While in Kansas City we got acquainted with Will and Dee Weathersby. Will and Dee have been our friends ever since. They celebrated our fiftieth anniversary with us in Abilene in 2009. Shortly after we moved to Kansas City, Will began preaching for a church on the Missouri side. We “clicked” as the saying goes, and we had many long and deep discussions about many things.
After he had been in Kansas City awhile, Will began to dream of starting a School of Preaching. Schools of Preaching were springing up all over the country as an alternative approach to preacher training. There were those who wanted to preach, but the traditional degree program from a college didn’t work for them.
Preacher training schools are much like Bible Colleges in other faith communities. Will wanted to start a school, and he wanted me to be on the faculty. I agreed provided that our academic standards would be on a par with college instruction. I had no interest in teaching glorified Sunday School classes for people who thought they wanted to be preachers. We conceived of a school that would be staffed by part time faculty – ministers of local congregations. We expected our students to work at jobs and attend school part time. It would take four years to go through our program.
Early on I began to realize that we had a problem. Many of these students did not have the intellectual ability to do the academic work. Others simply lacked discipline or were so stressed by work responsibilities and family responsibilities that the study load overwhelmed them. Within the first year, about half of the first class dropped out. On the other hand we had some students, who were so disciplined and so motivated, that we struggled to keep challenging them.
After a couple of years Will decided to move to Texas, and I was asked to assume the role of school administrator. I would have to say that I’m a good teacher and a lousy administrator but I gave it a shot.
I had some conflict with the leadership of the sponsoring church. They thought I was making the academic load too hard. They said I was teaching at a graduate school level, when I should be offering the courses at a Freshman and Sophomore level. I didn’t agree with that analogy and refused to give in. A short time after that we left Kansas City the decision was made to “dumb down” the academics, but the school didn’t last long after that. Before we began the school, we asked educators what they thought about our plans. We were warned about compromising academics. Even those who had successfully started other preacher training schools told us the same thing. As I look back on it, I think that warning was good advice. Sometimes I argue for things that I have second thoughts about later, but this was not one of them.
The Kansas City School of Preaching assignment was not good for my family life. I insisted that my work at the school not interfere with my work at the local church. So I decided that I would work on my lesson preparation between the hours of 10 at night and 1 in the morning. That wasn’t good for me physically. It was terrible for Ann, and it really reduced the amount of attention I gave the children. It would only be a matter of time before something had to give.
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