Christy Adams (Teacher)

The episode you're about to listen to was released back when the Mere Christians podcast was called the Call to Mastery. Now, if you love Mere Christians, you're still going to love these older episodes because the majority of each conversation focuses on how the gospel influences the work of our guests. With that disclaimer out of the way, please enjoy the episode. Hey everybody, welcome to the Call to Mastery. I'm Jordan Raynor. Hey, if you're loving the podcast, go pre order Master of One, my new book that's going to be released on January 21st. And when you do, go to jordanrayner.com to make sure you enter to win the trip to Europe I'm giving away for you and a friend. That's right, you're going to go on a seven night European cruise. You're going to go tour La Sagrada Familia, the world's largest church created by a true master of one who I profile in the book. And then I'm going to fly to Barcelona. I'm going to take you and your friend to dinner. Who knows, maybe we'll even record a little episode of the Call to Mastery while we're in Barcelona. So go pre order the book, enter the sweepstakes right now@jordanraynor.com and hey, listen, with the book coming out right around the corner, I thought you guys might want to hear from some of the masters that I share their stories of in the book. Right? So if you. Weeks ago we had Jeff Heck of Monday Night Brewing and today we have another master who I talk about in the book extensively. Her name is Christie Adams. She's one of my best friends. She's not world famous, but she is world class at what she does. She's a world class educator. She's been a middle school Spanish teacher for 15 years, has consistently received the highest marks in performance reviews. I know Christie's former principal who cannot stop singing her praises. She's exceptional at what she does. She. And oh, by the way, she loves Jesus very, very deeply. So Christy and I sat down, we talked about why finding your one thing vocationally requires tons of experimentation in your career, tons of trial and error. We talk about the importance of seeking out feedback from those you serve in your career, even if, by the way, they're middle schoolers. That's an interesting take on this conversation. And we also talked about how the Lord often grants us prayer power as we achieve mastery of our crafts. I really think you're going to enjoy this very down to earth conversation. Without further ado, here's my friend, Christy Adams. Christy Adams. Hello again. We meet again.

Yes.

Take two of the Call to Mastery.

So thought we weren't going to mention take one.

We're going to mention it. So for those listening, Christie and I recorded this conversation, I don't know, two months ago, and at your behest, you're commanding. We're doing take two. You're the only person who's demanded a retake. So what's going on? Why are we redoing this?

Cristy, I could not string a sentence together the last time that we talked. You asked me what my favorite book was, and I couldn't even think of a title of a book.

You got a character out that Harry Potter kid. That guy. So, you know, it's funny, though, I think I mentioned this to you. As soon as we got done recording, my producer Chris came in. He's like, that's gonna be your audience's favorite episode. Because you're not a professional speaker. You're not an entrepreneur or a podcast or somebody who talks for a living. You have a seemingly ordinary. I don't mean that offensive at all. You have a seemingly ordinary but beautifully, eternally significant job. Like the majority of our audience, you are the audience. Although you probably don't listen to this show, so you're not technically my audience. And I've said before, I don't want this to be a show that only features people who get paid to talk. I want this to celebrate the goodness of every job and teachers and plumbers. And I was just talking to somebody else about getting this janitor on who has this, like, super well formed theology of work that I can't wait to talk to you. So all that say thanks for doing it again, even though you've never looked more uncomfortable in your life.

I told you that. When I was a preteen, I was in a show, and the bench that I was supposed to sit on in this show was not set properly, and I fell off the bench and I flashed the whole audience and I said that experience was not as embarrassing as our first recording of this podcast. So thank you for doing this again.

So we're on the up and up again. The audience, we're setting the bar super low for this episode, which is good. I mean, we're gonna blow people's minds, right, with how adequate this episode of the Call to Master is going to be. So I'm really excited about this. So when I started writing. Called to Create. Sorry, not Called to Create. Master of One. I'm on the Wrong book. I made a list of basically just the most exceptional people I knew, like, people that I really wanted to talk to. And you were one of the first people that I jotted down. And because one. I mean, I knew you first and foremost. We go to church together, we vacation together. You're an exceptional mother. But I also knew through bits and pieces of what your husband has shared in the past that you're also an exceptional professional. In your case, a teacher. So I called your husband up. I was like, hey, am I, like, reading this wrong? Is your wife, like, actually not as great as she sounds to me? But he's like, no, she's the real deal. So I'm really, really excited about this. So your one thing kind of, in the vernacular of this book, is super specific. You have been teaching middle school Spanish for how long?

