A Teacher's Role 
in Family Soulcare
© 2003 Sid Galloway

Updated May 2003

   Did you know that the majority of Christian children attend public schools?  Many of them are from homes (especially minority single-mothers), that cannot afford private school, and cannot homeschool.  Therefore, the public school system provides an important and necessary service for the majority (including Christian families).  Yes, I know that the government system seems fatally flawed, but please think prayerfully about the fact that for most such families - there is no alternative available.  So, who will be their teachers in the public schools, if Christian men and women don't step forward and serve in this vital role?  A lot of Christians complain about the problems in public schools (and there are many serious problems), but few Christians are willing to roll up their sleeves and reach out personally and physically to these children in need. 

Time is short, and if the bias against a Christian worldview continues to increase in the public educational system, the doors for such an outreach may soon close.  This is especially likely for Christian teachers of biology/"intelligent design".  In fact, the more I examine the legal precedents accumulating around the country, it seems that a Christian high school may be the only place that I could teach secondary biology, with a free conscience.  However, other high school subjects, as well as the elementary grades, are still wonderful opportunities to serve children and families in the public system.

Many children, who need encouragement and counseling the most, are often the ones whose families cannot afford it.  Many others have parents who, for various reasons, will not admit their need and reach out for help to any counselor, not even to counselors like us who don’t charge demanded fees for God’s profoundly simple, relationship principles. So as you know, it is often a teacher, rather than a counselor, who is there to reach the hurting hearts of such children, while still respecting the values and beliefs of their parents. I remember the powerfully positive impact a few of my teachers were able to have on me, as a rebellious youth, helping to redirect my future - and save my life.

In every nation, throughout history, minority families often end up oppressed, even unintentionally by the naturally selfish, sin nature of the majority.  (Please see the article, "My Black Grandfather".)  Too often, Christians in the majority fail to follow our Lord Jesus, in His self-sacrificial search for the lost and lonely among the oppressed.   Even worse is the fact that many white Christians (pink or tan), who are "politically" conservative like me, fail to recognize and admit that the evil of prejudice is still a terrible reality in America.  So the hurt and resentment sometimes grows so deep, that those in the minority won’t trust people from majority churches.   The result is segregation among Christian congregations, which is a visible dishonor to our one Father.  To bridge that gap, sometimes it’s necessary to step out of the "holy huddle" and work alongside those in the world system, who need our Father’s love the most.

Some of you are aware that I’ve received job offers to move and serve in various paid, "professional" ministry positions (with men that I respect).  Such work can be good, Christ-honoring, and productive, but not for me at this time in my family's life.  Some of the positions required administrative abilities that I do not have, and others would require me to compromise significant personal beliefs or practices. Also, my pastoral gifts are more in the area of teaching and crisis counseling - sort of a "sheep-dog" coming along side those who are in trouble - rather than the CEO Shepherd of a large flock.   These are all further reasons why I’ve now chosen to provide for my own family, through secular employment, while continuing the free ministry of  Family Soulcare Ministries.

My heart's desire is not only to help encourage academic excellence, but also mature character development for children whose circumstances have distorted their perception of reality (of God, themselves, others, relationships, and what it means to be successful). Even though there are already many caring and diligent teachers in the system, it is also apparent that many more are needed, especially men.  Remember, Psalm 68:4-6.  God desires us to serve as fathers and grandfathers to the fatherless.  Serving as a teacher could provide an opportunity to positively influence the lives of lost and lonely children, that we could not reach otherwise. 

In addition to the practical principles of character development and teaching children how to think with analytical logic, I believe that children need an accurate worldview, on which to build a strong home and nation.  Social actions and reactions come from beliefs.  Evidence indicates that the increasing selfishness, rebellion, and violence in schools and society in general is merely the rotten fruit growing up from the foundational root of a worldview based upon "Survival of the Cruelest (Coolest)".   The fact that I was once a zookeeper (carnivores:  lions, tigers, and bears) and an evolutionary ethologist (animal behaviorist) makes this concern all the more personal to me.  No, I don't believe that "public" schools should teach biblical creation, nor should they teach Islamic or Hindu creation.  Religious positions should never be promoted by "public" schools, yet every educational institution should always teach the full spectrum of scientific evidence, including that which contradicts current theories of evolution (Neo-Darwinian Evolution, Punctuated Equilibrium, Panspermia, etc.).    For more details, you can review our summary articles on creation, but I especially encourage you to examine the articles and books written by scientists associated with or recommended by http://www.answersingenesis.org.

