February is our teacher recruitment month, so consider this my gentle nudging to get you fence-sitters to jump over and start teaching. It’ll be as much a blessing for you as it will be for our kids, I promise.

Yesterday, I sat in on a class taught by Payton Branscum. I’d heard Payton give a devotional or two here and there, but never had heard him lead a full 45 minute class. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I was delighted!

Payton is a natural teacher. He had a great command over of the material and the audience. He spoke fluently about the subject (a study from Samuel and some of the hardships that befell King David, both by his own sins and the sins of others), and you could tell he really did his homework: When the class had questions, he not only had answers, but could speak extemporaneously about the subject in response. Not only that, but he didn’t let the discussion veer off into irrelevant or time-wasting tangents (something I’m guilty of!). He stuck to the material, kept the focus on the inspired Text, and fed the audience with a great diet of Bible study.

I’ve sat in many classes where the 45 minutes seemed to drag on and on because 30 of those minutes were spent on proverbial (and sometimes literal) “fishing stories” that have little to no bearing on the Text we’re supposed to be studying. I’ve also had the misfortune of enduring classes where the teacher simply refused to teach and instead just asked the audience for their opinion on everything, negating the role of “teacher” entirely. I like my classes to have some meat on the bones. I like to be taught.

Needless to say, Payton’s class flew by and I walked away having learned.

I say all this not to embarrass him, but to point out to the rest of us that this quarter is the first one in which he’s taught a class at North Heights. He dove in and started teaching and we are all the better for it.

Now it’s your turn!

~Matthew

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PS: We have many great teachers here at North Heights, so me putting a spotlight on one isn’t an indictment against anyone else. My point is that all of our great teachers here—including, but not limited to Ryan Moody, Frank Wells, David Reece, Chip Phillips—all had to start, once upon a time, with their “first” class, so you should think about signing up for your “first” class today!