The Blessings of a Learnng Community

I love the fact that for the past forty-three years, I’ve been privileged to be a part of a university community – maybe best described as a learning community. Despite my age and the inevitable reality that I won’t have this privilege forever – I’m determined to take advantage of learning.

One of the intriguing books I’m reading at the moment is Learning to Speak God from Scratch by Jonathan Merritt. Teaching a full load at Point with other important responsibilities doesn’t leave tons of time for reading for pleasure, but I’m working my way through this book – it speaks to what I do every day and what I need to help Point students do as well.

I constantly start my semester classes out with the idea that in order to be a good interpreter of Scripture one must [a] believe that Scripture is the trustworthy word of God; [b] Jesus is who the Bible says He is; and [c] language is a reliable means of communication. It isn’t unusual to get some pushback on [c]! It doesn’t sound quite as theological as [a] and [b]. But it really is – what other creatures did God create who have our language gifts? And didn’t God “speak the world into existence” and declare through Isaiah that because we don’t behave and think like He does, He gave us “His Word” which has power? And Paul reminds us to “let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly” and the writer of Hebrews declares that Word to be “living and active . . .” I can’t forget that the Word “that was God” ultimately “became flesh and made its dwelling among us.”

All of those texts have some relationship to the idea of language – the gift uniquely given to humans.

I say all of that to get to the point that Merritt talks about “a child’s language acquisition window.” That led me to some Google searches where I read all sorts of interesting things about how humans learn language.

It was fascinating. I thought – there are people in this learning community who know more about this than I do. Before long I was involved in a conversation with Dr. Susan Ryan, a colleague at Point. Next thing I knew my daughter Sarah (who teaches communication at Point) and Dr. Jenn Craft, one of our biblical studies professors. For me, it was an amazing conversation.

Later in the afternoon some of the biblical studies faculty, Dr. Holly Carey, Dr. Jenn Craft and I met with Point’s admission counselors talking to them about the biblical studies department and what one can do with a biblical studies degree from Point. That too was a fascinating conversation. We have some incredibly gifted faculty members in biblical studies at Point. One of the things I pointed out was that at Point, a preaching major doesn’t just learn from one faculty member. Dr. Jim Donovan, Dr. Jim Street, and I all teach preaching classes.  Unlike my own experience both in college and in graduate school where there was only one professor to learn from, a Point student gets a much broader opportunity to learn. That reality is true in a variety of areas in our department as well.

We also talked about Point’s biblical studies minor. Every Point student – no matter his or her major – must take a minor in biblical studies of fifteen hours. Those courses are The Drama of Scripture; Jesus: the Focus of Scripture; Scripture: How to Use It; Christ, Culture, and Career; and any other course from the biblical studies faculty. Those courses are taught by qualified faculty who believe that the heart of what we do at Point is centered in Scripture, the trustworthy Word of God. It’s hard to imagine a better investment parents could make in the education of their children than this gift!

Frequently my day at Point begins around the Keurig getting a cup of coffee. It isn’t unusual to engage in a conversation with colleagues Dr. Darryl Harrison and Dr. Dennis Glenn. It is so refreshing to have a conversation with bright people who are interested in a wide range of topics.

On a regular basis, I hang out with Dr. Greg Moffatt – a brilliant man of many abilities. He says I work on his theology. I say I get free therapy. What I know for sure is that my life is better because of his friendship. Another colleague, Dr. DJ Dycus often stops by my office. Those are always intriguing conversations – often about books and literature.

I get to hang out with science professors like Dr. Dedra Woolfolk and Donnie Cook. Social scientists like Andrea Pope-Smith, Simone Cox, and Trish Stuart. This list could go on and on. Who isn’t blessed with a conversation with Dr. Kim Macenczak who has forgotten more history than most people will ever know?

I haven’t even mentioned the fact that this learning community is populated by some great staff members – many of whom provide opportunities for learning. And what about students? Just the past Wednesday I spent an hour with six great young men in my Adventure Group. That was after teaching three classes that morning, populated by young men and women who will change the world as we know it. Frequently I teach for CGPS and right now I have 19 wonderful adults learning how to better interpret Scripture. Lots of colleagues there as well that are great sources of learning! Dr. Chris Davis, Dr. Joshua Rice, and Dr. Lee Reese are great resources for me.

And to think, I get paid every two weeks for doing what I would pay for the privilege of doing if I could make the mortgage payment without a salary!

God is doing some amazing things at Point. We aren’t perfect. Sometimes we mess up. But when all is said and done, I can’t help but thank God for the privilege of going to work (not the right word, really) every day and hang out in a learning community where God is so obviously at work!