Sunday School Teachers - Denny Barnett

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

Sunday school teachers play an important role in facilitating many to come to Christ - especially children and adolescents. I distinctly remember the name of my Sunday school teacher - Brother Eric Brown, who was instrumental in me coming to faith in Christ. I was 13 at the time, and my family was living in the Bronx, New York, but our church was in Harlem. On this particular Sunday, I was in a Sunday school class with four other boys around the same age. Bro. Brown asked the following question: “How many of you are saved?” It just so happened that of the five, I was the only one who did not respond affirmatively. I felt like an outsider, that the others had something that I didn’t have - salvation in Jesus Christ. Later on that Sunday afternoon, the Gospel was presented to me and I accepted Christ into my heart and life.

A few weeks ago during my morning devotion, I came across a reference to another devotion written by Jean Priestap In her devotional, titled: It Started With A Sunday School Teacher (As cited in Vision for Christ, 2025), Priestap shared how Edward Kimball, a Sunday school teacher in Boston during the 1850s “made it a habit to personally give each student in his class the opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior.” Kimball visited this one particular student at the shoe store where he worked and led him to Christ. The student eventually left the shoe business and became one of America’s greatest evangelists - his name was Dwight L. Moody.

Edward Kimball’s dedication to sharing Christ with his student Dwight L. Moody resulted in a long connected series of teachers, missionaries, and evangelists starting with Frederick Meyer, Wilbur Chapman, Billy Sunday, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.

Priestap concludes by encouraging Sunday school teachers not to give up on their students, but instead, to persevere and rely on the Holy Spirit as God may be using “you” to prepare them to make a significant impact for the Kingdom!.

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

Denny Barnett

Source: Priestap, J. (2025). It Started With A Sunday School Teacher. Vision for Christ.