15 years.

15 years. Okay. But it took you a lot of time to kind of figure out what that thing was going to be for you professionally. And I talk a lot about this in chapter five of the book, this value of exploring lots of different options in your career. You had a lot of different career interests, which I'm eager to explore. So can you talk about kind of that path of experimenting and figuring out what you want to do? Sure.

So I had, like you said, a lot of different ideas when I was little, you know, zoologist and an actress on Broadway. I mean, I didn't know that. Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. So lots of different things. And in high school, I started really focusing in on becoming an eye doctor. And so I took the opportunity to do an internship with an eye doctor in our area for several months and quickly found out that that was not what I wanted to do with my life at all.

It was, as you're quoted in Masterful One as saying, because of the disgusting eye juice.

Oh, it was horrible. Horrible.

That sounds horrible.

And I thought I would, no offense to ophthalmologists. Thank you for what you do. Yes. You changed my life forever because you gave me the gift of sight. So thank you. But also, how do you do what you do? It was horrible. But I was really thankful for that opportunity because I did not, you know, even though I declared pre med, you know, going in my freshman year of college, I was able to quickly change that after my internship because I realized that was not what I wanted to do.

So, wait, so this internship with the ophthalmologist, were you in high school? Were you in college?

I was a senior in high school.

Interesting. Who does that? Was that a requirement for you to do an internship in high school?

Yes. Huh. Yes.

That's. I've never heard of that before. Okay, that's good. Okay, great. So you. You figure out you don't want to be an ophthalmologist.

Right. And then I went through another, you know, myriad of ideas. I like a lot of different things. But after my senior year of high school, I went on a mission trip to Mexico, and we split up into different groups, and my group's translator. Something went wrong with our group's translator. And so here we were going into this.

Make it sound like they went missing. It was something kind of in the jungles of Mexico.

I don't know what happened, but I do remember that they said, oh, goodness, we need somebody. Cristy, you took Spanish, Right. And it was. It had been several years since I had taken it. Like, it was a fine class, but I didn't understand, you know, like, what the. You know, whatever. It was just a fine class. So I started interacting with people and using my language skills and started to realize I really loved connecting with people from different cultures. And so I kind of started taking more Spanish classes. And then as I was at the University of Georgia, I started tutoring middle school immigrants that lived in that area, teaching them English, and just realized how much I loved middle schoolers.

It's so bizarre. Yeah.

And to this day, I absolutely adore them. They're the greatest age. I really don't ever want to work with another age. They're my favorite. And so my life kind of started to take that path where I focused on Spanish education and teaching English as a second language.

Yeah. So it started with this, like, small bet that you place in college. Right. So, I mean, the first small bet was, I'm going to translate Spanish to English on this missions trip. Then it was a slightly bigger bet of I'm going to tutor these kids and help them learn English. And you just kind of progressed in placing bigger and bigger bets. What was your first job at school? It was teaching. Right, Right. Well, where was this in Georgia?

It was in Gainesville, Georgia, and we had a high population of immigrants in that area. And so my first job was teaching Spanish to English speakers. And then I also taught English to Spanish speakers, so.

Got it. So I can't remember if I wrote about this in Master of One. Maybe you can tell me. But part of what I appreciate about your story, I think a lot of people, when they try to quote, unquote, discern their calling, focus exclusively inwardly. What do I want to do? What am I interested in what I appreciate about you. I think there's a lot of wisdom here is listening to the Holy Spirit nudging through other people outside, outside of yourself that are pointing at things, say, hey, you might be good at this. Now, the people on your missions trip were just doing it because they desperately needed somebody to, like, translate Spanish. But that ended up being. I mean, the Lord ended up working through those people to put you on this career path, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. So you found your thing. You've been committed to pursuing master of your craft for 15 years. Many of our listeners haven't figured that out. What advice would you give to somebody who has yet to choose and commit to one thing vocationally?

