Master Audience

"Bob,  I was listening as you were teaching and I have a question."
"Well, go ahead, Tom," the teacher replied.
"Are you sure that sea monsters are really Biblical?  I mean, are there other examples of sea monsters in Biblical text?"
"Um...that is an interesting question, Tom," said Bob.  Now looking at the pastor who was sitting in his class for the day, "Uh...what do you think, Pastor?  Can you help us here?"

 What woud have happened if the pastor had not been in the class?  How would the answer have been found?  This situation is played out in meetings where the boss is all of the sudden present, in classes, in discussions and in symposiums around the world.  It is great to defer, to respect those who are Masters of the topic.  It would be foolish to ingnore the expereience, expertise and knowledge of a master teacher of a subject that you are teaching.  It is ridiculous to cheat your pupils from the wisdom of a master teacher.

However, many times, the teacher involves the master audience because they immediately feel inadequate, unprepared and insecure in what they are teaching.  Take this turn on the above example - does it sound familiar?  Have you done this?

 "Bob,  I was listening as you were teaching and I have a question."
"Well, go ahead, Tom," the teacher replied.
"Are you sure that sea monsters are really Biblical?  I mean, are there other examples of sea monsters in Biblical text?"
"I think that most sea monster references are found in 2 Giants and in the third book of Large Creatures.  Usually, sea monsters can be a metaphor for angry people who are drunk," said Bob.  Now having given the correct answer he looked at the pastor who was sitting in his class for the day, "Do you agree, Pastor?"

Likewise, uncomfortable is the situation of the immature or "not thinking" master teacher.  It goes like this:

"Bob,  I was listening as you were teaching and I have a question."
"Well, go ahead, Tom," the teacher replied.
"Are you sure that sea monsters are really Biblical?  I mean, are there other examples of sea monsters in Biblical text?"
"Um...that is an interesting question, Tom," started Bob.
"I think that most sea monster references are found in 2 Giants and in the third book of Large Creatures.  Usually, sea monsters can be a metaphor for angry people who are drunk," interrupted the pastor.  Now having given the correct answer he looked at the teacher, "Don't you agree, Bob?"

Master audiences should know better than to strip the teacher of his call and to disable all of the preparation and prayer that has gone into the lesson, seminar or meeting.  Master audiences should listen well and be audiences because they are not teachers and leaders in this environment. 

On the other hand, the master audience should be allowed to participate and add to the learning experience as a learner.  The less secure teacher often feels it necessary to "prove his worth" and counter, add to or modify everything that the master audience offers or inputs.  Have you seen this happen?

 "Bob,  I was listening as you were teaching and I have a question."
"Well, go ahead, Tom," the teacher replied.
"Are you sure that sea monsters are really Biblical?  I mean, are there other examples of sea monsters in Biblical text?"
"Um...that is an interesting question, Tom," started Bob. "It does talk about them in 2 Giants but I am not aware of anywhere else.  Anyone??"
"There are quite a few sea monster references found in the third book of Large Creatures.  Usually, sea monsters can be a metaphor for angry people who are drunk," responded the pastor after seeing if anyone was going to reply.
"Well, I think that you could say - and of course there are references in Large Creatures but I don't usually consider those as..."

It can be hard to teach when a master teacher or your master teacher is present in the room.  When you are younger, you simply get nervous and worry about giving the correct answer.  When you are older, you don't want to ignore the wisdom or cheat the rest of the audience of the knowledge but you want to work the master audience in carefully.  When the master teacher doesn't act mature, he can become the defacto teacher and everything God has prepared in you can go out the window.

The wise teacher can be prepared by:

• Recognizing that you are the teacher and not fighting the master audience to prove yourself.  Just be the teacher and let the master audience participate.  Be gracious if they err.  Be humble.  Be a great teacher and don't always have to be right or prove it.  If you are wrong and the master audience catches it, thank them.
  
• Recognizing that many master audience members may not be in the limelight any longer and may not have the opportunities to teach like the younger teacher.  It is understandable that they want to "chip in" at every opportunity.  This can be managed with grace by sticking with the lesson plan and maybe intentionally incorporating the less active master teacher as a planned part of the lesson.
• Recognizing that many of the master audience members are there because they want to learn, to participate and/or should be there.  Letting them be the "audience", giving them the day off and not putting demands on them is a great gift to the balance, humble master audience member.  Trust them to "chime in" if God moves them to participate as a learner.  The master teacher nor God wants people to be cheated of wisdom but there are many ways to wisdom other than the master audience.
• Recognizing that when you feel insecure, you are normal.  What young teacher or teacher who is teaching in the presence of someone he considers a "master audience", doesn't feel a bit dwarfed?  We should feel dwarfed, privileged and want to defer to greater wisdom.  Such humility may usher us one day to be the master audience.  So, great!  You feel a bit nervous.  Shake it off and do the job that you were put there to do.  Teach and teach and teach despite your nervousness.
  

The teacher who strips a master of honor, whether the master is right or wrong, will be viewed by the rest of the audience as a bad person and will lose credibility to teach.  I cannot encourage you enough to be a healthy teacher and enjoy the master audience.  As someone who knows, I tell you, they die much too quickly.  You will miss them when they are gone and regret handling them incorrectly or not utilizing their wisdom.