- 18
- Episodes
- 2025
- First episode
About Dr. Danny's Teacher-to-Teacher
In these short episodes, Dr. Danny shares biblically-based insights on teaching the Bible. Published weekly, you can get a boost before teaching each week. Dr. Danny has been teaching the Bible since the late 1980s and training Bible teachers since the early 2010s.
- Publisher
- Danny R. Bowen, PhD
- Category
- religion & spirituality
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 2 Jul 2025
- Latest episode
- 26 Dec 2025
Latest episodes
18 episodes in the feed.
26 Dec 2025
Adapting the One Truth of a Passage
Why?:How do you adapt the message the author of Scripture meant for the original hearers to those you are trying to teach? What?: The divine and human authors of Scripture meant to communicate a specific truth to those who received the original writings. That truth was to be applied to their lives in a particular way. But, often, there’s a problem in communicating that same truth to a modern audience so that it affects their lives. We’re separated from the original recipients of Scripture by time, culture, language, and geography. If that weren’t enough, our modern learners vary in physical and spiritual maturity. So, how can you teach a lesson that’s true to the truth of the passage yet relevant to the lives of your learners? Well, sometimes the truth applies to the modern learner in exactly the same way it did for the ancient learner. Sometimes it has to be adapted through one or more of the filters of time, culture, language, or geography. Sometimes it has to be adapted because of the physical maturity of the learners— you wouldn’t teach the same application for a 5 year old and a 50 year old. Sometimes it has to be adapted to the spiritual maturity of the learners—some are still on milk while others need meat. So What?:In each case, the truth is the same, but the teaching point you will want make will be different. So What Now?: Will you commit to knowing your learners? Knowing what they need right now? And then finding a way to communicate the truth of the passage in way that is likely to be used by the Holy Spirit to transform your learners?
19 Dec 2025
Why Are You a Teacher?
Why?: The Apostle John says we don’t need teachers. So, why are you one? What?: In 1 John, chapter 2, verse 27, the Apostle John writes, “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you.” We need no teacher other than the Holy Spirit living in us. It’s the Holy Spirit who is ultimately our teacher and the teacher of our learners. He is the one who revealed God’s truth, had it written down, illumines our hearts and minds to that truth, and then applies the truth to the life of every disciple of Jesus. Yet, he uses human teachers in the process. Have you ever wondered why? I certainly have and I can’t find a single passage from Scripture that I can point to that answers the question directly. Instead, looking at all of Scripture, it’s clear that everything God does is for His own glory. Somehow, His using us broken people to transform other broken people puts His glory on display in a way that must be greater than if He taught us directly by Himself. So What?: So, if it brought Him more glory to not use human teachers, He could and would do that without us. Instead, He calls us to be teachers so that He can demonstrate His power to earthly and heavenly onlookers. He uses dull tools like us to sharpen one another. And that brings Him great glory. So What Now?: You’re a teacher because God made you one. Will you bring glory to God in your teaching by relying on the real teacher — the Holy Spirit? Asking Him to guide you as you prepare your lesson? Asking Him to prepare the hearts of your learners for the lesson? Asking Him to help you teach your learners and then apply the truths they learn so that they can become more Christlike? God called you to be a teacher to bring glory to Himself, so glorify Him in your teaching.
12 Dec 2025
Growing Your Teaching Skill
Why?: How and why should you grow in your teaching skill? What?: God is the only perfect teacher. Jesus, God the Son, taught perfectly in His earthly ministry. He sent God, the Holy Spirit to teach until He returns for us. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit teaches perfectly. To be blunt, you’re neither of them. You ARE given as a gift by Jesus to the church. You ARE used by the Holy Spirit to teach, but only as His instrument. And, every instrument could be better…sharper…more effective. So What?:So how do you improve? One way to get better is to record your teaching and then go through the painful process of reviewing your own teaching. Another way is to have your learners critique your teaching. Did they actually understand the truth you were trying to teach them? Were they motivated to be transformed by that truth? You might even invite other teachers or church leaders into your classroom to give you feedback. At TeachersOfTheBible.org, we have a list of questions that are useful in showing you ways you can improve. So What Now?: The question is, “Will you actually try to improve?” Are you willing to receive feedback, even criticism, in the spirit of helping you to be more effective? Every teacher should want to improve. What will you do about it?