I mean, there are so many ways to explore your options. Now, I would definitely, if you're at a stage in your life where you can do internships, like, you know, like I was, I think that is super helpful to find out what you're interested in and then what you're not interested in. So you don't have to waste a whole lot of time shadowing people, apprenticing when you can, doing as much online research to see, you know, what possibilities there are. But ask people around you, like, for godly advice, you know, and this is probably cheesy, but I love that. I think it's a Mark Twain quote where he says, don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go out and do well. I do love the part about coming alive, but I do also think you should ask yourself what the world needs, because that's a way to glorify God. And ask yourself, like, how you can glorify God and serve others through what God has given you.

So two things that stand out to me there. One is asking others, right? Which we already talked about, this idea that work is not primarily a means of serving us, primarily about making us happy. It's about making other people happy and serving the world. Right? And with that comes vocational happiness. You get to love what you do by getting really good at it, which I think you would agree with. But the second thing is this idea of, like, little bets. I talk a lot about this in Master of one, right? So place as small a bets as you possibly can and increase the size of that bet in your career as things start to work and you find things that you're getting gifted at. So I don't think we've actually ever talked about this. I mean, our kids play soccer on Saturdays together. We've never had this conversation somehow. So, like, how do you think about this in parenting? So, like, there's two. I've heard two arguments here, right? Like, one is this author Daniel Epstein talks about this in his book Range the Difference between Tiger woods and Roger Federer, right? So Tiger woods dad, like, put a golf club in his hand when he was 3. It was like, this is your thing. I'm going to choose your one thing for you when you're four years old, and it's the only thing you're ever going to do. Whereas Roger Federer explored widely, right, and experimented with a ton of different sports and activities. What are you doing with your kids? Like, what are you and Chris being methodical and intentional about having them explore a lot of different hobbies and things outside school?

We talk about this a lot because our children are a lot like, they are interested in so many different things. And our oldest in particular, we have four kids right now. I say right now because we're fostering, so that number changes. But our oldest child is good at so much, and she's super strong, but she doesn't like to commit to any one thing. So we have had this. So, no, I don't have an answer for you, but we've had this discussion. How far do we push her in that? Because, you know, like, we think she would be really great at it. But if the passion's not there, and I know your passion is going to kind of come and go and stuff, but if the passion's not there, like, why are we really pushing her towards this? So I don't know the answer to that question, Jordan.

I don't either.

You asked me something.

I don't either. This is why I'm asking you. No, but, like, so I'm a big fan of this book, Grit, by Angela Duckworth, and she talks about this concept of the hard thing rule, right? So her take on this, and I support this whole hardly a master of one, is like, explore widely. Try lots of different stuff, especially when you're young. And I'm a big believer. And I think we ask kids to commit way too early to their quote, unquote, one thing. Like, I think the Tiger woods model is insane in a lot of ways, right? So explore widely. But at some point, especially as they get older in high school, start pushing them towards doubling down on something. So Angela Duckworth's rule is everybody in the house has to do one quote, unquote, hard thing outside of school. So I can be soccer, ballet, violin, whatever. And the rule is you have to stick with it for the entire season or some natural stopping point. So if it's violin, I don't know, six months, something like that, whatever it is. And then when they get in high school, they have to do something for two years. They have to commit to one thing for two years. I think that's a. It's an interesting way to think about it. I like that. All right, so you and I sat down at that weird, bizarre restaurant for the interview for Master of One. It's one of the weirder experiences of my life. You and your husband and me and Kara, and we talked about purposeful practice and how masters of any vocation deliberately seek out feedback right, from people from whoever they serve their bosses, customers, investors. You're really big on this. You thought a lot about this. Talk about what this seeking out a feedback looks like. As a teacher.

Yeah, I ask for feedback from my administrators, from my colleagues, but my most valuable feedback is definitely from my students. I give them surveys quite often, asking them about, you know, lessons that we've done. I ask them about their life just to kind of get.

Yeah, like in the survey, you're like, hey, how did I do on this? And, oh, by the way, how was your life?

