Ha. Like I know anything about that. That I do not know. I do know this much though. You don't start out teaching to the masses. If so, God put you there on purpose and also you are much more of a brave man than I am at this point. I'd need to hear from God before I stepped in front of mere hundreds at this point. That's neither here nor there though.
The thing that I do know is that essentially everyone starts out in front of smaller groups teaching from the Bible. I know I have at least.
I remember my first time. I was teaching on love. How cliche, right? I am an educated, professional, educator of youth and adults. I thought, "How hard can this be? Read the Bible. Comprehend the material. Compile and teach." Ba-da bing, ba-da boom!
Youth at our church on Wednesday nights usually ran anywhere from eight (yes, 8) to 30 people. It was mid July. I figured that people would be on vacation or chillin' in the pool or anything besides coming to see the only guy under 25 that tucks in his shirt everyday, wears cowboy boots, and falls in more of a good ol' boy category. I am so different from anything that I've ever known as a youth leader/teacher/etc.
It wasn't terrible that night considering it was my first time teaching in church. I was rigid. I barely left my notes. I was very on topic. Besides rigid, all good things.
My friend, MJ, gave me a book to read called "The Principle of the Path" by Andy Stanley. (@andystanley follow him on Twitter.)
I'm not very good at retaining what I read. I make notes. I re-read. I bookmark. Also, why I love my Kindle Fire. I can highlight and go right to it without flipping through pages.
The one thing that has stuck with me from this book has been this short story. He was talking about how he was teaching a new Sunday School class or something of that nature. He was sure since it was for a younger age group his room would be packed out. He was disappointed because he had only a few if any show up for his class. Either during prayer or from his dad he was told that he needed to prepare for the 7 as if he were preparing for 700.
From my understanding he didn't feel like the prep was as needed for as few people. It hit me! Maybe one day I'll be teaching in front of a ton of people. I have to start here and now. I have to prepare as if 1000 people will show up. It doesn't matter if there are only a few people there. They deserve the quality and the preparation that 700 people receive.
So for that, I thank you Mr. Stanley. You helped me realize it's not about how many people come, but about how we prepare for those people we are given to minister to at a given time.
Prepare for the future, and practice in the present!
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