Weekly Email: March 23, 2026
We are heading into the final week of the Spring 1 term. Baseball season is almost here, and so is a little baseball wisdom in this week's tip.
In this week's email:
- Student Tip: Small Changes Add Up
- Program News: Course Snapshots for Spring 2 Planning
Student Tip: Small Changes Add Up
This past Saturday, my seven year old woke up at 9:20 am and for some of you that may seem par for the course for kids. But for him, he's usually up at 6:15, ready to go. Maybe 6:30, but definitely not past seven.
He just started a baseball team where practice goes until 8:30, so we don't get to bed until almost nine. Friday night, he had a silent disco at his elementary school. Another late night. It had just added up. None of those nights felt totally unusual on their own. But stacked together, they caught up with him.
That's how incremental changes work. They don't announce themselves. They accumulate, and then one morning something looks different and you wonder where it came from.
The Bob Gibson Rule
Spring training is here and the baseball season is about to officially begin, so fair warning, you'll probably be getting a few more baseball examples from me over the next several months. I'll try not to overdo it. As many of you know, the St. Louis Cardinals are my favorite baseball team, and one interesting thing about the history of the Cardinals is something known as the Bob Gibson rule. He is one of the best pitchers to ever play for the Cardinals or even the majors for that matter.
In 1968, Gibson was so dominant on the mound that fans of the opposing team would leave early. The game felt like it was over before it started. So the league made a small adjustment. They lowered the pitching mound from 15 inches to 10 inches.
Five inches doesn't sound like much. But consider what a hitter is dealing with. A 92 mph fastball reaches home plate in about four tenths of a second. The hitter's brain needs a chunk of that time just to see the pitch, and then the swing itself takes about 150 milliseconds. The margin between a hit and a foul ball is roughly 7 milliseconds. That's the world these hitters live in.
When the mound was higher, the pitcher was throwing at a steeper downhill angle, which meant the ball was cutting through the zone on a sharper plane and arriving at a spot the hitter's brain didn't expect. Lower the mound five inches, and the pitch flattens out just enough to give the hitter a better read. The next season, offense jumped across the league. One small structural tweak shifted the entire outcome.
What this means for you…
You can see the same thing in your own coursework. Putting your phone in another room while you read, and then realizing you got fifteen or twenty more pages done in the same amount of time with the same effort. You didn't work harder. You just removed a small, invisible drain on your attention. Or writing for twenty minutes a day on a paper instead of waiting until the week it's due. When you get there, the work feels completely different. Not because you became a better writer overnight, but because a small, repeated adjustment changed what was possible.
It works the other direction too. When we cut corners, skip small things, let disciplines slide, we don't usually notice it in the moment. But over time, we find ourselves in a place we didn't plan to be. That's true academically, and it's true spiritually. Sin often works incrementally, not dramatically.
So as you head into this week, take an honest look at what's been accumulating. What small shifts have crept in that are affecting your studies, your family, or your walk with the Lord? Not every adjustment will look the same for every person. This isn't about squeezing more efficiency out of your day. It's about being a faithful steward of the time and attention God has given you and making small corrections before the drift carries you somewhere you didn't choose.
Small changes add up. Make sure they're adding up in the right direction.
Program News: Course Snapshots for Course Planning
I regularly get emails from students asking about syllabi, what books are required, or what a particular course is actually like before they register. Those are good questions, and I want to make sure you know about a resource that answers most of them.
Our Course Snapshots give you a short video overview of what to expect in a course, including a preview from the professor, sample lectures so you can hear their teaching style, and the books you'll be reading. If you're planning your Spring 2 or summer schedule, take a few minutes to watch a snapshot or two before registering. They can help you choose courses that fit where you are in your program and might even introduce you to a class you hadn't considered.
Spring 2 registration opens on March 31. Rather than guessing what a course will be like, let the snapshots do some of the work for you.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
- Current Week: Spring 1, Week 8 (March 23-30)
- Spring 2 Term Begins: April 6, 2026
- Summer Term Begins: June 1-July 26
Register for Courses →
Registration for Fall Experiential Modulars opens March 31
Brian Renshaw
Vice President, Enrollment Strategy and Global Campus
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Resources for Online Students | Preview an Online Course | View Online Course Catalog
Newsletter: Dynamic Range Leadership
If you wish to unsubscribe from these weekly emails, click here.
If you would prefer these sent only to your personal or student email, reply to this message and I can update it.