How is your life? Yeah. And actually, just recently. Recently I had a student say, well, eighth grade is pretty. What was the word? Deplorable? Or she used some funny word. But you're one of the only things that is making this year bearable. And it broke my heart that a student is with me for 47 minutes and I'm a bright spot in her life. But it was kind of good for me to recalibrate. Like, hey, what I'm doing really does matter. But I asked them for feedback on lessons. I asked them, you know, what am I doing that is helpful to you? What are we doing that's not helpful? You know, learning styles, that kind of thing. Just the other day, a kid made an offhand comment as he was leaving. He just seemed to. We were talking about a quiz that they had done. Oh, it was horrible. And as they were leaving, the kid just turned around and he said, senor Adams, I think we did so poorly because we weren't used to typing out the words. We were used to writing the words. And this test was online or whatever. And so it really made me think, like, oh, yeah, you know, like, I hadn't taught them how to use accent marks, and some of their phones were changing their answer, you know, So I was able the next day to say, like, guys, we're on the Same team. And my goal for you is to be successful. And I don't want you to feel like, oh, man, I failed this test because, you know, I took it on this thing that changed my answers or whatever. So we're going to take a paper and pencil test and we're going to try it again. And they were so excited. I'm like, you can always give me feedback. We are on the same team and helps me modify my lessons and helps me connect with them, because they see that I take their feedback and actually, you know, make changes to what I do and figure out what needs to be done differently so that they get it, because that's the goal.

So I gotta imagine that. I mean, I don't remember high school very well, or certainly not middle school, but I don't remember a teacher.

I don't remember middle school at all.

Really?

Yes.

Maybe that's why you, like, love middle school. Like, reliving middle school through them, which sounds terrible. I don't remember a teacher ever asking me for feedback. The same thing is true in business. Like, I'm shocked at, like, how many businesses don't survey their customers and just ask, like, what's working? What's not working? One question I have for you, though. Like, that would be the first time you send a survey to middle schoolers who are known for being relentless. That would be a little intimidating to me. Or you intimidated?

They're extremely honest. Yes.

So, I mean, there's got to be some fear of that. Like, really honest.

Yeah, I guess so. I mean, after 15 years, it's kind of like, well, I know there's gonna be someone that's gonna say, like, no homework, or, like, just let us have party time or something. But, yeah, they're brutally honest.

Yeah. And so what is your kind of cadence for integrating that feedback into your changing lesson plans? Like, how frequently are you getting their feedback? Is it once a year? Is it once a quarter? What is that?

I definitely do it once a quarter. But, I mean, I try to get informal feedback as much as I can. I try to listen to them when they don't know that I'm listening. I look at results from their quizzes. And as we're going over stuff, just like I ask them, did this make sense to you? Are you tracking? Show me. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you feel like you could use this in the real world? That kind of thing? Yeah.

So I think I ended up interviewing. I don't know, we'll call it 30 people. 30 Christ followers. Are exceptional what they do for the book, for Master one. And I think the one thing that came up in every single conversation was humility. Right. That manifested itself in a few different ways. In your case, it was this idea of, like, eagerly seeking out feedback, being vulnerable and humble. To admit I've been doing this for 15 years, but I still don't know everything. How can I do better? How else does humility play out in your kind of path to continuing to master your vocation? Are there other expressions of humility there?

I mean, I just asked you to.

Be proud about being humble. Yeah. Was basically the question.

I just think in the way that I relate with students, I have to be willing to ask for forgiveness if, you know, like, hey, I raised my voice when there was really no need to, or I lost my patience with you guys, you know, and they always act taken aback when I do that. I don't think they're used to teachers apologizing and owning up, like, hey, you know, I could have explained this little. You know, So I just think in the way that I treat them, and they see that it's okay for me to make mistakes and to take risks, you know, and they see that I have to ask for forgiveness. But I try to model in my class, like, hey, it's progress, not perfection. Like, you're not going to know all of these Spanish words. You know, it's okay. Let's just progress each day, you know, hey, I make mistakes with the way that, you know, I handle the class or something every now and then. But, you know, we're just gonna keep trying to progressing together. So.

Do you use the word forgiveness?

Yeah.

Really?

Yes.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's fascinating to me. Do they, like. That's an odd word for them, right? That's probably not something they hear very much.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, they always, like, act embarrassed that I'm apologizing to them, and they're like, we deserved it, or whatever. And I'm like, no, no, I shouldn't. You know, I shouldn't have raised my voice or whatever it is.

