Thank God for third grade Sunday school teachers

With my sermon complete, I sat down in my study on Saturday evening to read the thoughts of others who have preached on Ephesians 4:1-16.  My reading included Bryan Chapell’s commentary on Ephesians.  Chappell is the president of Covenant Seminary and he wrote one of my favorite books on preaching (Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon ).

While reading Chapell’s exposition of the importance of each member of the Body of Christ, I was so blessed to read him tell about the role his third grade Sunday school teacher played in his life.

Gene Mintz was my third grade Sunday school teacher in a large church in Tennessee.  Not many men volunteered to be third grade Sunday school teachers when I was growing up.  And I confess that I remember very little of Mr. Mintz’s classroom teaching.  What I remember is that when my parents were struggling in their marriage, making our lives awkward in the church, Mr. Mintz always greeted me—a little third grader from a troubled family—in the church hallways.  Even when I went on to fourth grade, and fifth, and sixth, Mr. Mintz never forgot me.  And when my family moved away when I was in seventh grade, Mr. Mintz sometimes still would write and ask how I was doing.  I even got a letter or two when I was in college.  And when I became president of Covenant Seminary, I got a letter from Gene Mintz that I will always cherish.  “Bryan,” he wrote, “I have prayed for you all of these years.”

I believe that I am a living testimony of the truth of Paul’s words: “From him [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  Because Gene Mintz did his part faithfully, I have been able to serve God and teach others to do the same.  I believe that.  I hope that others will, so that we will make every effort to keep the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace, and we will use whatever gifts God has given to us to further equip the people for the work of the ministry.  Bryan Chappell, Commentary on Ephesians, 199-200.