5 Dec 2025
Using Discussion
Why?: How and why might you teach a lesson using only discussion as your method? What?: There are a number of reasons you might choose discussion as the format for a Bible lesson. The personality of the class, as a whole, may favor discussion. You may want to have a community of believers rely on the Holy Spirit, who indwells them, to teach them more directly. You may want to exploit the learning preferences of every learner in the class using the principles on which The Effective Four questions are based. Those Effective Four are Why? What? So What? So What Now?. If you’re using discussion, you need to plan a series of questions that will help your learners engage with the Bible in order to provide direction for the lesson. For example, when teaching 1 John chapter 1, verses 1-4, I draw them in by having them answer a question: “What problems can keep us from having joy as a church body?” After a couple of answers, I point them to the text that provides the answer. Here I share my teaching point: Real joy comes from real fellowship with the real Jesus. My affective aim is that The learner will desire real joy as a member of Christ’s body As I transition from the Why? to the What?, I explain how differences in essential doctrines divide today just like doctrine divided the early church that wrestled over the truth that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Then, I walk them through the text asking questions that show them how I came to my teaching point. I spend as much time as necessary for them to see the truth I saw in my study. But, I typically have a time marked on my notes so that we don’t run out of time before getting to the final questions—So What? and So What Now?. In asking these transformative questions, I allow them to provide the answers so that they’re more likely to commit to being transformed by the truth of the passage. I sometimes have some sort of accountability built in, but sometimes I allow them to suggest ways they would be accountable. Throughout the entire lesson, I am steering them towards the truth of the passage and the application of that truth for their lives. So What?: In the classroom, discussion sometimes looks like the teacher didn’t have to do much to prepare the lesson. That is as far from the truth as you can get IF the lesson is intended to transform the learners. As the teacher preparing, you never know what answers you will get to the questions you ask so you have to be prepared for the most likely and be willing to say “I’m not sure about that but I’ll get back to you” for responses you didn’t anticipate. You can never be sure how the discussion will unfold. And, you have to keep their transformation in mind as you sometimes force them to move on so that the Effective Four questions—Why? What? So What? So What Now? are answered. Being able to control the discussion takes a lot more preparation than a lecture. So What Now?: Knowing that the Holy Spirit is the primary teacher, will you commit to allowing Him to use you to teach using a discussion format for some of your teaching? It seems risky not knowing the rabbit trails you may discuss, but trusting Him, will you commit to leading discussions with excellence?
28 Nov 2025
Alone as a Teacher?
Why?: As a teacher, do you ever feel like you are alone? What?: In many teaching ministries, it is easy to feel isolated, to feel alone. We may not meet regularly with other teachers as we plug away week-by-week. If you feel alone, there is good news. It is recorded at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Immediately after giving the Great Commission to His first disciples, in the last words recorded by Matthew, Jesus assures His first disciples, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The dilemma comes in reading at the end of Luke’s Gospel and at the beginning of Acts that Jesus was then taken into heaven. If He promised to be with us and then was taken away, maybe all believers, including teachers, have cause to feel alone. Well, we’re not! Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit to indwell us so that we have God present in us as believers. But, how is that Jesus being with us? Perhaps the answer is the church. Consider that the Spirit unites all believers as one church and that united church is called “the body of Christ” a visible body that we can see in local congregations of that one church. So What?: We can legitimately say that Jesus is physically with us in the local congregation and spiritually with us in the Holy Spirit. We are not alone. So What Now?: As a teacher, when you feel alone, remember that you’re not. You have Jesus’ promise that He is with all believers until the end of the age.