That's funny. So you have a lot going on. I mentioned before, you're. At least from the outside, you're an exceptional mom.

Thank you.

Great job parenting your kids. You really are. Pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

I tell them that all the time.

All the time. Guys. You have no idea how good you have it. But you're also exceptional at your craft. What does that look like for you? What does a typical work day look like for you from sun up to sundown. Yeah. What's a day in the life of Christianity? I'm super interested in like, routines, habits.

Yeah, you can learn nothing from my routine because I'm constantly exhausted. I wake up at like 4 or 4:30 and start scrolling through my mental list of things to do. I get on Pinterest and look at ideas for. I'm super interested in this new language philosophy called comprehensible input. Where. Not that you care, but I'm going to tell you, instead of just immersing the students in the language and speaking 100% in the language, it's kind of modeling the language in a different way where you include lots of pictures and acting it out and that kind of thing. So they don't feel overwhelmed, but they feel like they understand what's going on, but they're also being challenged. So I look up ideas for that. And then it's just, you know, Chris and I are trying to get these lethargic sloths out of our home and onto the bus. And I work part time this year, so I get off at noon. And so then I pick up the kids or I get them from the bus stop, rather. And something that I've changed since our last conversation.

Since take one?

Yeah, since take one. We were talking about quiet times and I said I was trying to do it in the morning and it was a disaster. And I was trying to read sort of in the middle of the night, like after, you know, 4:30 in between 6:00am and it was not going well. And also I was talking about how I wanted my children to see me studying God's Word.

Yeah, we talked about this.

Yeah.

Nobody will get to benefit from that conversation.

Well, I have since changed that. And when they are starting their homework time, I sit down with them and I've started to do that during their homework time.

Like that. Yeah.

So that they see that I'm making it a priority, you know. And so thank you for that.

Is that working?

Yeah, something great. Yeah.

They're not interrupting you like a million times?

Sometimes. Yeah. But that's okay.

Yeah.

So otherwise it will never get done if they don't.

Yeah. So the back. I mean, I think you said it. The backstory pretty well. Right. But we were talking during take one of this episode about. I have a hard time figuring out when to do my quiet time because I do want the kids to see it.

Right.

See me reading God's Word every day. But by the very nature of their age, their Ellison's five, Kate's three when they're up, like, they're Kate's incessant. I mean, you know Kate, like, she. She literally doesn't stop talking. Yeah. So, yeah, that just makes. Yeah. I wonder where she gets it from now. It just makes it incredibly difficult. So I'm trying to figure out, like, the ideal scenari would be I'm at the kitchen table at 5am Right. And reading for 30 minutes, and they get up at 5:30 or 6 or whatever, and they catch me at the tail end.

Right.

But homework times.

That's.

I like that. Yeah, I like that a lot.

Works for me.

All right, so let's talk about this teaching. You've made, like, very clear. We talked about this when we were talking about the book. You don't want to be a principal.

Oh, no.

You don't want to be an administrator.

No.

No offense to principles. We're offending everybody today. No offense to principles.

No.

But I mean, listen, like, you're in a role without, like, any upward mobility. Right. Like, you're a teacher, and there's really nowhere to go from that. There's not this. My point is, there's not that extrinsic motivation of significantly more pay or.

That's not title. That is not true.

Really.

I just got a $2 raise.

Thank you very much. Okay. All right, great. So other than that $2 raise per day. Per day. What's motivating you? Like, what is motivating you and driving you to get better at what you do?

Well, I've always been intrinsically motivated.

Yeah.

Chris, my husband, always asks me, why don't you just recycle your old lessons? Why can't you just use what you used last year? I'm like, because I've learned so much since last year.

It's as better as possible.

Yes. Different kids, different ways of reaching them. You know, we have different inside jokes. And so, you know that. I mean, constantly looking at the new research and that kind of thing. But, you know, like, when I close my door and I lock my students in there with me because it's 2019 and I have to do that, I know that I'm bringing glory to God because I am putting forth my best effort and I am treating them with loving kindness. And I believe I do that through planning an effective lesson and showing them that I care. Because by incorporating all of the things, the research, the things I know about them, the things that I get from their feedback, and so that really does motivate me for sure to keep pushing.

