Tonight, I was remembering this with hubby and me. As I mentioned, we did have something like a booklet to answer questions to give us some hint what our gifts were. And, yes, one of his gifts was teaching. (Not a pastor, but he could teach.)
Here is something like a conversation that took us three years to get through -- a little piece at a time, before he had the confidence (or the sheer driving concept that God did want him to teach.) I'm going to give initials, instead of names, to protect the innocent. Yeah, they are innocent, nice guys, so it's not fair to have them find themselves on some site online they never joined. lol
"Why would God pick me to teach? I'm no leader."
"Pffft, where did you get that from? You talk. People listen."
(Snort.) "No they don't."
"Really? Then how did M's life change so much?"
"We talked for years."
"Right. And why would R and M want you to teach?"
"I don't know."
"Because you have something useful to contribute."
(Thinks.) "Well, okay, but that doesn't make me a teacher."
I shrugged and smiled.
A few months later.
"They (R and M) want me to do the next Bible series on Wednesday nights."
"Which book?"
"Whichever one I want."
"Cool. Which one would you pick?"
"You know, but I'm no teacher."
"Romans?"
(A smile.)
"How long have you studied it?"
(Shrug.) "Romans 8 is tough. There's so much stuff in that chapter alone, and it changes everything."
"I know. You took months for that one."
(Chuckles and gets lost in thought.) "Yeah, but Teaching Elders have Master degrees. I can't teach like that."
"They know you. They know you can't teach like that, but still want you to teach."
"I'm no teacher. It's Romans. I don't even know how to teach it."
"Then learn."
A few of months later.
"C's good at teaching Genesis, isn't he?"
"Yeah. He's about the best of his class. I see him getting a good church after seminary."
"He's definitely well trained, and he has so much to offer. I'm no teacher."
"You're the one who got me to get Romans."
"Yeah, but you get me."
"So do R and M."
"I found out how to teach it. So-and-so (I forget what he was reading to remember which teacher he learned this from, other than the man was a well-known writer who wrote about different concepts from the Bible) said you should read it all the way through for a month every day. And then you get a sense of the whole book. From there you dig out the details."
"Are you going to do that?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. Just let me know if I'm interrupting when you do that."
"Okay, but I'm no teacher."
Two months later.
"I really get the whole of the book, but I'm stuck on the details. I'm not trained for this stuff. I'm no teacher. I'm not that organized."
"What do you need to be organized?"
"I like C's handout sheets for people to take notes."
"Pffft. I can type those out for you."
"I don't know what to put on it."
"I'm guessing some kind of outline with space for notes for each idea."
(Sighs.) "Yeah, that's a lot of work. I'm not trained for this."
"Are you there yet?"
"No, still studying."
"Taking noted?"
"Yeah, but could you read them?"
"I can read most of what you write, and you're right here, if I can't. Study now. Worry about worksheets later. I can help you with that."
And roughly six months later I was typing up the worksheet, and he was ready to face the Bible study group. Although, of course, "he's no teacher." Funny. The class really appreciated it and I could see everyone taking notes. Sometime in the future we all seemed to be on the same page when talking about Romans. But, hey. He's no teacher. He simply taught anyway.
That's encouraging without nagging. Helping where I could. Supporting. But it was between him and God. (Remember. We're not the only ones talking to our hubbies about this. It's not on our shoulders. He might need to borrow our shoulder, but that's part of marriage.)
