I have the same goal for both older and newer Christians: to make the language fresh, to make it come alive. Both groups need to see how exciting the text is, how filled with meaning it is.
—Earl Palmer

Becky, a new Christian in my Bible class, sparkles with enthusiasm even though she needs help to find Galatians: "Is that Old or New Testament?" she asks. I could tell her, "Jesus loves me, this I know," and she would be awed by the depth of my teaching.

Tim, on the other hand, raised in the church, has heard it all before. He's tired of "Jesus Loves Me" and may have read Galatians ten times already.

The problem is, they both sit in the same Bible study I teach.

School teachers have specific assignments: "Ninth-grade English literature." Pastors can't be so specific. I wonder what school teachers would do with a task like the pastor's: teach 200 students, kindergarten to graduate school (some gifted, some slow), covering everything from colors and the alphabet to biochemistry and calculus.