrible teaching, it wasn’t clear or direct enough.  It took some hard work and last minute fine tuning but I and was very pleased with what came out on Wednesday night at our middle school event.

This is the second teaching of our Wakes series and it’s all about how other people influence you.  Check it out.

For me, it’s been 5 years since I’ve written curriculum and taught on a regular basis.  I’m sort of relearning the art.  Thankfully, my team and my boss have given me a lot of grace because there is a learning curve for this sort of thing.  In my transition back into teaching and writing, I’ve found this model to be helpful:

http://uthmin.net/np-communicating-to-students-1/

http://uthmin.net/np-communicating-to-students-2/

What is Worship?

Last Sunday and Wednesday night I taught on worship at LifeLine.  The question is:  What blows your mind? For me, it is the vastness of the universe.  What if God spoke it into being?  What if this incredibly powerful Being knows you and loves you.  Worship is responding to this incredible God.

Let me know what you think…

Guest Post: Seeing Our Place in the Story

Have you ever felt like it is a challenge to help students understand the Bible, let alone get them to open it?  They will often argue that the Bible is ancient and doesn’t deal with the things they deal with.  That, however, is because they have often missed the story it tells.  Students (or anyone for that matter) will say that it doesn’t make sense or it’s boring.  Again, they may have missed the story it is telling.

I have taught students for almost a decade now, all of which was in a student ministry setting up until this past year when I made the transition to teaching Bible at a Christian high school in Grand Rapids.  I teach Old and New Testament Survey for freshman, which means I get the privilege (and challenge) of teaching an overview of the entire Bible.  And the more and more I teach it this way, the more and I believe every person needs to hear the story this way.

The reason we get stuck or confused or bored when we read the Bible…the reason it appears most Bible reading plans run out of steam somewhere around Leviticus 13 (skin diseases – yes!)…the reason students don’t want to pick up the Bible, might just be that we don’t understand what to look for.  So as we venture to help students read the Scriptures seriously or even as we read it ourselves, consider a few simple thoughts.

The Bible is first and foremost God making himself known.  Many religions or teachings are built around the idea that god is someone or something that you must find, like a cosmic game of peek-a-boo.  But the story of the Bible is the story of a God who says, “Here I am.  I do not hide and I am not far off.  In fact, I am coming to where you are.”  God’s Story is, well, his story.  That means before we ask what God wants us to know about Moses or David or Paul, we must ask what God wants us to know about himself.

The Bible reveals the divine drama that is unfolding before our eyes.  It is a collection of stories that ultimately tell one big Story.   This is nothing original to me, but I teach the Scripture as God’s Story told in four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation.  I won’t unpack each here, but teaching the big Story of the Bible reveals something essential and yet often missed – the Story is not over yet.  This leads to the next crucial idea:

We can be a part of God’s big Story.  Each one of us has the opportunity to take our individual story and bring it into God’s glorious Story.  We live in the wake of Christ’s great act of redemption and the explosion of the first church to the ends of the earth and we now await (with all of creation!) the glorious conclusion when Christ will come and set things right.  This is God’s Story, and he graciously and gently invites us in.  We get to be a part of a story that has not yet come to its conclusion, and yet the author has given us a glimpse of how the story will end (which looks remarkable similar to how the story began…).

In a world where kids are desperate for something compelling to give their lives meaning, I can’t think of anything more compelling.  With more distractions and shorter attentions spans than ever, I can’t think of anything more captivating.  This is the story we get to invite students into.

Now, go and tell the Story.

 

Matt Bell mattbellwords.com | Matt is a Bible teacher at NorthPointe Christian High School in Grand Rapids, MI.  He previously served as a student pastor at Ada Bible Church. He is a husband to Lyndsay, a father to Codyn, Laila, Jaben, & Violet.  Jesus is the pie pan to all of these delicious slices.

 

Image credited to On Being

 

A Tribute to Brady

This weekend Brady Nemmers who has fearlessly led our student ministry for over a decade announced that he’ll be leaving our church for a lead pastor position at a church down the road.  I could not be happier for him.  He’s one of the best teachers out there.  I’m excited to see where God takes him.

In my opinion, Brady is a student ministry legend.  He has taught me so much about student ministry.  Working alongside him has made me a better person and a more skillful youth pastor.  Today, I want to share a bit about what he’s taught me.

  1. Environment Matters

Brady has a pretty unique story.  He never set out to be a youth pastor.  He landed in student ministry by way of a biology degree and a thriving DJ business.  Yes, I’m serious.  Back in the 90s if there was a killer Prom going down, Brady was laying down the tracks.

DJing left its mark on Brady.  I’ve never met a person more in tune with environment and atmosphere.  Don’t invite him to your church unless you’re ready for some revealing feedback.

What I learned from Brady is that environment matters.  The way a student feels while the teaching is happening is crucial.  The way that a program flows helps or hinders how students connect with God.  Brady’s unique approach has made our ministry better.

2.  Clarity is Critical

Like I said, Brady is an amazing teacher.  If you asked him, he’d probably tell you that the trick to being a great teacher is speaking with clarity.  Who cares how theologically sound you are if no one knows what you’re talking about.  It’s the presenter’s job to take complex ideas and talk about them in ways that are accessible and useable.  When it comes to student ministry, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do it better than Brady.

3. Lead with Grace

Brady is an optimist.  He sees the good in people and he’s likely to give a person 2nd and 3rd chances.  Coming into my role at Ada Bible I was a little short on grace.  This sort of thing is common in ministry.  You get beat up and lose your tolerance for people.  Watching and imitating Brady has helped me regain a grace filled approach to ministry.

4.  Simplicity is Freeing

At the risk of committing technological heresy, Brady is a bit like Steve Jobs.  OK, maybe I’m overstating my case but what I mean is that Brady loves simplicity.  He resonates with Jobs’ design strategy—simple, elegant and functional.  Brady has applied these principles to our student ministry and it has served us well.  We don’t try to do a lot but what we do we do with excellence.

I think this approach has directly contributed to his and other team members’ longevity.  Complexity and chaos lead to burnout.  Simplicity and elegance lead to excellence and margin.

 

In short, Brady has been an astronomically awesome youth pastor.  He came into the game with basically no training and yet he became an amazing speaker and leader through sheer determination and the humble pursuit of excellence.

Brady Nemmers, I tip my hat to you.  You’re a legend of the game.  We’ll miss you deeply.

Shot across the bow…you’re gonna kill it at your next gig.