Award-Winning Educator Takes Lessons for Great Teaching From Scripture
by Jim Brown
August 14, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The Alabama man named National Christian Educator of the Year by the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) says although his teaching ministry is a second career, it is a job with lasting rewards.Glenn Walker began his career as an engineer working with Navy jet fighters and the Space Shuttle program for 15 years. But today he is teaching high school students at the Bibb County Career Tech Center Magnet School, a one-room schoolhouse in West Blocton, Alabama.
Walker says he enjoys having the opportunity to help students, particularly those who have lost credits due to absences or failures. "I'm concerned about the kids; I care about their success," he notes. "I want them to succeed in life." And the best way he has found to help his students along that path, the award-winning teacher says, is by "living out my faith and sharing Christ through what I do and what I say."
Basically, the Alabama educator's philosophy is one of setting an example. "I don't stand up and preach to them," he says. "I don't pull out a Bible. I don't put scripture on the wall -- I just live out each day my calling to teach." An educator can teach some of the most important lessons students will ever learn, he contends, if "you just live your faith every day, if you're authentic in who you say you are, if you're honest and show good character and you exhibit the fruits of the spirit."
In fact, Walker emphasizes, he uses the "fruits of the spirit" outlined in scripture (Galatians 5:22) as a kind of personal guideline, always making an effort to demonstrate "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" in class. "Every day I live that out in front of my students," he says, "and they can see me model it each day."
Also, the teacher adds, he makes a point of praying each day before class that the Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of his students. He believes his habits of living out his faith and lifting his students up in prayer have made all the difference in his teaching career.
Walker, who also pastors two United Methodist churches, was nominated for the National Christian Educator of the Year award by a member of one of the two congregations he leads. Finn Laursen, executive director of CEAI, says the Alabama teacher was chosen for the honor from among more than 3.5 million educators across the nation.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
