Decades of teaching have taught me one thing: Learning how to do things well takes time. It took me a long time to learn how to teach well -- to care for my students deeply, wisely, sincerely, meaningfully. I have my mentors to thank for that -- Harry Sturz and Bo Reicke. These men meant more to me than I'm able to express. I am the teacher I am today because of their contributions to my life. Due to their personal involvement in me, my students are now enjoying the benefits.
Five days after I return from the islands, after a journey that will take me halfway around the world, I will eagerly return to the classroom to fulfill my calling as a teacher. God has gifted each person like he has no one else. It is essential that everyone reading my words today discovers their own calling and giftedness. You need to:
Know who you are.
Be who you are.
I'm underscoring this because knowing ourselves is basic to being effective in life. The more we can do this, the less we'll attempt to be like someone else. Even Jesus had to gradually grow into his identity as the Christ. Find your own voice, my friend. Never forget to be authentic. My days of trying to be someone I wasn't are, thankfully, far behind me. I hope the same will one day be true of you too. A. W. Tozer once wrote, "The world is waiting to hear an authentic voice, a voice from God -- not an echo of what others are doing and saying, but an authentic voice." One of the compliments I get from others never fails to encourage me: "I listen to you because you draw in your audience with authenticity rather than repel them with platitudes and clichés." It's not enough to be a good teacher. Harry Sturz and Bo Reicke taught me that teachers known for their lack of transparency have little credibility. This is never far from my mind when I enter the classroom. I have my years of sitting at the feet of mentors to thank for the cultivation of that philosophy of teaching.
Excellent teachers never stop preparing. I'll take my beginning grammar to Hawaii with me. When you expect your students to attend class faithfully, you can't cut class yourself. Effective classroom teachers have paid the price of preparation by staying on the cutting edge of their discipline. What we have to say to our students must be the overflow of a man or a woman devoted to something important and adequately prepared to deliver the goods.
This is my method of preparing myself to mold those who are embarking on their study of New Testament Greek. There is nothing I enjoy doing more except surfing.