Parkway Baptist Church McKinney

Two or three weeks ago I sent an email message to Eugene Merrill, Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. In 1985 Dr. Merrill was my first-year Hebrew professor. He has been a member of First Baptist Church of Dallas for 35 years. So I asked him in the email message if he knew of any Southern Baptist DTS students, who might want to work with our inner-city project. He informed me that he was on an archeological dig in Israel, but that we could talk when he returned (see his recent discoveries at Dr. Merrill and Students Excavate Khirbet el-Maqatir).

This past week I stopped by the seminary campus on my way back from Kessler Park Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. I ate lunch in the cafeteria hoping to meet some students. I looked up from my tray and discovered Dr. Merrill walking in. As we took our meal together I asked about his trip and shared with him the news about our inner-city project.

I deeply appreciated my seminary experience. Some of my professors, like Dr. Merrill, were godly mentors. On this day I felt like a kid announcing to him that I still study Hebrew. I presented my last sermon from Isaiah, as if I were giving it to my mother so she could post it on the refrigerator door.

We all loved Dr. Merrill because he understood how we struggled. Some professors knew their subject, but seemed unconcerned about the student. For a reason I can't remember, I ended up with an awfully brilliant professor in the second semester. He was fresh out of Harvard and had exhaustively mastered the finer points of morphology and syntax. Knowing full well that I was about to crash and burn in his class, I dropped out mid-semester and waited for the next opportunity to take Dr. Merrill's class.

A few years ago I listened to a discussion on National Public Radio about what made a good professor. I was surprised to learn that it involved more than the mastery of an academic field. The most effective professor, according to the researcher, is the person who not only knows the material, but who also understands how the student struggles. The best professor is the one who has struggled himself in mastering his field of study.

In the church, pastors and teachers want to know their subject and develop their delivery. Our problem is that we often teach the subject without teaching the student. We feel good about ourselves if we articulately download accurate information. We forget how we once struggled, and we fail to have empathy for those we instruct. We need to ask ourselves why we are doing what we are doing. In other words, “What are we trying to accomplish?”

Today I love studying Hebrew, because Dr. Merrill kept me from being overwhelmed. Learning from him was like getting a drink from a glass rather than from a fire hose. I wanted to hug him. What a wonderfully effective teacher.

God bless you,
Pastor Jerry