21 Nov 2025
Teaching Authoritatively
Why?: Why do you think your teaching is authoritative? What?: Some teachers think their teaching is authoritative because of their position in the church. Others, because they know and communicate the Bible well. Some even think that if they speak in authoritative ways— whatever that is — that their teaching has authority. The truth is that we speak authoritatively when we speak with Jesus’ authority. In Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, just before giving the Great Commission to make disciples, the resurrected Jesus said He had been given ALL authority in heaven and on earth. And in that authority, He was sending the church out to make disciples. In other words, Jesus has given us His authority to continue His work of making disciples. So What?: It is Jesus’ ministry to make disciples who grow to look more and more like their Savior. He has redeemed them. Through His Spirit, He transforms them. The fact that we are operating on His authority rather than our own should keep us humble as we are used to carry out His work. Our teaching fails when we do it on our own authority. Our teaching succeeds when we rely on the authority of the One who commissioned us in the first place. So What Now?: When you start getting a little full of yourself thinking you are really special as a teacher, will you repent and humbly submit to the One who has real authority and who has sent you to His church with that authority? Only then will your teaching be authoritative.
14 Nov 2025
"Teaching" in the Great Commission
Why?: Does teaching in the Great Commission apply to every Christian in the same way? What?: At the end of Matthew’s gospel, he records Jesus’ Great Commission to the church to make disciples by having a heart to reach the lost, baptizing new believers, and teaching all disciples to obey everything Jesus has commanded. That commission for the church applies to every individual believer in the church; we are all to teach. And teachers are to teach. Isn’t that the same thing? No! In Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 to 16, Paul tells us that Jesus gave certain gifts, including teachers, to the church to equip every member for ministry. So, all believers are to teach by modeling the Christian life and passing on God’s truth. But, those who are gifted to the church as teachers have a larger responsibility to teach the church so that every believer CAN teach. Although there is certainly some overlap, a simple way to describe the difference is that every believer is to teach in private settings — for example, in the home; but teachers are to teach in public settings — for example, in Sunday school classes. So What?: As teachers we are publicly to teach how all believers can teach privately. So What Now?: Don’t be satisfied if your teaching ministry teaches others truth unless you have taught them how to pass on that truth. Teaching them to teach, you will be the gift Jesus intended for you to be when He gave you to His church.
7 Nov 2025
Teaching and "Baptizing"
Why?: What does a teaching ministry have to do with baptizing? What?: In the Great Commission recorded in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus commissions His disciples to make disciples. Having a heart to go to the lost, the church is to baptize those who become disciples of Jesus as their first act of obedience as new disciples, confessing to the world the profession of faith in Jesus. As teachers we have an obligation to teach — and to help those we disciple to teach — the full Gospel message. We must tell of the holiness of God and the separation from God that comes because humanity, through our first father, Adam, chose to sin. We must share the Good News that Jesus is the only solution to our separation So What?: If we want to be right with God, we need to be disciples of Jesus. Disciples who make disciples by sharing the Good News presented especially in the Gospels that open the New Testament. So What Now?: As a teacher, being used in a special way by God to make disciples, will you commit to teaching the holiness of God, the brokenness of humanity, and the only solution that makes us right with God, that is Christ Jesus?
31 Oct 2025
Teaching and "Go, Therefore"
Why?: If “Go” is not the Commission, what does “Go, therefore…” have to do with the Great Commission? What?: The Great Commission recorded in Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20 begins with “Go, therefore…” Many focus on the going as if the only way to carry out the Great Commission is to “go on mission” to some other place, near or far. While the Commission does include what we, today, call missions, the “Go” at the beginning is the first explanation of what it means to make disciples. “Go” prompts our hearts to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to the dying world, starting in the home, extending to the local community, and then reaching all the way to the most distant lands. “Go” begins when we become followers of Jesus and ends when we have no breath left in our bodies. So What?: Admittedly, it is easy, as a teacher in the church, to leave evangelism and missions to others. After all, we say, we’re doing our part by teaching. But, if we really believe what we teach, we need to model what it means to have a heart to reach the lost and teach the redeemed. So What Now?: Pray that God would give you a heart set on obedience that sees the brokenness of every person so that He might use you to go, therefore and make disciples.
24 Oct 2025
The Great Commission
Why?: The Great Commission is recorded at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, but what is the commission? What?: In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, verses 19 and 20, Matthew records Jesus’ Great Commission for the church. Jesus said to His first disciples: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” There is only one main verb in the Commission and it is not “go.” Instead, it is to make disciples, that is, make disciples of Jesus. So the Great Commission is disciples who make disciples who make disciples… So What?: Is your teaching ministry about making fact-filled fans of your teaching OR about making disciples of Jesus whose hearts desire to be obedient to Jesus by making even more disciples? So What Now?: Commit, today, to make every lesson you teach an exercise in obedience to the Great Commission to make multiplying disciples of our Lord.
