December 6, 2025

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Many years ago (we’re looking at over thirty years ago now) I had just gotten married and surrendered to the ministry. Of course, I didn’t know what either of those things meant then, but experience would soon teach me a few things. One thing that I would experience would be an extremely valuable ministry lesson. A church nearby where I lived in Dayton, Ohio, had a long-time pastor who was retiring. This church was Union Baptist Church, a church I would grow to love, who still supports me on the mission field to this day, and a church to which I am very thankful. Because they were without a pastor, Union invited me to come for a month and preach and teach in the pastor’s place. This was the first time I preached at a church outside of my home church, a very frightening endeavor to say the least. After I had preached there on my first Sunday morning, the adult Sunday School teacher at the church approached me and invited me to teach the adult Sunday School class each Sunday as well. I thought, How hard can that be? and subsequently agreed. After all, I was 23 or 24 years old back then and still knew just about everything. He told me he was currently teaching through the book of Hebrews and that my passage for next Sunday would be the beginning of Hebrews chapter 6 and that I could just pick up from there and continue where he left off. Again, I agreed and left, not thinking too much about my task for next Sunday. However, when I got home and read the passage, I panicked. I thought, What am I going to do with that?!? Hebrews 6:4-6 says, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” So, yes, I panicked. Would you have panicked too if you had to teach on that passage? Well, I spent the whole week poring over that passage, praying about it, studying it, reading commentaries on it, fretting over it, and preparing my interpretation on it. I thought, well, this will be the last time I teach at THIS church. I went and taught that passage on Sunday, and, no, it wasn’t the last time I taught at this beloved and merciful church. I would teach and preach there for many years to come. I don’t even remember what I said on that day, but I do remember sweating bullets. I don’t even think the church members agreed with my interpretation, but they were very gracious to that stupid twenty-four-year-old preacher. They did ask me questions and made me defend my interpretation and afterward told me 1) it was a very difficult and challenging passage and 2) I had done a good job, even if they didn’t agree with my position. I have never forgotten the valuable lessons of that week, the “heat” of teaching that passage, or the graciousness of the beloved church.

I just finished teaching the class Hebrews & General Epistles to my students. Do you see now how the previous paragraph relates to this story? I want my students to experience what I experienced over thirty years ago in my own ministry. So, I made THEM team up and teach a one-hour lesson in the class from one of the challenging and difficult passages in the General Epistles. They can teach from the Hebrews 6:4-6 passage above, or from 1 Peter 3:21 (“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you”), or James 5:15 (“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up”), or 1 John 3:6 (“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him”), or any other challenging passage, as long as it is very difficult to interpret and challenging to teach. They have to study the passage, understand the various interpretations that have been offered, come up with their interpretation, anticipate the objections, and then teach the passage to the class. The class and the instructor then get to provide a “hostile” environment to the teaching students and ask them all the hard questions about the passage they can think of. It is meant to be “hot”, it is meant to be uncomfortable, it is meant to make them sweat but in the end they also know we all still love them even if we disagree with their interpretation or presentation of the passage. They all always come up to me after they are finished and tell me how hard it was, how hot it was at the front, how much they sweated, and ask me how I can stand up there and do that every day. I tell them that they will be faced with these situations throughout their ministry in front of much more “hostile” crowds than this one and that it is valuable to experience it first in front of a crowd that they know will love them no matter what. It is a very valuable lesson that I learned and then passed down to them. Thank you, Union Baptist Church, for the lessons and the graciousness.

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie, & Chloe

Contact Info:

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.