Christian Teacher of the Year: Dr. John McWilliams uses nature to reveal God’s invisible attributes

With creation as his science classroom, Dr. John McWilliams lets God do most of the talking, despite the teacher’s vast experience and soothing south Arkansas drawl.

The briefly retired biology professor knows his stuff, with 40 years of science teaching experience and an Ed.D. in science pedagogy. Yet he’s learned that rather than simply telling his students about science or about God, it’s far more effective to first introduce them to the world God made.

“I feel privileged to teach science where you actually can [help students] enjoy it first,” says McWilliams, who is in his fourth year teaching high school biology at Providence Classical Christian Academy in Rogers, Arkansas. “That’s my philosophy. So you can literally sit down and make a child enthralled with the world around them and seeing a Creator, and then add to it.”

The philosophy is working, too, as McWilliams is lauded by students and colleagues as one of the best. His principal, Head of Upper Campus Michelle Moore, calls him “one of the favorites among both students and staff.” These are among the reasons he has been named as one of 12 Christian Teachers of the Year by the Herzog Foundation, which publishes The Lion.

Helping students see God through science 

McWilliams’ teaching method isn’t just effective; it’s biblical. 

“Romans 1:20 I take very seriously,” he told The Lion. “If not my life verse, it’s my career verse, which says that you can look at nature around you – just paraphrasing – and you can’t deny [God].” 

Indeed, the Apostle Paul writes, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” 

The veteran teacher just needs to give his students a seat in God’s classroom and let His divine “handiwork” be observed. 

“So I take that [Bible verse] more as a promise, and it actually has worked out, because you don’t have to really stuff a lot of Christian jargon into students,” he says. “Science is a different animal as opposed to other subjects. You really can go in and look firsthand at God’s handiwork.” 

And when students see it, such as when they “scoop up a net full of little macroinvertebrates out of a stream,” they typically notice the baffling complexity that leads them to contemplate an intelligent, divine Creator. 

“It’s amazing to see a student look at something complex, especially in biology. And you just see that Romans 1:20 idiom play out, because they look at it and they say, ‘Wow, this is complicated stuff.’” 

Even 4th graders who McWilliams teaches through a public school partnership arrive at similar conclusions. 

“One little girl said, ‘There must be something way more important than me up in the world, the sky somewhere.’ 

“And so, this was a public school, and I couldn’t come right out and say, ‘Well, yeah, that’s God.’ And so I said, ‘Well, who do you think that is?’ 

“And she said, ‘Well, it’s certainly not me, and it’s certainly not anybody that I know. So there must be a big brain up there in the sky somewhere,’ – which is the first step toward an evangelistic type of thing.” 

That reaction is “very common,” he says. 

Used by God 

It’s quite a way to spend one’s retirement years – laboring to introduce students to God and encouraging them in their faith through biology. But McWilliams wouldn’t have it any other way. 

The very morning after his retirement from an endowed professorship at Oklahoma Baptist University, the science teacher decided he didn’t just want to “deteriorate.” So he started hunting for his next job. 

“God surely could use me somewhere,” he recalled thinking. “So I prayed very quickly for Him to, in His providence, put me wherever He wanted to. And so I looked through some schools, and there was Providence Academy. So that was my first choice.” 

The result, was, itself, an act of Providence.

It didn’t take long after hiring McWilliams for Providence to realize he had a number of hidden talents that would endear him to his pupils.

“Every year, Dr. McWilliams hand crochets an animal for each of his students. They are always excited to see his unique creations,” Moore wrote in a letter of recommendation for the Teacher of the Year honor. “Another one of their favorite traditions is listening to him play the bagpipes while walking the halls before final exams. Dr. McWilliams is a pillar of our school community.”

There’s another biblical idiom for the way he exemplifies what it looks like to live out his Christian faith: discipleship. It’s one of those unique qualities found in a Christian education. 

“The basis of the teaching philosophy of John McWilliams is that of discipleship,” his pastor, Thomas Hatley, wrote in a recommendation letter. “Truth is not just taught and modeled by John; he teaches with the intent of shaping his students into thinking followers of Christ and His Word.” 

‘Not your father’s education’ 

Besides live macroinvertebrates and bagpipe serenades, Providence students receive an academically rigorous, classical education. But when local public schools are tuition-free, why should parents consider a Christian education?

“Education is not your father’s education anymore,” McWilliams answers unflinchingly. “I think some [parents] are still under the impression that ‘Yes, I can send my kid to school and take them home and just be sure they’re in church and kind of fix all of the ideas.’

“But secular schools now are actually trying to teach a worldview. … And to a parent, I would just say: You’re going to have a child whose worldview will be totally opposed to anything that you do tell them later, and that they learn in church or Bible study or whatever.

“And I know it’s a sacrifice. We’ve been through that too, and that’s one of those things that I would just encourage parents, to have faith in God that He will provide if you do what you’re supposed to do and obey His command. … 

“So I see that becoming a big thing now, that you can’t just say, ‘Here’s the school down the road and you’re going to go to it eight hours a day, and then you’re going to come home, and we may do things differently.’ Yeah, it just doesn’t work that way anymore.”

Many parents have come to the same conclusion, which is one of the key drivers of Christian education enrollment growth over the past few years.

After such a long and distinguished career, does McWilliams contemplate retiring once again? 

“[My students] ask me when I will be passing on and leaving the school, and I say, ‘I don’t know, really. So when three of you agree that I have dementia, then I will leave and do something else.”

Moving on, maybe, but it doesn’t sound like retirement.

The Christian Teacher of the Year honor is part of the Herzog Foundation’s Excellence in Christian Education award series. Each of the 12 winners will attend a special professional development and recognition event in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Courtesy Providence Classical Christian Academy