The Shepherd vs The Teacher

     I remember having a class back in my college days at Cal State University Fullerton, where I was struck by the teachers inability to reach his students.  Now let me begin that I was not the best of students in college (9 years to get a degree), but I remember this teacher in particular because of the "D" grade that I received and, much to my surprise the "D" grade that almost half of the class received.  This particular teacher had a idea that teaching that did not involve counseling or meeting with the students outside of the classroom, especially those who needed help.  The Professor then became to many of us in the class, merely a speaker and not a teacher.  His unwillingness to meet with students, to counsel them, and help them when they struggled became his legacy.  He became one of the most difficult professors to take not because his subject was hard but because he never helped beyond speaking from the front.  The investing into students would have to come from others.  

     

     My brother is just the opposite of this teacher.  I had the opportunity to listen to him speak at Loma Linda University to 2500  students and the bottom line was get involved.  Do something.  If he had spoken of compassion or caring and had not exhibited that in his life or ministry then he would have simply become a speaker not a shepherd or pastor.  As it stands now, my brother and his church in the bay area are feeding the hungry, ministering to the homeless, taking care of the single mother, loving the unwanted, not by waiting from them to come to him but by actively seeking out those in need, counseling them, feeding them, everything that Christ would have done had he lived today.  Our church has always asked the question, "Is our town better because we are in it?"  Are we willing to not just speak from the front but are we willing to meet the people where they are?  This is a challenge for the church as a whole including the leadership, are we willing to reach out and help those who need helping or are we content to become watchers not doers, "standers" not "movers", or speakers not pastors.  We have been blessed with "Pastors" who have come through our church, always willing to meet, counsel and lead not just from the top but also from the bottom.  May we never change from that and become simply teachers and not shepherds.