Learning from Teaching

Last week both Brandon and I taught on the DTS. I spoke on the topic of Ethics/BioEthics and Brandon spoke on Ideas Having Consequences/the Sacred-Secular Dichotomy/ Worldview... Random sounding huh?

But believe us, its not so random. I was trying to hit on the fact that the Bible is truth and if it is truth then that truth would be evident all around us, that Truth is absolute, and then transitioned into how God views life. I opened up the second half of my teaching by giving a minute or two to present some of the current topics of Bio-Ethical discussion.... from things like cloning to genetic engineering. The church tends to always be 30 years or more behind those topics... and instead of being 'behind' pointing our fingers, we should be 'ahead' leading the way. I zoned in on abortion, euthanasia, in-vitro fertilization, stem cell research, gendercide, and then closed with population control.

Brandon picked up and finished the week with his series, which hit on how our beliefs and ideas have consequences and how they effect every decision we make. He also presented christianity not as a religion or relationship, but as a complete system of truth - the only one that aligns with reality. And then he transitioned into how we divide things in our minds and in our lives into two categories: sacred and secular. Nothing is labeled by God as sacred or secular, but everything we do, we are to do before the Lord. We are to be working to establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, so everything is either consecrated to God or un-consecrated.

In preparing for the week, I know that both Brandon and I learned way more than we expected. It was such a humbling experience... HUMBLING HUMBLING HUMBLING... so much so that we felt more like a pupil rather than a teacher. And then looking back on the week, we were able to see ways and areas that we could drastically improve on and perhaps even expand on. We hope that in the future we could actually mesh the two together and teach side-by-side. Then be able to speak in different contexts, maybe a 20 minute message for a church, or an hour for a youth group, or again for another 12 hour DTS week.

It was a big leap for us to do this... we both know that we are "teachers"... but for me this was the first time to actually step out and teach. As for Brandon, he's a vet. Well, not really a vet, but this was his third time! We pray that God used us to educate, sharpen, and challenge the students.