Harvard Divinity School has a video lecture of Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. on the Subject Tillich and the Black Preacher.
Month: April 2007
Book Summary: Preaching Without Notes Webb
Webb’s basic thesis is that the best preaching is done without notes. He then precedes to give an example of how he puts his sermons together week after week. Webb attempts to prove that preaching without notes is more valuable in general because it allows a greater connection to the audience and it frees the preacher to be passionate. Then after defending the approach, Webb describes the approach in a day by day approach.
Notes or No Notes…What is important?
Joseph Webb stated that passion is more important than eloquence in his book Preaching Without Notes. I heard a preacher who is pretty effective with a full manuscript. A few weeks ago he preached a sermon that moved many people. However, today he preached a sermon completely without notes. He did have more passion than normal. He also moved around and had better eye contact with the people. But, his sermon had some major structural problems.
Options for Preaching without Notes
How do they do it? All of us have seen the ministers preaching without notes. They seem to show a confidence and power. But the question many preacher’s ask is how do they do it?
Alcoholics Anonymous or Church – Where is the Community?
The Reformed Blacks of America Blog has a post up on the community of care created by Alcoholics Anonymous groups. One seminary student said to the author:
“Michael, I felt more accepted and received amongst that group of individuals than I do my own church family.â€Â
Systematic Sermon Listening
The very interesting Blog Unashamed Workman has a post up on systematic sermon listening. The author notes that he listens to a lot of sermons, but has not systematically listened to sermons. Now he has compiled a list of sermons that will take him all the way through the Book of Genesis.
Is Your Church Musician Being Paid?
“Higher Compensation for Musicians” is the third trend that Martha Simmons wrote about in the African American Pulpit Spring Edition of 2007.
What’s Happening to Sunday School?
Now we continue our look in the I would encourage all to subscribe to the African American Pulpit Spring Edition of 2007. As noted before, that issue is dedicated to discussing 21 trends in the contemporary Black church.
Theme or Story
Clergy Couples in the Black Church
I would encourage all to subscribe to the African American Pulpit and especially purchase the Spring Edition of 2007. That issue is dedicated to discussing 21 trends in the contemporary Black church.
Aphorisms and Hesitation
Henry Mitchell notes that these two features of Black Preaching Style are not as dominant as other ones. Mitchell notes that aphorisms are common in all traditions of preaching, but aphorisms or “clever, pithy statements.”
Black Preacher as a Student of Words
In the Class Preaching in the Black Tradition, I saw one of my classmates, Rev. John Cox, with a hand held computer. I saw he had a hand held Bible in one hand and one of those computers in the other. He was punching things into it. I asked him after class, what is that computer?
Slow Delivery and Repetition
As we continue our series on Black Preaching Style, Henry Mitchell notes that a slower rate of vocal speed is usually used when presenting Black sermons. He notes that there are those who do have rapid fire delivery. Dr. Frederick D.
Subjectivity and Rhetorical Flair in Preaching
Henry Mitchell states: “Real soul preaching demands rhetorical flair” in the book Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art. He also states: “The flow and phraseology of the King James Version will never die in America while Black Christianity stays Black.”
Black preaching demands not just saying what you want to say, but the way in which you say it. The preacher should use “rhetorical flair” to aid the presentation of the gospel through the sermonic event.
Story Telling and Role Playing
As Henry Mitchell notes in his book Black Preaching: The recovery of a lost art, African American preachers often engage in a sermon that is “story telling.” sometimes they even change into the character that they are preaching and preach a first person story.