It's kind of the only answer. Right. So do you think this idea. I don't know if you want to call it ambition. I don't. I don't know that it's ambition. Is this something that can be learned? I mean, that's. I guess that's kind of what this podcast is all about, right? It is about inspiring people to lean harder into the work that they're doing. Not making work in idle. Right. But leaning more heavily into the work that we are doing because we believe it is a primary means by which we reveal God's character in the world and love neighbor himself. Is that something that people are born with, or do you think people can really develop that and understand that at a deeper level?

I think that you can develop that. I think as we shift our perspective and as we grow closer in our walk with the Lord, I think that you can see that our work is a wonderful way that we can reflect God's glory and be grateful for the talents that he's given us. And I think that we should be developing it each day, you know, whether we're staying at home or we are in the workplace or, you know, whatever it is. Yeah, I definitely think that it can be developed and should be developed.

I hope so, right? I mean, otherwise, what the heck are we doing right on this podcast? Just talking to people who already get it. But. And I do believe that. I do wonder about that sometimes. I'm like, is this just, I don't know, the ambition gene, or is there something. I don't think it is. I think the Lord can grow and develop us in our understanding of how. What we do, be it motherhood, fatherhood, teaching, recording a podcast, is extending human flourishing in the world and revealing his character. So I think one of my favorite chapters of Master of One is chapter. I don't remember the number. We'll call it 10. But it's this idea that. That it's one of the promises of mastery. Right. So for the Christian, like, what are the things that should be motivating us to get masterfully good at what we do, other than the fact that we bring glory to God and love our neighbors and stuff when we do it? And I think one of them that your story exemplifies also tell the story of the Enron whistleblower, who I think is a really good example, the Sharon Watkins. But I think when we get masterfully good at our craft, we are often granted power. That might not be the best word. We might be uncomfortable with that term, but like, power that can be expended in service of others. Right. Not power to hoard for ourselves, but we have power, we have influence, we have knowledge that could be put to use for some of the world's most vulnerable people. And you shared a story as I was researching the book that I loved and incorporated into chapter 10 that I'm hoping you'll kind of reshare here. So I'll set it up and then teed up for you. So you just had your eldest child, Right. You weren't teaching. You had taken a year off from teaching, as ever.

Yes.

Okay. You're living in Gainesville, Georgia, poor part of Georgia, lots of immigrants, lots of migrant workers. But you kind of, you knew you were good at teaching. You had this quote, unquote power. You wanted to do something productive. Talk about what you did during that season of your career.

Yeah, I started. I went into an apartment complex near our church and there were a lot of Spanish speakers in that area. And so I asked the apartment manager if he or she thought there would be tenants living there who would be interested in English classes. And so I was planning on going like door to door or whatever. And he said, no, like, hold on, I know what to do.

Slowly.

You just need to go to this one person person's door, knock on the door, she will take you around. And so I met my friend, I think you called her Catalina.

Sure. In the book we made up a name.

Yeah, I met my friend Catalina and Boy was the manager. Right. I went around with Catalina and we rounded up so many people and I had the blessing of teaching English classes on Saturday mornings for a few hours to these people. And they were just amazing. A lot of them worked the night shift and would come straight from their shift to come in and learn English. And we taught English. I had a friend that helped with me. We taught English using the book of Matthew. So we would share the gospel, but also, you know, teach them the language. And we would also focus on words that they were needing in their business. And so I just got to see these precious people flourish and grow in their confidence. And a lot of them have been able to get better paying jobs. And my friend Catalina was able to start volunteering in her kids school. Now her kids are honor students and starting to graduate. And that is just something that I would never have imagined before. We did this because she didn't know how to be a voice for them. She didn't know how to help them with homework, that kind of thing. And that really does limit just kind of being able to give them a voice in the United States and like a more equitable way of living, I guess.

