What The Blues Teaches Us About Preaching
As you know if you are a regular reader of this website, the Biblical Preaching Blog is one of my favorite websites for preaching related information. Peter Mead, the primary contributor, has a post up where he encourages preachers to not “Half Quit.”
LaRue’s next element of great preaching is the significance of the waiting Congregation. In this element, the congregation is involved in the entire preparation process.
My first experience was “all good.” HA HA…yeah right I was as nervous as hell on judgment day! I fasted the week of the sermon by eating only fruits and vegetables until the day before which I ate nothing. I was sooooo focused on delivering that message John 10 the Good Shepherd. I had no title, I still 4 years later and with a MDiv in sight don’t title most sermons!
The next characteristic of great preaching that the preachers described in Preaching with Power is “The Importance of Wrestling with the Text.”
The Second characteristic that Cleophus LaRue speaks of in his book Preaching With Power is a “Sense of Divine Encounter.” Here the preacher must wait until God speaks to the preacher before the sermonic process can begin. This encounter is between the divine and human, thus it is more than human generated.
Waiting on God in the Sermonic Process Read MoreCleophus LaRue edited a book entitled Preaching in the Pulpit: How America’s Most Effective Black Preachers Prepare Their Sermons.. In the book he gives 11 characteristics of the methodologies of these great preachers.
Preaching as Oral/Aural Event Read MoreOnce again the Peter Mead from the Biblical Preaching blog provides a short post with a big punch. This time he quotes from Dwight Stevenson’s work A Reader on Preaching and asks, us to consider if we are truly preaching a sermon or something else.
Peter Mead at the Biblical Preaching Blog has a post up on how the preacher must be a perpetual student. In it he provides 5 ways to ensure continued growth in preaching. I think this is a good introduction to improving your preaching.
Deborah Hooper has written a book entitled Evangelist and Minister’s Handbook. Chapter 5 of the book provides a good introduction to the kinds of books a preacher should have in his or her library.
I make a habit of listening to Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas Texas. Dr. Haynes incorporates stories into his preaching very effectively. These stories are gleaned from various sources.
The Exiled Preacher has a post up on George Whitefield and Expository Preaching. Guy Davis, the author, writes about how difficult it can be to use a manuscript effectively. Certainly many of us have left our manuscript for a second to “riff” on a theme or go down a different direction. However upon attempting to come back to our manuscript we find it difficult to find the correct place.
Whitefield and Extemporaneous Preaching Read MoreAt this link you will find two lectures on Black Preaching and a sermon by Dr. Maurice Watson of Beulahland Bible Church in Macon Ga.
The lecture titles are as follows:
The next pattern in Ron Allen’s work, Patterns of Preaching is entitled Preaching on a Biblical Theme.