The place to start is to make the reading and study of Scripture a priority. Not only do pastors get too busy to pray. We get too busy to immerse ourselves in the biblical text. I’m relentless about devoting the most productive part of my day – the morning – to Scripture. While I don’t make a huge distinction between studying for a sermon and studying for the benefit of my own soul, I find myself consistently working in other texts than what I’m currently preaching. Right now, I’m preaching in Proverbs. In the fall, I’ll work through Ephesians. Next winter, I’ll preach Judges. But right now, I’m spending the summer in Philippians. After several years of reading through the entire Bible, I wanted to go deeper in some selected books. What John Mitchell, founder of Multnomah Bible College, constantly challenged his students with a question that applies, to pastors, too: “Don’t you folks ever read your Bibles?”

A second way to make progress in your teaching is to read solid biblical and theological books. My frustration is not that pastors read books on leadership or culture. It’s that some pastors read these almost exclusively. Just so you know, I read Andy Stanley, Donald Miller, and Leith Anderson. But I also read Jonathan Edwards, Christopher J. H. Wright, Greg Beale, Miroslav Wolf, Kevin Vanhoozer, D. A. Carson, and others. At the moment, I’m concentrating on Wright’s book, The Mission of God, and Vanhoozer’s book, The Drama of Doctrine. I’m also set to begin Peter O’Brien’s commentary on the book of Philippians.

Here are some other ideas which I can develop in later blog posts if you like: start a reading/study group with another pastor or pastors; develop your skills in Hebrew and Greek; read and listen to good sermons; set aside an occasional day or week for study; enroll in a class or seminar on a biblical book or theological issue. Just do whatever it takes to make progress in your teaching. Your growth and your church’s growth in God’s salvation is at stake.