“Great teachers are firstly great students.”

Life-long learning is the key to longevity in teaching. It’s the key to being interesting and it is the key to staying the course. Teaching is a life-long marathon assignment, and who wants to be in a marathon and only last 3 miles in the race? Or 17 miles? No one. You don’t just show up at a marathon having never engaged in training for the event. A marathon is more than a 26 mile race and the key to finishing well is to have a strategy and to implement it. Lasting well and being fresh every time you speak is not something that happens by accident. It takes a disciplined approach and a commitment to a strategy.

Stay humble and teachable. It’s what you learn after you “know it all” that matters.

So many pastors/preachers/teachers become stale after a few years into ministry because they lose their passion for learning. Don’t let that be true about you.

People talk about “burn out” in ministry, but if a man is enthused with what he is learning, and has an on-going walk with the Lord personally, he always has fuel in his tank, so to speak.

A major key in learning is the skill of good note taking. Never be caught without either pen or paper or the ability (electronically) to take good notes. Good quotes are like the sharp blade on a knife. They cut deeply, especially when people realize what you are saying is not just your opinion, but the greats in ________ (name the discipline) have said the same thing before you. e.g. This is not new, Martin Luther said this…. Einstein…. George Washington, etc.

People then realize, “oh, if I oppose this concept, it is not just the preacher in front of me I have issue with, but long established, recognizable authorities on this matter.”

But to have good quotes you must first capture them and have them ready at your disposal. A great quote out of reach never helped anybody.

STATING THE OBVIOUS

In note taking, let me state the obvious.

Capture the main headings. Capture the outline. This establishes the main points being made.

List any scripture reference mentioned. (Be ready to check out the quote and also read any verse in its context – that’s part of your homework)

Use abbreviations constantly (but only ones that can be understood by you later on).

Remember, you are taking notes for YOU, not writing for others (at this point). If you cannot understand the abbreviations later on, you will be scrambling to make sense of your notes. And that would be a waste of your time.

These things are obvious, but many do not do this, and five years later, are guilty of the same exact thing – they do not develop the skill of note taking.

And again, remember the above – great teachers are great learners.

By the end of any sermon or teaching you hear, you should have been able to capture the main thoughts and have all the scriptures quoted, and can sum up the message you heard for anyone else who was not present.

This is all about having the main things written down – you are not expected to have every detail in your notes.

Illustrations – unless you develop the ability to write every word you hear (which professionals can do) what you have will be a SUMMARY. Don’t beat yourself up over that. That is OK! That is what you are after in fact.

If the message is recorded, you can always go back, hear/watch it again and make fuller notes, if desired.

But if I am not present to hear a message and you were, you should be able to sum up the main points.

Make sure that helpful illustrations you hear are captured (though remember, you can only summarize them).

Enjoy the ride… enjoy learning the skill of note taking. As long as your notes make sense to you, you made great notes.

You will get better at this, the more you do it. But it starts by making it a habit.

A golfer is not great by being on a golf course 4 times a year. It is practice that makes perfect.

Just something on that… practice does not always make perfect. Sometimes, practice just makes permanent.

Take the golfer, for example… if someone has a defective golf swing, practice can simply make the bad habit in the swing permanent. What the golfer needs is an outside onlooker who can observe the issue and coach him to eliminate it.

But generally speaking, practice does make perfect. Practice the art of note taking by making this commitment. Never listen to a message without taking notes. The only exception to this is when driving.