Friday, July 20, 2007

The Big 3

The Big 3

Writers struggle with it....especially the 1st of the Big 3. Cooks know that the 1st and 2nd of the Big 3 can affect the 3rd if done incorrectly. People in sports often fear the 3rd of the Big 3 more than they do the 1st or 2nd simply because the 3rd is so final.

So what is it about the Big 3 that causes us such anxiety? It's the task of taking three separate parts of something and bringing them all together with a final product or purpose in mind. What am I talking about? The beginning, the middle and the end.

The Big 3 doesn't discriminate....everything in existence has these 3 elements. Take a Sunday School lesson for example.

For those of us who teach, we realize that the preparation for an effective Sunday School lesson can be very tiring; however, if the presentation of the lesson material isn't effective, those hours and hours of hard work will be useless. I believe all of us who teach long to hear these words, “I really enjoyed that lesson teacher.” Unfortunately, we don't hear them often enough.

Perhaps we don't hear these words often enough because we have gotten complacent with our study habits. Maybe....just maybe we feel that we are so spiritual that the words will simply flow as we open our mouths on Sunday morning, and everyone (including ourselves) will receive a tremendous blessing. Don't count on it. God isn't pleased with laziness. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived made that clear in the book of Proverbs.


Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6,7

In our Teaching a Bible Lesson workshops, we use three terms to describe a Bible study lesson. They are:
  1. Ignite (the Intro)
  2. Investigate (the Middle)
  3. Impact (the Conclusion)


The reason we chose the word “Ignite” for the introduction is because we like to fire people up. We like to set the stage early on for some excitement within the classroom. Every lesson in our First Steps of a Disciple study series has a dynamic opening to capture the attention of the learners. We have seen that if we can set the stage effectively from the beginning, we don't have as much trouble keeping the learners' attention throughout the rest of the lesson time. But, it certainly doesn't stop here. There's still a lesson to present, but how effective will it be? That's determined by the actual content.

Imagine ordering a sandwich in a restaurant. Many of us will raise up the top slice of bread to see what is on the sandwich. Ever done that? Yeah. I thought so. We Investigate, or check out the middle of our sandwich. Our learners do the very same thing. Imagine the bottom slice as the arrival time in the classroom and the top slice as the departure time. What we as teachers put in between these two slices will determine whether or not our learners return for more.


If we have done an effective job of firing our learners up, and we have been able to give them a better understanding of Scripture, this next part is our ticket home. It's our opportunity to Impact them with a challenging conclusion. In our Teaching a Bible Lesson workshop, we use a book by Findley Edge titled Teaching For Results. He talks about “carry-over”. This is the act of taking the lesson material and applying it beyond the classroom in a real-life setting. This could mean raking leaves for someone as a class project or some other activity, depending upon the lesson topic being taught.


God's Word is powerful. It convicts today just as it did over two thousand years ago. It can reveal where and how we can serve effectively. Take a moment and ask God what He would have you to do as an individual or what your Sunday School class can do for Him today.

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