Teaching to change lives- book review

This is a review of the book- Teaching to change lives, seven proven ways to make your teaching come alive- by Dr. Howard Hendricks. It is a 150+ page book and has mainly 7 chapters. The books contents are exactly what the title reads. It is a teaching method for "every parent, teacher, pastor, leader, coach, and mentor" it writes in the back of the book. The author is Dr.Howard Hendricks, a professor from the Christian leadership at Dallas theological seminary.

The book Starts by introducing 7 ways called "laws" for a teacher to use in effectively teaching a student. In chapter 1 " the law of the teacher", speaks about why and how a teacher should continue to keep improving in their craft. In page 18-19 says "(God wants to) use you as his instrument, but he wants to sharpen and cleanse that instrument so it becomes a more effective tool in his hands". It goes on in explaining how a teacher can improve on himself/herself - mentally, physically, spiritually and improving on the audience - in communication and understanding.

In chapter 2"the law of education"  is mainly focused on the teacher and how well they perform based on the students reaction. In page 39 says " the teacher is primarily a stimulator and motivator... Not the player, but coach who excites and directs the players." this part if the book explains the teacher teaches the student to -think, to know how to learn, and how to work(apply) what was taught.

In chapters 3 "the law activity" speaks on how involved the teacher gets with the students in helping their learning process. In page 55 says " your task as a communicator is not to impress people, but to impact them; not just to convince them, but to change them" this part of the book explains the importance of activity in a learning process. It give 5 ways to approach this;

activity that provides direction without dictatorship:
   Which basically means helping the students draw out what they want.

Second- activity that stresses function and application: Which is to know the
  students capabilities and to not put to much work for them. Because too much work may 
  negatively affect what the student learns.

The third is - activity with planned purpose: which means having a clear goal of why do
  the activity the teacher plans to do and seeing if it will really help the student learn.

Activity 4 is all about letting the student know why they are learning the material.

Activity 5 is- giving the student problem-solving situations: It helps the student apply the 
  material taught and challenges them to think deeper on the material.

The next chapter is 4 -"the law of communication" this part of the book explains why communicating is very important in a teacher-student relationship. The teacher must also have three main components : thought, feeling, and action. Which basically teaches that a teacher must really know and own what he/she teaches to have good grounds to communicate to students.

In chapter 5 "the law of the heart"  which writes about how a teacher must teach from the heart. The heart which is defined in the bible in totality of character- compassion-content. The book convincingly explains this.

In chapter 6 " the law of encouragement" is explained in page 100 "the law encouragement is this: teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated." this part of the book explains how the teacher should be motivating and give a list on how to approach that.

In Chapter 7 " the law of readiness" speaks on how a teacher prepares and how the teacher should prepare the student(s). This part of the book explains how to effectively teach the lesson and how to let the student(s) be engaged  by the subject. The book concludes and also has a lesson plan that teaches this book chapter by chapter.

The book has many methods and approaches to effectively teach. In my own personal time, I would definitely reread this book for guidance and also to use the lesson plan it provides in the last pages. Although it is only less than 200 pages, its teachings and ideas can be easily elaborated by the reader to dwell in, ponder, absorb, and apply.

Communicating for a change- book review

This book review is on “Communicating for a change” by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones. Stanley is a head pastor of a church and Jones is a campus director of a church school. They both have long time experience in teaching the gospel and wrote, in this book, their methods and ideas on effectively teaching people Gods word. It has seven strategies to help a preacher be creative and make an impact to his/her audience. It is a 200+ page book. It is broken down into two parts and segregated in 17 chapters.


The first part is called “How’s my preaching?” and the second part is “Communicating for a change”. From chapters  1 to 10, the author writes a story about a man on a journey to find the best way to effectively preach to his congregation.


The first chapter “No one’s listening” Is the introduction of a character named Ray Martin, a head pastor of a church. Who sees his sermons, not affectively communicating to his congregation. Then calls his wife and friends for help. They help Ray by letting him meet a man named Will Graham who is known as an affective preacher.


Chapter 2 is “Where there’s a Will there’s a Ray” This part of the story is when Ray meets Will Graham and finds out that Will is not an ordinary preacher, but a truck driver who preaches. This gets Ray really doubting if Will can teach him anything about preaching.


Chapter 3 “Go for the Goal” is where it reads that Ray stayed with Will and bonded. Also, both talked about having a goal in preaching.


Chapter 4 “The end of the road” Ray really starts hearing and understanding Wills method on effectively preaching the word. Will explained how it is better to teach about one topic over several topics so that, the listeners can grasp and understand the message better.


Chapter 5 “A map to remember” is the part where Will explains his “me-we-God-you-me” method on teaching. It’s about how to better connect to the audience throughout the whole entire message.


Chapter 6 "load up before you leave" is where Will explains that the speaker must "internalize" the message. Meaning that the message should really be coming from the speaker, as if it's personal or very meaningful or profound that it needs to be shared.


Chapter 7 "Crucial connections" is the part where Will explains how knowing the audience can be a big factor to the effectiveness of the message. Also, presenting ways for the audience to raise their own awareness of how the message connects to them.


Chapter 8 "show me some identification" writes about finding your own voice and style.


Chapter 9 "stuck in the middle of nowhere" is where they both talk about getting lost or stuck in a sermon. How it is a normal thing and it just needs prayer and a checklist questions to help get back on track.


Chapter 10 "a new attitude" is the ending part of the story of when Ray says goodbye to Will and what Ray learned from him, including the goal of a sermon, which is to change lives with God working through the speaker.