Yeah, it's beautiful. And the part I love about this is like, you couldn't have done that, or at least you couldn't have done that effectively or people wouldn't have kept coming back to your Saturday morning sessions to hear Matthew in Spanish. If you weren't great at what you did, right. If you were a mediocre teacher and people weren't learning what they needed to, to go further at work and get a job, they wouldn't have kept coming back. And so there's this sense and call it what you will, I prefer to call it power, that as we get great at what we do, the Lord grants us power. Not for us to hoard now for ourselves, but to expend sacrificially. I mean, that's what Jesus did, right? Jesus had the ultimate power. They completely poured out on the cross for us and for. Well, ultimately for the Father's glory, not primarily for us. I love that. And I mean, even now, right, you're teaching in public school. You could probably be doing more lucrative things. I mean, I know that $2, that $2 raise was blowing my nose on.

$100 bills is significant, but.

Yeah, you're in the public school system, right. So obviously you're not permitted to preach the gospel explicitly, but you very much view this work as minister. We've talked a little bit, so I. But tie a bow around it. Why is the work of the people listening to the show who aren't preaching the gospel explicitly every day? They're going to work as a marketing manager at a big company. They're going to work as a teacher, they're going to work as an engineer. Why is that ministry? Can you really justify. Can you really call that ministry, much like we would call our pastor's work ministry?

Yes, for sure. I mean, it's going to look different in every workplace. But like, in my workplace, the loving kindness that I show them and the patience that I show my students is going to be a reflection of God. You know, they see a difference in the way that I treat them. Hopefully they tell me they do. Most of them do.

Have you ever heard I had students say that? Like, I know people say, oh, if you just be the hands and feet of Jesus, people will notice. I don't think most people buy it. Have you actually seen that, like, play out?

Yeah. They've asked me, like, why do you never seem to get mad? You know, why do you never. I've had some Kids say, why do you never, like, you know, raise your voice or whatever? Then I'm like, oh, I don't.

Well, let me show you, kid.

You know? And then I tell them, well, it's because I'm a Christian, and I feel like people need to be treated with kindness and patience and that kind of thing. And that's all I'm sort of allowed to say. But, I mean, they know at the beginning of the year, when I tell them who I am, what I believe, they know, then after that, that, you know, something should be different about me.

Okay, Chrissy, so three questions I like to ask every guest in this first one. Man, I hope you have a better answer. I'm just kidding. Harry Potter is a fine answer to this question.

It's not, though. It's not even the name of a book.

No, it's not. Technically, not at all. Which books do you recommend the most or give to other people the most?

Okay, well, one of my favorite fiction books is 1122 63. I think that Stephen King is a fantastic author, though I do not like horror at all.

Did you see the.

Yes, I did.

Did you like it?

No, I did not.

You did not? All right, so really, 1122 63. It was a show on Hulu, something like that, with James Franco. We watched, like, two episodes and we did not like it.

Yeah.

No, but the book's great.

Yes.

Okay. All right. I gotta read the book.

Okay. Okay. Little Blue Truck.

Yes.

Is a classic.

Yeah.

Talks about the need for community.

Yeah. Classic.

Supporting each other. Yeah. But I am really on a Jen Wilkin kick.

Yeah. I was talking to your husband about this at Bible study this morning. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. We went through Genesis with her, and I feel like she's my best friend. We're going through Exodus now in my lady's Bible study and what a gift she has. She is amazing. But I feel like as many times as I've read these books of the Bible, going through these studies, it's just. I'm like, have I even read this? What in the world? And we're weeping over genealogies that I've just skimmed over. And she's pointing out the significance and how God cares about all of these names here, and I'm just learning so much through that. So I'm hoping to just keep going through the Bible with Jen Wilkins.

Yeah. Jen is an exceptional teacher of the word. So I was literally a Bible study this morning with your husband, Chris, and he was telling me about Jen's teaching on the plagues.

Oh, yeah.

Can you give a quick two minute summary of, like, what was mind blowing to you about this?

Yeah, I just never knew that. I'd never thought about the way that God started the plagues with little nuisances, you know, frogs and flies and gnats and that kind of thing, and then just slowly started stripping them down of things. And it's kind of like sin starts out kind of small, and then it just grows and grows. And she was also explaining how each one of the plagues was significant because it basically tore down one of the Egyptian gods. And I've always thought, like, it's kind of weird that one of the last plagues, the ninth plague, was darkness, but their main God, Ra, was the sun God.

Interesting.

And so to be able to, you know, step by step, kind of break.

