In mid-June I received the syllabus for the fall semester at Baptist Bible College of the Caribbean where I’ll teach two classes. The first was a two-week course on Historic Books, which wasn’t a serious problem.
It’s the second class that frightened me…..
A THREE-WEEK course on church history!
The frightening thing is I don’t have enough of a background in church history to teach it for three weeks, and it takes a lot of time to create material like this!
I tried reaching out to everyone who could possibly have some material that could be used in teaching, but only found a small amount. As more doors closed I realized the Lord wanted me to put together class material, but still held out hope someone could give me the material.
On July 14 (a few Thursdays ago) I put out a desperate message on Facebook asking anyone who could help with material to send it to me. When no responses came I began putting together material covering 20 pages a day covering “Church History in Plain Language.” I’m up to page 200, so only twenty days to go!
The frustrating thing about this situation is I could have started on it much earlier…..
- The research for this class could have begun when the syllabus came in mid-June, and I’d be done by now
- Or I could have begun in early July when I learned there were no notes and been almost finished
- But instead I put off the work for a few weeks
The Lord through this experience reminded me the most massive undertaking can be achieved through consistent effort
Since beginning my work on church history I’ve committed myself to spending an hour and a half on that in the early morning hours after devotions. And that repetition of doing the same thing, at the same spot, at the same time every day makes an impact.
At first it seems like nothing is happening (like when I was at page twenty) but with each repetition, more material is covered. Sunday with the Lord’s help I’ll reach the major milestone of being HALFWAY through the book!
Sometimes ministry is easy and bring lots of glory
Sometimes it’s slogging through twenty pages of church history
Just like you did yesterday
And the ten days before that
Work isn’t always glamorous. Sometimes we honestly have to make ourselves show up, but that repetition of hard work will yield great results in the future.
Johnhwilburn.org 