You, in fact, all people have the right to know about the growing movement among scientists (even non-theistic) scientists, who are becoming convinced by the evidence of genetics, information science, etc., that "Intelligent Design" is a valid, evidential theory challenging the current theories of evolution (for a sample of such scientists see: http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/bios/default.asp#pastsci).  Dr. Lee Spetner, for example, is one of many non-Christian scientists of international respect at the forefront of this emerging scientific reformation.  Science should never become dogma, but rather grow as a pursuit toward the improvement of our knowledge of the physical realm, through honest, empirical examination of the evidence.  

  Listen here to Dr. Werner Gitt, respected scientist in the field of information science.
The retired Dr Gitt was a director and professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig), the Head of the Department of Information Technology. Three prerequisites must be fulfilled in order for the German Ministerium to award the title ‘Director and Professor’ at a German research institute, on the recommendation of the Praesidium. The person concerned must be:

So, for those of you who have offered to pray for us, the following is a summation of my reasons for choosing to stay here in Slidell and provide for our family’s physical needs (income and insurance) by working bivocationally as a public or private schoolteacher (absent-minded professor):

Why stay in Slidell, teach school, & continue Soulcare.org ?

I. Financial Reasons: (Modeling "free" ministry with no demanded "fees")

A. Secures affordable insurance & an income base, without having to "charge" fees for ministry.
    (This is especially important, due to my son's ongoing medical needs.)
     (Our current "Southern Baptist" insurance premium is $15,000 each year.)
B. Saves a lot of money, in housing and cost of living, since our house is paid off.
C. We won’t have to fix up and sell our current house, or buy and set up a new one.
D. We’ll stay debt free, and no debt will be incurred, if we stay in this house we own.
E. Money won’t influence or tempt me to compromise my ministry’s beliefs or practices.
F. Retirement potentials would be helpful in 20 years, so the kids won’t have to care for us.

II. Family Reasons: (Modeling God’s simple priority of relationships)

A. Living simply, instead of busily climbing the ladder of prestige, models God’s priorities.
     (i.e., family relationships, working on God’s Ph.D. first, a Doctor of Phatherhood.)
       - It’s OK to earn legitimate degrees, when needed, so long as the home is not neglected.
         Yet, many ministers are even pursuing Phony Doctorates, at their family’s expense.
B. My chemical sensitivity, triggering migraines, can be better managed in a classroom, than a large church.
C. A teacher’s simple schedule, with few required evenings, will help ensure healthy sleep.
D. Quantity Time - being off evenings, weekends, & summers allows a lot of family time.
E. Quality Time - minimal mental & administrative demands, frees me to train my own kids.
F. We’ll stay close to Michael’s heart doctors in New Orleans and Birmingham.
G. We’ll stay close to all of the kids grandparents (an important socializing influence).

A. My ministry priorities can be easily kept (writing, seminars, consultation, counseling).
B. It models active fatherhood at home, instead of a "busy professional", yet absent Dad.
C. I can serve as a father / big brother to kids in need (esp. minority kids of single moms).
D. No significant compromise in belief is required (re: elders, divorce, psych, rank, etc...)
E. I can freely minister in love, soli deo gloria, without money affecting ministry.
F. Minimal mental/administrative demands as a teacher allows more of a focus on ministry.
G. I’ll be better able to understand the many "lay" pastors, whom I often counsel.
H. I’ll be better able to model for church members, their responsibility to minister without pay.  Too many wrongly expect their "paid pastor" to do the ministry. 
I. I’ll be better able to understand and model for "bivocational" pastors.
J. I’ll be better able to know and reach unsaved families in need (especially minorities).
K. The schedule allows our family to minister together (PM, weekends, holidays, summers).
     (Most "professional" ministers must do their ministry apart from their wife & kids.)
L. Being a school teacher still allows me to serve as part of a pastoral elder team, in a
     church that will © L.E.A.D. biblically (Loving, Equipping, Accountability, Discipline).
M.  Teaching young kids will make me a better teacher of adults, since God's truths are simple enough for children, yet profound enough even for legitimate Ph.D.s.