Basketball. My first love.
I love watching it. I love playing it. I love coaching it.
With all the love I have for the game, it unfortunately comes with a lot of frustration. When I watch or play, I often see players who get really caught up in trying to look flashy or who try to make wild or difficult shots and passes. Don’t get me wrong: It’s impressive when those plays work and when those shots go in, but often there are far simpler ways to accomplish the same goal. It might not look as pretty, but it gets the job done.
Case in point: In the discussion of NBA all-time greats, one name often gets overlooked because he wasn’t exciting or showy, but he was a 5x NBA champion, 3x Finals MVP, 15x All-NBA selection, 15x All-Defensive Team selection, 2x MVP, Rookie of the Year, he is top 10 all time in rebounds and blocks, and made the NBA playoffs 18 out of the 19 years he played. His name is Tim Duncan aka, “The Big Fundamental.”
Many consider Tim Duncan to be a top 10 basketball player of all time, but we often forget how great he was. What exactly made him great? Well, his nickname says it all. “The Big Fundamental” was one of the most fundamentally sound players ever. Everything from his defense to his footwork to his boxing out to his use of the backboard when he shot was executed to perfection. It was never exciting, but it was always effective.
You ought to know by now that I always bring it back to teaching the gospel.
Sometimes in the church we get really fixated on making our lessons a little flashy with either entertainment value or knowledge that makes us look/sound smart. And what often gets lost in the sauce? The plain and precious truths of the gospel.
There are even some who complain that we talk too much about the simpler aspects of the gospel too much. Why do the prophets overemphasize the same doctrines and principles so often? Every talk or lesson seemingly draws on the same handful of teachings: The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Agency, Faith, Repentance, Ordinances, Covenants, Prayer, Scripture Study, Temples, Missionary Work, etc. Why don’t we ever seem to move on or graduate from these topics? Why don’t we spend time theorizing or speculating over deep doctrines or mysteries? Or why don’t we lay out the logic and apologetics of our faith in our Sunday School or seminary classes? Wouldn’t that be so much more exciting to talk about physical evidence of the Book of Mormon or the theorized location of Zarahemla? Or what if we spent time attempting to deduce the exact date of the 2nd Coming or speculate about church policies that we know generate controversy and buzz? Wouldn’t it attract greater focus, attention, and even attendance if we jazzed up our lessons a bit and just let the same old principles take a break?
The prophet Nephi taught that when people don’t get taught those simple truths “an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them” (1 Nephi 13:29). While other topics and focuses might appear flashy, none of them will have the same impact on the hearts of our students like the basics of the gospel.
Nobody that I know of has ever been converted through reasoning and logic or had their heart changed by a fiery exchange over controversy. True conversion comes through the teaching, testimony, and application of the plain and precious truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why focus on the same things over and over? Because “in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation” (1 Nephi 13:36). Focusing on those sure and steadfast aspects of the gospel are what will lead our students to Christ and salvation.
So how do we do that without boring our classes to death?
Experiences.
We can give our students opportunities to experience the plain and precious truths and to share their own experiences with those principles. This will engage them in a way that will take simple principles and make them something that will have a lasting impact. They may not remember specific activities or lectures, but they will remember how they felt as they lived the gospel in your class. Let me give you an example.
Rather than telling our students about the importance of prayer, what if we asked our students to share an experience about how prayer has blessed/changed their lives? They wouldn’t just be hearing about why they need to pray or even how to pray, but they would remember how prayers made them feel. What if we took time in class to offer a prayer for something/someone that was important to us? Then our class wouldn’t just talk about prayer, but they would get a chance to pray together in a meaningful way. And when those experiences bear fruit, they will etch a stronger testimony into their hearts than any well-worded argument ever could. Those experiences will stick with them because they won’t just be hearing about the gospel, but they will be living it in real time.
Reflecting on my basketball analogy, I can’t remember a single play of Tim Duncan’s career. His simple-but-effective play style wasn’t memorable, but the championships were. His fans might not remember any flashy moves, but I bet they remember how they felt when their team held up the Larry O’Brien trophy 5 different times. Similarly, teaching in plainness may not always be exciting, but it is always a winning formula.