17 Oct 2025
Using Lecture
Why?: How and why might you teach a lesson using only lecture as your method? What?: There are a number of reasons you might teach using only lecture for a particular lesson. Your time may be very limited and you want control the flow so that you get through the entire lesson. Lecture allows you to do that. Your group of learners may be very large and in a confined space. Lecture allows you teach them where they are. The point is that there ARE legitimate reasons for using lecture as your method. Arguments against a lecture format in a class are typically arguments against the teacher rather than the method. Some people just aren’t good lecturers. So how might you lecture? Considering the first four verses of John’s first epistle, here’s one way I’ve used lecture to help learners answer The Effective Four questions—Why? What? So What? So What Now? My teaching idea from 1 John, chapter 1, verses 1-4 is that Real joy comes from real fellowship with the real Jesus. My affective aim is that The learner will desire real joy as a member of Christ’s body. I draw them in by asking a rhetorical question: “Why can’t Christians just get along?” This is my Why? Then as I transition into the text, I explain how doctrine divides today just like doctrine divided the early church that wrestled over the truth that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Then I help them answer the What? question; what is the truth in the verses? Here I walk through the verses and show them the teaching idea: Real joy in v. 4 comes from real fellowship in v. 3 with the real Jesus, who is described in the first verses. Then the biggest question: So What? So What difference does that truth make to our life as the church? What might we do to be in fellowship with the real Jesus so that we can experience the joy of His body, the church? I present possibilities that may even raise other options as they think about answering the question. Then I end with the So What Now? I ask them to commit to doing something that had been suggested or something they thought of themselves. Even getting mental agreement by asking “Will you commit?” primes them for transformation. So What?: Teachers are divided arguing for or against lecture in a Bible class. Considering the fact that the central teaching event in the church—the sermon—is typically a lecture format, there seems to be good grounds for having lecture in your skill set. The problem is that not every teacher is a good lecturer. So What Now?: If you’re going to use lecture, even occasionally, will you commit to lecturing with excellence? Grab their attention in the first few moments and hold it until you get them to commit to transformation.
10 Oct 2025
Learning Forever
Why?: People say we’ll have all the answers to our questions when we get to heaven. Will we really? What?: In Ephesians, chapter 2, Paul describes how we’re saved by grace through faith. In verse 7, he tells us why. Paul writes, “… so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” How long will it take for Him to show us what Paul describes as “immeasurable riches of his grace”? The answer is, in a word, “forever.” Every day we’ll learn more of the “immeasurable riches of his grace.” I’m reminded of the last stanza of the familiar hymn, Amazing Grace: “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’ve first begun.” The same will be true a million years later. We’ll still be learning about God’s grace poured out on us. We’ll still be learning more about our Creator, our Savior, our great God as He reveals Himself day-by-day. So What?: We’ll never know everything, otherwise we would be God. But, since God has made us in His image, we can know everything He reveals to us. A billion years into our eternal lives, we’ll be excited to say, “Lord, we thought we knew you yesterday, but today you have revealed yourself in a new way. You are an awesome God.” So What Now?: As Bible teachers, we have the privilege of giving our learners a taste of the learning they will experience every day, forever. We get to show them how great God is in every one of our lessons. Are you… will you be that excited every time you have the privilege of teaching those God has placed under your teaching ministry?
