Spring Quarter begins this Monday. This week has been my “break”…the beginning part of which i spent painting and cleaning and doing yard work (though i am, at this moment, blogging from San Jose at the BibleTech conference with Sean).

My classes this quarter will be

1) American Church History

2) Christian Ethics

3) Foundations of Leadership

American Church History will be my fourth class with Dr. Charles “Charlie” Scalise. He is, without a doubt, one of the best teachers i have ever taken a class with. Charlie is an expert in his subject matter, follows a clearly defined lecture format which allows for plenty of Q & A during which he references numerous authors and works for further investigation while deftly fielding questions spanning over 2,000 years of history. He also continually encourages students to let their own voices be heard with his now familiar, “Welcome to the conversation.” He is also a generous comments (generous as in “This essay could be improved by…”) but rigorous task-master concerning our written work, reminding we lowly seminarians that all our work should be “in the process of publication.”

Though all my life i have loved school, only a few teachers have stood out:

1) 3rd grade: Mrs. Evans, who would reward good behavior by reading to us from one of my favorite story books, Clematis by Earnest & Bertha Cobb.

2) 6th grade: Mrs. Slocum, Social Studies, who ran a summer “Social Studies Camp” on the history of Massachusetts with a field trip EVERY DAY!! Freedom Trail, Plimouth Plantation, Old Sturbridge Village,  etc…

3) Mrs. Balcomb, my piano teacher, who put up with me as a private student for 17 years!

4) Mr. Weisse, high school band and chorus, who we knicknamed “Joe Jazz.” He is a BIG reason i went into church music as my vocation for 25 years.

5) Consuelo Stewart, a math prof who made an 8am Statistics class super fun (and i am NOT a morning person…so that is saying something!).

6) George Hairston, whose gift of rhetoric could make a 4 hour class seem like 2 : Preach it, Prof!

7) And now, Charlie Scalise, who has cultivated in me a deeper love of listening to and learning from the voices of our Christian past. Thanks, Charlie!