When I was the Sunday School director for the church I belonged to in New Mexico over 30 years ago, I remember asking one gentleman, an older, and supposedly a mature Christian, if he would teach a Sunday School class. I received the standard "churchy" answer I have heard time and time again. “Brother Doug, let me go and pray about it.” After a week I called on the man for second time, and the response was the same, “I still need to do some praying about it.” After a third week I asked once more, and the response I got was not unexpected, “I’m not sure God is calling me to teach, beside I don’t think I’m gifted to teach.” I must admit that I was disappointed. I guess my call for Him to teach was not quite the same as God’s call to teach. I was in my early 30’s at the time and this man had been a Christian nearly twice longer than I had been alive. The writer of Hebrews has something to say about that. In scolding the more mature Christians in the early church, he said;
Hebrews 5:12 (NKJV) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
However, one of my greatest joys I ever had as a Sunday School director was about 25 years ago at another church. I made an announcement that I was looking for teacher for an international class, where English was a spoken as a second language. And immediately I had one person jump up and say they were that person. I was taken back by this so I asked, “Don’t you want to pray about this first?” And the quick response was, "No, I had already prayed about it and your announcement was an answer to my prayer." Wow! Why can't all my teachers be like this one! Now 25 years later that class is still going strong, has grown into several classes and this teacher is still teaching and leading.
From a sermon by Doug Fannon, "The Harvest is Truly Plentiful"