What The Blues Teaches Us About Preaching
Vincent Wimbush provides a history of African American interaction with the Bible in his book The Bible and African Americans. The Bible has often been held in high esteem by Black Americans and thus it is interesting to look at how this came to be.
Black Bible Reading Through the Years Read More
In The Heart of Black Preaching Cleophus LaRue describes the different domains of experience in a sermon. These are different ways a sermon address Black (or any other) culture. Explicitly he states on page 20 of his work that:
Black Preaching to Name God in all Human Experience Read More
The Unashamed Workman blog has a list of arguments for and against the use of visual aids like PowerPoint in sermons. It is a compilation of the comments that the blog received on a previous post. Some of the interesting ones are:
FOR
1. Visual images were frequently used by Jesus to illustrate the word he preached.
AGAINST
Should You Use Visual Aids? Read More1. It shows a lack of confidence in the word preached.
3. It can produce a ‘lecture feel.’
At the JESUS MAFA website you will find a number of pictures of Jesus depicted as an African.
When asked why should they do this the answer brought forth is:
The African Jesus Read More
Isaiah 25:6-10
It has been said that we begin dying as soon as we are born. I don’t know how true that is, but at some point all that God has created eventually slows down and dies. We all begin our life with the limitless possibilities of an open future. Almost imperceptibly each of those open doors begin closing until the last door closes on our fragile existence.
The Faith in Action blog has a picture up that the author says is a sermon by itself. The picture is of a homeless man sleeping in front of the closed gate at a church with a sheet over his head. The author states:
Who is Left Outside in Our Preaching? Read MoreIt causes me to meditate on how many others are sleeping on the outside of the “Beautiful†gates of the church.
I think that preachers should listen to other preachers whenever you get the chance. I have found two online radio stations that provide 24 hours or Black sermons. The first of these is the WTAM Black Sermon Radio found on Live 365.
Another website is the Preach Radio Network which you can findat this link.
Both sites provide music and sermonic content.
Black Preaching On-Line Radio Read More
Marcus Cosby is the pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston Texas. You can find a list of video sermons on their site. Marcus Cosby is one of the premier preachers in the country and is on the Advisory board of the AFrican American Pulpit.
At this link you will find how your congresspeople have voted on issues related to Darfur. The Genocide continues and it doesn’t seem to be on the radar of either the general public or the media.
See how your congressperson has voted…encourage that one to do better. The best of the Black Preaching Tradition has always cared for and advocated for the powerless. Let us be the voice of the voiceless.
Darfur – What is your congressperson’s Grade? Read MoreChuck Warnick in his Confessions of a Small Church Pastor blog asks the question, “Has gift-based ministry given us an excuse not to serve?” He notes that often we hear people saying, “that is not my gift” when asked to serve.
Warnick notes that we have allowed the idea that all have been given a gift to be perverted into the idea that “if you don’t have THIS gift you don’t have to do anything.”
Is Gift Based Ministry an Excuse? Read MorePsalm 33:6-9
My father was a district leader of the NAACP during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Because of this, he used to tell my brothers and me about the Civil Rights Movement. My father simply called it “the movement.” I heard stories about marches, bus trips called freedom rides, and lunch counters. My father would have a smile on his face when he spoke about the accomplishments of the movement.
Dr. Oliver Phillips presents a workshop on preaching in the African American tradition at this link.