Teach What Matters

Several years ago, when I was packing up my office in Auburn to move to Scottsbluff, several of my students were hanging out, helping me load books in boxes and transfer files and get the room cleared out and ready for Eli to work his magic. (Eli subsequently lost the territory to the church secretary and got stuck in a closet somewhere, but that's a whole other story!) While I wasn't looking, these students put a bunch of sticky notes in places where I'd find them later. For the first 6 months in my new office, I was finding little notes of thanks and encouragement and "Surprise!" notes all over the place.

I hadn't found any for a while, but I just found another one! It may be the best one yet. Tucked into the back of the book of Romans (in a translation I apparently haven't been using lately) was a little sticky note with a simple question:

"What does the Bible say?"

Glad to know that something that matters stuck with them. What I teach only matters if it's a reflection of what God has already said. What I say only matters when my words dance to the rhythm of His Word. It's too easy in youth ministry to become "the answer man" - instead, I want to direct students to dig into God's word for themselves. That way, I'm making disciples, not dependents.

Thanks for the reminder, guys. Keep digging into what matters most.