The rest of the book is the second part called "Communicating for a change". This part of the book talks about the techniques spoken about in the part 1 of the book in a more thorough and systematic way. There are seven things it teaches. Which are: determine your goal, pick a point, create a map, internalizing the message, engage your audience, finding your voice, and start all over. It goes to a more in-depth explanation on this method.


As a conclusion, I really enjoyed the teachings of this book. It helps me refine, mold, and evaluate my style and method of sharing messages and sermons to people. I like the idea of how a message can have one topic and be expounded upon and still be an affective preaching.


Another technique I like and will incorporate into my teaching is the "me-we-God-you-we". Me: means getting the audience to know the speaker and getting them comfortable so that they will more likely listen. We: means getting the audience engaged by posing a deep thought, question, idea, scenario or situation. God: means telling the audience what the bible says about the topic, and what Jesus did or has to say about that topic. You: means making the message personal to the audience, and making them relate to the topic. We: is the part of the message in which the speaker inspires, challenges, motivates, to apply the teaching in everyone's lifestyle.


Also, I know that affective preaching means that first: the speaker must be prepared, sincere and authentic. Second: the audience receives the message clearly, will remember it in the long term, and use what they learned in their own personal life.

Stages of faith -book review

           This week, I want to review a book I have read called- “stages of faith –the psychology of human development and the quest for meaning.” It’s from James W. Fowler. It has over 300 pages and are sectioned into 5 parts and having a total of 24 chapters. The whole book tries to go in-depth of the subject of faith. It talks about the different views and definitions of faith. It’s also about how faith in an anthropological perspective. I mainly read and studied part 2 and 4.

           As for the whole overview of the book, it starts in part 1-“Human faith”. The whole part contained an in-depth explanation of the definition of what faith means. Also, how faith ties into religion, relationship, imagination and to each other. The author, for me, seemed to want a distinct separation between faith and belief. Even though it was hard for me to understand, he explained how faith is not necessarily tied to religion.

          The part 2 of the book which is titled “Windows on human development: a fictional conversation” is very interesting. The author wrote as if there was a discussion between 3 individuals and a moderator on the subject of faith from birth to adulthood. The three individual were men who were very intelligent in their field of study about human development.  

          One was Erik Erikson who is a pathologist who emphasizes on human development and, also, how it connects to religion and faith. The other person was Jean Piaget. He is into genetic epistemology. He connects biology with philosophy. The other person is Lawrence Kohlberg. His study is on moral development. All of these three characters are used in this imaginary conversation. All three are talking about how a typical person, from birth to adulthood, develops mentally, physically and how he/she interacts with the world around them.

          The first discussion was about Infancy which from ages 0-1.5. Piaget says 0 -18 months old has a very small and gradual self-awareness. The infant only begins to know itself and recognizing space and time. Also, beginning to be aware of distinct casual relationships( like noticing the mother). As for Erickson, he says he agrees to what Piaget says and adds, that the environment has a big influence on their awareness. He called it “trust and mistrust” stage. The next topic was on early childhood. Which were 2- 6 yrs.  old.  Piaget calls this stage “Preoperational or intuitive”. It’s the process of language and thought. The point he claims where states and feelings can be expressed. Also, being able to perceive  their own perspective and the perspective of others. Kolberg  calls this stage   “Heteronomous morality  and instrumental exchange”.  This is a development of balancing their morality between self-interest and interests of others. Erikson says early child-hood is around ages 4-6 yrs. old. Which he called “Initiative vs. guilt” stage. It’s a point of physical maturation and mental growth. An emphasized self-centered awareness and experience of shame and guilt.  The next topic was on childhood. Which are ages 7-12 yrs. old. Piaget says it’s around 6-7 yrs. old which he calls “Concrete operational”. A logical operation of thoughts occurs. Thoughts that try to stabilize the world around them and in their body(like physical coordination).  Kohlberg says it’s around 7- 8 yrs. old is when the child starts to deal with moral judgments and moral dilemmas. They still focus on self-interest towards dealing with others, but, having a developing moral “filter” in their interaction. Erikson says it is around 6-7 yrs. old which he calls “Industry vs. Inferiority” stage. It’s a point in life where the child is figuring out his/her mental abilities to do work. Then they all talk about adolescence which is 13-21 yrs. old. Piaget calls this “formal operational” stage. It’s when the person develops more deeper thoughts in logic and reasoning. He calls it “thinking about thinking”. Kohlberg somewhat agrees to Piaget but adds the morality factor. Which are a person’s moral judgment and social perspective comes into development. In adulthood, which are 21-35 yrs. old.  All of the three basically says that’s when a person finds their identity and is more developed psychically, mentally, and knowing their moral level and judgment.  I think the author chose to put this in the book to show how development of humans affects their faith and world view.

          The next part in the book is called “dynamics of faith and human development”. This part of the book is the how the author connects the previous chapters topic in concern of faith views and dynamics in human development.

          Part 4 of the book “Stages of faith”, is an interesting perspective on faith views from child to adulthood. It has recorded interviews on each stage.  It seems, to me, that each stage gets more complex or defined as the stage rises. The views on identity, God and beliefs get bigger and yet people want to make sense of it all to understand what life is all about. The part 5 of the book “formation and transformation in faith” deals with a woman’s conversion story, the stages of faiths relation with conversion, and theological faith.

          The book is a heavy read but, it’s full of informative content and material to help a person know what people goes through in mental, physical, and social development in concerns of world views and faith views.