Kay Daigle

What are the top 10 things not to do as a Bible teacher?  Experienced and gifted Bible teacher and preacher Nika Spaulding joins Dr. Kay Daigle in this fun and informative discussion of the top 10 mistakes that they've made themselves or seen other Bible teachers make that are best avoided.

Are you a Bible teacher? If so, you've likely discovered some of these yourself, and we would love to hear from you. Reply with your comments so that all of us who teach the Bible can benefit from the wisdom of your experience. Check out the entire podcast episode or the video version to help you avoid the errors that Nika and Kay have made.

Don't miss the helpful resources found below or download the resource file.

 

Feel free to contact Kay at [email protected].

Podcast Topics

1:51 #10, Fail to compare interpretations from more than one source.

5:07 #9, Steal other people’s material, including their stories.

8:07 #8, Assume teaching is a gift and not also a craft.

12:41 #7, Shoot from the hip.

15:38 #6, Cram too much information into the talk.

18:50 #5, Teach topically when you’re teaching through a book.

22:30 #4, Try to be something or someone that you’re not.

25:45 #3, Prep entirely alone without feedback during the process and afterwards.

28:59 #2, Spend more time on illustrations and slides than in God’s Word.

32:07 #1, Forget that ultimately only God can move through what you say.

Suggested Resources for Top 10 Things NOT to do as a Bible Teacher:

John Dyer’s Best Commentaries

BOW’s webpage on Studying and Teaching the Bible

TranscriptKay >> Hi. I'm Kay Daigle of Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries. Welcome to this podcast and video episode. Today I'm talking with Nika Spaulding. Welcome, Nika. We're glad you're here.

Nika >> Oh, thanks, Kay. I'm glad to be here.

Kay >> Nika is the Resident Theologian at St Jude Oak Cliff in the Dallas area, and she has joined us on a lot of episodes, actually. And we're so happy to have her on this one. She and I talked about it, I don't know, a month or two ago, just the topic and are finally getting together to discuss it. And we're excited about it, thinking it'll be a fun episode for all of you, particularly you Bible teachers, because, what we're going to talk about are the top 10 things NOT to do as a Bible teacher.

I think that probably one or both of us have done most of these. There may be a couple that, I think I added one that I know for sure, I've seen somebody do and it wasn't good at all. So I think I did add one that I had not done but maybe Nika has done it. Maybe we've done all of these at one time or the other. So anyway, we're going to start like any good top 10 with #10. So Nika,

#10 – “Fail to compare interpretations from more than one source.”

Do you want to start talking about it or do you want me to?

Nika >> No, I can go and should we admit every time we've done it or should we just let people guess?

Kay >> I think I've already admitted.

Nika >> OK, fair enough.

Kay >> Yeah.

Nika >> This one I think I'm fairly certain I'm guilty of. And especially when you're first teaching the Bible, you can get overwhelmed with all the sources, right? You go, OK, I'm going to study John 1. And then you realize, oh my goodness, they're hundreds of commentaries on just John 1. So if you're not careful, especially if you belong to a certain theological tradition or a church tradition, you can tend to only look at those types of interpretation. And you don't look at what have we said throughout church history? What do people from different traditions say about it?

And so it's an easy mistake to make. But I know that when I started reading beyond my tradition, the passages became more rich and I began to understand them more deeply. And I think I became even more confident as I taught and looked at it.

What about you, Kay?

Kay >> I totally agree.