Summary: Guest Post: Brigham Rupp<br> Brigham Rupp is a full-time seminary teacher in Gilbert, Arizona. He’s served as elders quorum counselor, executive secretary, stake Sunday School, and currently serves as bishop. He served a mission in Chicago, Illinois and share many of his scriptural thoughts at <a href="http://www.thesilvergrey.com/" target="_blank">The Silver Grey</a>. <br> Also be sure to listen to <a href="http://leadinglds.com/how-i-lead-as-bishop-teach-seminary/">Brigham’s How I Lead interview</a>.<br> Enter Brigham…<br> One of the things I love (and sometimes hate) about teaching is that a teacher never “arrives.” No matter how well you teach, you can always do better next time. It’s no secret that teaching in the Church has room for improvement (as John Milton wrote, sometimes “the hungry sheep look up but are not fed”), nor is there a shortage of material meant to help us do better. In the spirit of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/04/a-teacher-come-from-god?lang=eng" target="_blank">plea</a> that we “revitalize and re- enthrone superior teaching in the Church,” here are five preparation tips that will take your teaching to the next level. There are hundreds of valuable teaching tips (see links below). These five are focused on common mistakes we make in our approach to teaching in the Church. While easier said than done, remembering these will make our teaching easier, more enjoyable, and most importantly more powerful.<br> 1. Focus on teaching people, not lessons<br> Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. – John 21:17<br> I know this sounds like a meaningless gimmick, but following this simple maxim changes the entire approach to teaching. Because teaching for most of us is such an anxiety-inducing activity, our natural tendency is to focus on ourselves from the onset. “How am I going to use up the time? What am I going to do? What am I going to say? How am I going to be received?” The danger is to give our lesson all the attention instead of the students. This tendency is manifest when we teach well prepared “lessons” that are not relevant to our students, when we rush past questions because we need to “get back to the lesson,” or when our minds are blank after a meaningful comment because while they were talking we were thinking about the lesson plan to which we are so rigidly attached.<br> As we pray for charity and focus on our students, we empower the Spirit to direct us in ways that will bless those we teach. Elder Dallin H. Oaks <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/10/gospel-teaching?lang=eng" target="_blank">taught</a>, “A gospel teacher will never be satisfied with just delivering a message or preaching a sermon. A superior gospel teacher wants to assist in the Lord’s work to bring eternal life to His children.”<br> 2. Determine what to teach before you plan how to teach.<br> And again, the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon – D&C 42:12<br> This one is harder than it sounds. Again, because we are so often focused on ourselves, we have a natural tendency to jump straight into how we’re going to teach when we sit down to prepare. This is a huge mistake and it makes preparation very difficult. Powerful teaching usually comes from knowing what specific principles and doctrines you want to emphasize. I don’t just mean “I know I’m teaching the Gospel Essentials lesson on Prayer” or “I’m teaching the Sunday School Lesson on 2 Nephi 32-33.” This is not enough. In any given Church class, you generally have enough time to effectively cover one or two specific principles. These should be identified so specifically and clearly that someone could ask,