Down, tear down the little J gods. That's fascinating. I've never. I've never heard somebody teach that.

Like, really?

I love it. Those are three great books. Much better. That was a great answer. That was a great.

But I do love Goblet of Fire.

Yeah, everybody loves gobbled a fire. All right, what one person would you most like to hear talk about how they think about their faith influencing?

Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. You can dream big. We dream big here on the call to mastery.

I know you're gonna laugh at this, but I've been extremely fascinated with Kanye.

Yeah. Oh, I'm all about it.

And I think that you need to bring him in.

Yes. So we have people in the field actively seeking out Kanye. We're trying to get Kanye on the podcast. I'm all about it. By the way. What? We were talking about this at Bible study this morning too. If you're one of these Christians out there that are, like, questioning Kanye salvation critique, please stop. The man is raising his hand saying, I want to follow Jesus Christ. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's celebrate with him and come alongside him and view this as the Lord working. I. It's just crazy, people. We like poo poo celebrities coming to Christ. I'm like, really? Yeah. I'd love to have Kanye on the show talk about that transition. And like, C.S. lewis. Yes. I just compared Kanye to C.S. lewis not abandoning the work that he's doing.

Right.

He is not changing his work, but my prayer is that he is radically changing his relationship to his work, and I really want to have that conversation with Kanye. All right, last question. What one piece of advice would you give to somebody who, like you, is pursuing mastery of the art of Teaching or really any vocation.

Well, the main thing is just to ask for feedback and do something with that feedback. And don't let your pride get in the way because, you know, you should surround yourself with positive people who are honest and willing to give you that feedback.

No, but the feedback. One thing that I like about how you deliberately seek out feedback is it's not just from people who are gonna agree with you. You're seeking out people who are middle schoolers who are like the most critical people on the face of the earth and they think they're so smart. But I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. Right. And seeking out feedback from people who you know aren't gonna always agree with you.

Right.

I think that's a trap. A lot of. Hey, Christy, I just want to commend you for the work that you do. Thank you for. I mean, listen, my kids are in your school districts. Like, this is like very personal to me. I'm grateful that you do your work exceptionally well. Thank you for the gift of the ministry of excellence. Thank you for believing that your work matters just as much as the work of our pastor or anyone else. In my least favorite term, full time ministry. And thank you for continuing to get better at what you do and caring about that and believing that better is always possible. And thanks for hanging out with me for take two of this episode. Maybe we'll at least take one as a blooper later on, but thanks for being here.

I didn't get to say the thing that I learned about Jordan Rainer.

Hang on a second. Let's go there. So little bonus at the end of this episode in take one, we talked about we went on a trip over spring break to Georgia that you and your husband invited yourselves onto, which we appreciated.

Right.

We love hanging out with the Addams. So I asked you, what one thing did you learn about Jordan Raynor that you didn't know prior to that?

I have two, actually. Oh.

Oh, my gosh. Okay.

The first one is I did not know that you could completely clear a chick fil a table, tried to get to your daughter who had been pushed down by a little boy in the.

Playground, and I jumped over the table like it was a hurdle. Yeah. I will protect Kate at all costs.

And I didn't know that you were willing to eat my leftovers at 4am every morning. Every morning. You had some leftover Italian chicken on our trip. And I appreciated the commitment to not being wasteful.

Yeah, waste not, want not. And I learned, and I'm very interested to hear if anyone in the audience has ever heard this term, because I don't think they have. Christy asked me on the first night if she could dip my plate before dinner. I'm like, I literally. I don't even know how to respond to that. That's not a thing.

Don't use that term.

That's not a term.

Do you use the word yalls is.

We do not use the word y'. Allses. So dipping a plate for those in the south. Email me@jordanjordernraynor.com if you have heard this before. But it's make a plate. Make a dish. Can I get your.

Yes. Can I dip your plate?

Dip a plate. And with that, take two of this episode with Christy Adams comes to a close. Thanks for hanging out, Christy.

Thank you, Jordan.

I hope you guys love Christy as much as I do. What a great conversation. Hey, if you want to get the book at Enter the sweepstakes, you know where to do it. JordanRayner. Com. Thank you guys for listening to the call to mastery. I'll see you next week.