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What was it that made you decide that you were called specifically to try to fill this gap, as you say, "between Sunday school and seminary" for everyday Christians?

Well, actually, when I went to graduate school my life's ambition was to teach at seminary. And that came to pass when I was still in my 20s. I got an appointment at a seminary, and it was fun, but I was also involved in the local church. The pastor of the church asked me to teach an adult course on the person and work of Christ to the laypeople. I had doctors and lawyers and housewives and farmers and all kinds of adults in that class. And what I discovered was they were more interested in these things than my seminary students.

When our seminary left town, I had an opportunity to go with the seminary or I had an opportunity to teach laymen in a large church situation. And I took that route. And I always wanted to keep my hand in the academic world, but I always felt like if we were ever going to make a difference, we had to get to the people.

Tell me about the inspiration behind Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow. You've written 50 books, some of them very scholarly, And now we get to this little volume that really is back to the basics.

We have a lady that works at Ligonier Ministries, who is our chief financial officer. And really she's a genius. I've never seen anybody so bright in her field. Yet she has a simple faith. And she said to me at a meeting a couple of years ago, "I like to hear you teach, but your books are too heavy for me. Can't you write something for people that are just starting their Christian walk?"

I thought about the basic means of grace that God gives us, the ways in which he has provided for his people to grow from infancy, spiritual infancy, in the maturity and in the conformity to Jesus. And so I tried to make a very basic, practical, tool. Not just a teaching tool, but one for training.

You've recently started to learn the violin?

One of my dreams for heaven was to learn how to play the violin. And we started this church a few years ago. And we have a string quartet, and they're so beautiful. I listen to violin music all the time. And I said, why wait? Why not get started now?

My teacher is this world-class performer from Russia. And she trained with some of the best teachers in Russia, so she tries to impose the same rigid Russian strictness on me that she went through. And so when I'm doing it wrong she smacks my hand and says, nyet, nyet, nyet. I'm learning more Russian than I am violin from this woman., but I am having an absolute ball. And when I have the opportunity, I'll practice three hours a day. I just love it. It is so hard. And I screech so much. But it is so beautiful and worth it when you do get it right, you know?

It is a discipline, and we are called to be disciples. Millions of people start on piano lessons. They play one note with one finger and then they go to two fingers, and then two hands. There are different plateaus. And at each plateau another percentage of people get off the boat and give it up.

With people who start out in learning the Bible, it's the same thing. I'll frequently ask people if they have read the whole Bible cover to cover? Not just new Christians—we're talking about people who have been Christians 20/30 years. And a very small minority say that they've read the whole Bible.

Almost everyone has read Genesis because it is narrative. People start off with good intentions to read the Bible through, but when they get into the technical dimensions of the Levitical purification codes and that sort of thing, it's so foreign to the world they're living  that they're confused, they get lost, they lose their interest, then they give up.

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December (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46