3 Oct 2025
The Effective Four
Why?: How do you construct a Bible lesson based on The Effective Four? What?: The Effective Four are the four questions you should help your learners answer so that they might gain wisdom rather than mere knowledge from your Bible lesson. The questions are: Why? What? So What? So What Now?. The first question is Why? Why should they want to know the truth you are going to show them from Scripture? The second question is What? What is that truth? The third question is So What? How might the truth be applied to their lives so that they can grow in wisdom? Finally, So What Now? What transformation would they commit to as a result of the lesson? That’s the order of the lesson — Why? What? So What? So What Now?. But, the lesson is constructed starting with the What? This is where you will spend most of your time in preparing the lesson. What is the big idea from the passage you are going to teach? Once you understand what the human author, inspired by the divine author, meant to say to the original audience, you can bring the truth to your learners. Then, think through how that truth could be applied to your learners. That’s the So What?. The So What Now? is the way in which you will have your learners commit to being transformed. Finally, knowing where you’re aiming, develop the Why? that will draw them into the lesson. Raise a tension that needs to be settled or ask a question that needs to answered by the passage you’re teaching. So What?: In summary, you prepare the lesson beginning with the What?, but you present the lesson beginning with the Why?. This is the method of constructing a lesson so that you are, as the title of the book says, Bible Teaching for Wisdom. So What Now?: Rather than reading from a lesson prepared by another or presenting a lot of interesting Bible facts, know the truth that leads to wisdom and then teach that truth using The Effective Four.
26 Sept 2025
The One Question
Why?: What is the one question that will turn your Bible lesson from informative to transformative? What?: Teaching is often considered a process of instruction in knowledge or training in a new skill. When we teach the Bible, we want to do more. We want people to be transformed by the truths they learn from Scripture. Here at Teachers of the Bible, we promote a 4-step process that is structured around questions that we label: The Effective Four. The questions we want to help our learners answer so that they will be transformed are: Why? What? So What? So What Now? The one question that advances most teachers from transmitters to transformers, that turns Bible lessons from information to transformation is: So What? We can show them the truth of a Bible passage, then we need to ask So What? In our book — Bible Teaching for Wisdom — we model lesson preparation using the opening verses in 1 John. The truth is summarized: “Real joy comes from real fellowship with the real Jesus.” So What? What could the source of real joy mean to our lives today? This week? This year? The question — So What? — transforms the lesson by aiming to transform the learner, by pushing the learner to become wise. So What?: All 4 of the The Effective Four questions are important to the lesson, but the weakness in many lessons is the one question: So What? So What Now?: Will you commit to moving on to that one question, the So What? If you do, your lesson will turn transformative and you will be living out your God-given role as a teacher of His truth.
19 Sept 2025
God's Hand
Why?: Is God’s hand on your Bible teaching ministry? What?: God’s hand was on Ezra’s teaching ministry when Ezra left exile in Babylon to return to teach God’s Word to God’s people in Jerusalem. In Ezra chapter 7, verse 10, we see why God’s hand was on him — Ezra’s heart was set on learning God’s Word and allowing it to transform him. Only then did Ezra set out to teach God’s Word in Israel. So What?: That should be the order for all of us who teach God’s Word today — learn it; live it; then teach it. Obviously, none us does any of those perfectly. So What Now?: Which do you need the most work on this week — learning God’s Word? living God’s Word? Or Teaching God’s Word more effectively? Being transformed by God’s Word you will see God’s hand on your teaching ministry.
12 Sept 2025
What is Wisdom?
Why?: Philosophers and theologians talk about wisdom, but what is it? What?: Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied to life. In 2 Tim chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, Paul tells Timothy that Scripture is profitable for teaching right knowledge and for correcting wrong knowledge. He adds that Scripture is profitable for correcting wrong application and teaching right application of that knowledge. In other words, Scripture is profitable for teaching wisdom — knowledge rightly applied to life. So What?: As Bible teachers, God has given us His Word so that we can teach wisdom, but many stop at mere knowledge of that Word. So What Now?: Will you commit your teaching ministry to teaching wisdom?
5 Sept 2025
The Beginning of Your Wisdom
Why?: As Bible teachers, we want to teach wisdom. But, where do we begin? What?: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” That truth is echoed throughout the wisdom literature in the Bible. Wisdom begins with knowing who God is and who we are in relation to Him. The wise person begins with a heart properly disposed toward God. In contrast, Psalm chapter 14, verse 1 tells us, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” So What?: If we, as Bible teachers, are going to teach wisdom, we must begin by teaching a proper understanding of the true God, the One who reveals Himself in the Bible. So What Now?: Does your wisdom have the right beginning point? Is “the fear of the Lord” the beginning of your wisdom? Read through the wisdom books of the Bible to see how you might be transformed so that you might be used to transform others.
2 Jul 2025
Relaunch
Dr. Danny's Teacher-to-Teacher is relaunching September, 2025.
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