Five Things With a Young Pastor

FIVE resources you’d recommend for educators who teach adults.

1. First Days of School by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong. This book helps me survive my first weeks of catechism class every year. If you don’t want to read the book, just search Harry K. Wong on YouTube or in your favorite podcast app. I learn every time I hear him speak.
2. Bible Project is a popular video resource. I use their book overviews to introduce the entire Bible to students in one year. (Note: You’ll need to supplement their explanations with a robust Lutheran emphasis on redemption and forgiveness, which is precisely what WELS pastors are trained to do!)
3. Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess turned my teaching upside down. (Although, the real TLAP guru in WELS is Julius Buelow. THIS guy, not this guy.) If you think your lessons are boring, read this book. If you don’t have time for that, check out his blog or podcast at daveburgessconsulting.com.
4. Genial.ly is more of a tool than a resource, which lets you create interactive images or slideshows so students can guide themselves through an online lesson. I use it to make interactive worksheets for school kids. I taught an entire asynchronous online adult Bible class by creating interactive slideshows and sending the link to each adult every week.
5. QR codes have been around since 1994, but they experienced a renaissance during the pandemic when restaurants used them to make digital menus available to customers. If you scan the code with a smartphone, the phone will automatically cue up any web-based resource you like. I put them on worksheets to explain things via video, let students listen and react to music, or get responses through a Google form.

FOUR individuals who were instrumental in your development as an educator and why.

1. One Thing (Bible reading) We spent five weeks studying different strategies for reading your Bible. I’d love to share it!
2. Civil Government (online) This interactive online course was popular during the COVID-19 lockdown. I’m happy to share it, but it only makes sense for those who have Daniel Deutschlander’s book, Civil Government: God’s Other Kingdom.
3. Psalms (as communication) Six weeks of reading one Psalm per week, trying to understand how it communicates and why it changes us. I’d gladly share this with anyone interested.

TWO things that you do differently in Bible study design/prep now as opposed to when your ministry began.

1. I use bulletin-style handouts. I used to print Bible study handouts on an 8.5” x 11” (letter) sheet. Now I use an 8.5” x 14” (legal) sheet, folded into a little booklet. I make my new handouts in Microsoft Publisher, and they look just like a worship folder. The layout helps learners (and me) organize our thoughts throughout the lesson. A big title, an introduction, and a review are on the cover page. The inside two pages are each dedicated to teaching one major point. The back page is for an application section—the one thing I want students to remember, feel, or change this week based on what we’ve learned. Folks seem to like it. After I designed the initial layout, it took no extra time to produce these handouts. But it does take a lot more discipline to streamline a lesson down to just two points and a full page of application. 
2. Prioritize interpersonal safety. I used to focus on saying great points and asking impeccable questions. I thought that if I asked a question so brilliant, so probing, so eye-opening, it would make my whole lesson work. Those questions were usually met with 30 seconds of awkward silence. People were nervous to answer—all people, 3rd graders, 8th graders, and adults alike. They were afraid they’d say something wrong or embarrassing. Only the most extroverted would answer. Now, I do not mind spending time in lesson planning or in class to protect students’ social concerns. We invest valuable minutes of every lesson in get-to-know-each-other questions, establishing expectations for the learners, and some humor to loosen the mood. The return on investment is that students develop the capability to interact more deeply with their own thoughts, fellow participants, and the material being studied. (One helpful practice—before finalizing my lesson, I ask myself, “If someone asked me these questions at pastors’ conference, would I be nervous to answer? What would I need to open up and participate?”)

ONE technique educators could implement in their next adult Bible study to better engage learners with the content.

Walk learners through the thinking process. Example: I recently asked a group of pastors, “How should Christians respond to a culture that’s hostile to Christianity?” To answer that question, their brains had to do at least five different things. If I asked one big question, they would have to figure out which five things I wanted them to do. I should have walked them through the thinking process one step at a time. 1) List some cultural influences that influence people where we live. 2) Circle one influence from your list that is contrary to what God wants for Christians. 3) What does God want from us instead of that? 4) What are some ways a Christian can respond to that cultural influence? 5) Practice explaining your answer to a partner sitting near you. Then, at the end of the thinking process, they would be ready to answer the big question, “How should Christians respond to a culture that’s hostile to Christianity?” Whenever you see a question in your lesson plan, ask, “What do students’ brains need to do to answer this question?” List out the steps. Then, if there’s an awkward silence in class, you know how to walk them through the thinking.

Thanks to Pastor Nathan Wordell for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for teaching with us this month!