Weekly Email: September 8, 2025
In this week’s email:
Student Tip: Practice makes permanent
Program News: Graduating this December? Waitlist the ‘1GRAD’ course in MySBTS by September 15.
Student Tip: Practice Makes Permanent
Every time I open my Bible to Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, or Colossians, one phrase still comes to mind: Go. Eat. Popcorn. That little mnemonic was drilled into me when I was young, and it has stayed with me ever since. Repetition and consistent practice make that happen.
Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, once said: “If you have bad technique and you shoot a basketball a thousand times, all you are going to get good at is shooting really badly.”
That is the better way to frame the old saying “practice makes perfect.” The truth is, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.
Malcolm Gladwell popularized the “10,000 hours” rule in his book Outliers. You have probably heard it repeated as if putting in 10,000 hours at something makes you an expert. But that idea has been debunked. Anders Ericsson, the researcher Gladwell drew from, made clear that it is not about raw hours but about deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is focused, feedback-driven, and corrective. Ten thousand hours of the wrong thing only makes you permanently wrong.
This is why seminary matters. Many of us come in with practices and assumptions about Bible reading and theology that need correction. Seminary can serve as that reset, training you to read rightly and think more deeply, so that what becomes permanent is healthy and faithful.
But there is another side too. Seminary is also where you can develop new practices that become permanent in ways you may not want.
Think about shortcuts. Using tools like ChatGPT to draft assignments when your professor has clearly said not to may feel efficient in the moment, but it forms a habit of cutting corners. And ministry life will always be tight on time. Those shortcuts become permanent.
Think about prayer. At the beginning, you may have prayed before study sessions, dedicating your work to God. Over time, the pressure mounts, prayer drops off, and study becomes just another task. That habit naturally bleeds into ministry. Sermon prep, counseling, and lesson planning become boxes to check instead of your calling from God.
So ask yourself: what am I practicing right now that I do not want to make permanent?
Practice does not make perfect. It makes permanent.
Program News: December Graduation
Students must add themselves to the waitlist for the Graduation course (1GRAD) in MySBTS by September 15 to be cleared for December graduation. This applies even if you do not plan on walking at the ceremony here in Louisville.
You can find the step-by-step info about the graduation process here.
Email the Graduation Office at graduation@sbts.edu for graduation-related questions.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
Current Week: Fall 1, Week 6 (September 8–15)
Fall 2 Term Begins: October 6, 2025
Winter Term Begins: December 1, 2025
Register for Courses →
Register for Fall Experiential Modulars →
Thanks for reading! I’ll check in next Monday. You can browse past emails in the archive or explore Course Snapshots to find textbooks, course descriptions, and details about what we offer online.
