Your homiletics preferences and peeves?

[ALAYMAN]

We’ve discussed preaching methods at length on the FFF over the years. Some people like the yelling stuff, others prefer the methodological plodding exegesis of Piper types. Some prefer the camp meeting’ histrionics and love the Tennessee Windsuckers or comedic value of Tony Hutson and bombast of Larry Brown. Some like personal anecdotes while others only want illustrations that are derived from Scriptural narratives. So
two (or 3) questions….

1) What are your musts AND preferences in the crafting and presentation of a sermon?

2) How do you feel about the idea of reading other sermons, commentaries, devotional, etc during a sermon?

 

[subllibrm]

We’ve discussed preaching methods at length on the FFF over the years. Some people like the yelling stuff, others prefer the methodological plodding exegesis of Piper types. Some prefer the camp meeting’ histrionics and love the Tennessee Windsuckers or comedic value of Tony Hutson and bombast of Larry Brown. Some like personal anecdotes while others only want illustrations that are derived from Scriptural narratives. So
two (or 3) questions….

1) What are your musts AND preferences in the crafting and presentation of a sermon?

2) How do you feel about the idea of reading other sermons, commentaries, devotional, etc during a sermon?

1. In general, exposition yes, topical no. I prefer a revelatory teaching style over a loud preaching style. Passion incorporated in the former is welcome but often seems manufactured in the latter.

2. Any and all are welcome if they help to properly explain and apply the principles of the subject matter. All preaching is derivative IMO so I would rather have the original source credited when possible.

 

[Ekklesian]

No theatrics.

 

[Bob Jones VI]

We’ve discussed preaching methods at length on the FFF over the years. Some people like the yelling stuff, others prefer the methodological plodding exegesis of Piper types. Some prefer the camp meeting’ histrionics and love the Tennessee Windsuckers or comedic value of Tony Hutson and bombast of Larry Brown. Some like personal anecdotes while others only want illustrations that are derived from Scriptural narratives. So
two (or 3) questions….

1) What are your musts AND preferences in the crafting and presentation of a sermon?

2) How do you feel about the idea of reading other sermons, commentaries, devotional, etc during a sermon?

1. It must come from someone who is serious and has had the word change them first.
2. I have no problem with it in small doses. But the bulk should be your own discoveries and exegesis.

 

[Ransom]

1) What are your musts AND preferences in the crafting and presentation of a sermon?

None, apart from it being text-centric. My church has been gifted with some very good expository preachers while I've been here, as well as some prominent guest speakers known for their expertise in homiletics (e.g. Haddon Robinson, D. A. Carson). Their styles and delivery clearly vary, but they always stuck to the text under examination.

2) How do you feel about the idea of reading other sermons, commentaries, devotional, etc during a sermon?

Do it sparingly. It's a sermon, not a term paper. But if it supports a difficult point, go right ahead.

 

[ALAYMAN]

None, apart from it being text-centric. My church has been gifted with some very good expository preachers while I've been here, as well as some prominent guest speakers known for their expertise in homiletics (e.g. Haddon Robinson, D. A. Carson). Their styles and delivery clearly vary, but they always stuck to the text under examination.

Nice guest speaker lineup.

Do it sparingly. It's a sermon, not a term paper. But if it supports a difficult point, go right ahead.

I think I follow, but could you flesh out a little of what you mean by “supports a difficult point“?

 

[Ransom]

I think I follow, but could you flesh out a little of what you mean by “supports a difficult point“?

What I was thinking of was a minority opinion or something else that might be difficult for hearers to accept readily. In which case, citing a credible authority on the text would support the preacher's argument--he's done his homework and isn't just pulling a novel interpretation out of thin air.

 

[Baptist Renegade]

Everyone has their own particular teaching and preaching style. Trying to mimmick another preacher is nonsensical (looking at all you HAC grads here).

I often think of Doug Fisher (my old pastor - Lighthouse Baptist, San Diego) and his method of delivery. What strikes me is the uniqueness of his preaching style - he is definitely one of a kind! I cannot think of a single time in which I had nodded off during one of his sermons. Not even after having stood a "mid-watch" (Navy) the night before! The main reason being was the way in which he engaged his audience as if he was communicating directly "with them" rather than just delivering a sermon "to them." Consider this for a moment or two! Far too often you have pastors yelling and screaming but not really "connecting" with their audience! I lose count of how often I nodded off during such sermons and got my wife's elbow in my ribs!

This is something that I have been trying to incorporate in my own teaching and preaching style. What this entails is the involvement of those you are speaking to, asking thought-provoking questions, soliciting feedback, etc. There are times when I do get "excited" or "animated" but only when it seems natural to do so.

As for my preferences while sitting in a pew, listening to a podcast, or whatever, I prefer expository preaching that is scripturally and theologically rich where it is obvious that the preacher is adequately prepared and makes application to text for which he is preaching. These days, I have a very low threshold of tolerance for foolishness behind the pulpit.

I have no problem with a preacher citing other sources so long as it is relevant to the topic and he gives credit to the source. Polly-parroting someone else's material is pure laziness and is deserving of our contempt.

 

[biscuit1953]

Everyone has their own particular teaching and preaching style. Trying to mimmick another preacher is nonsensical (looking at all you HAC grads here).

I often think of Doug Fisher (my old pastor - Lighthouse Baptist, San Diego) and his method of delivery. What strikes me is the uniqueness of his preaching style - he is definitely one of a kind! I cannot think of a single time in which I had nodded off during one of his sermons. Not even after having stood a "mid-watch" (Navy) the night before! The main reason being was the way in which he engaged his audience as if he was communicating directly "with them" rather than just delivering a sermon "to them." Consider this for a moment or two! Far too often you have pastors yelling and screaming but not really "connecting" with their audience! I lose count of how often I nodded off during such sermons and got my wife's elbow in my ribs!

This is something that I have been trying to incorporate in my own teaching and preaching style. What this entails is the involvement of those you are speaking to, asking thought-provoking questions, soliciting feedback, etc. There are times when I do get "excited" or "animated" but only when it seems natural to do so.

As for my preferences while sitting in a pew, listening to a podcast, or whatever, I prefer expository preaching that is scripturally and theologically rich where it is obvious that the preacher is adequately prepared and makes application to text for which he is preaching. These days, I have a very low threshold of tolerance for foolishness behind the pulpit.

I have no problem with a preacher citing other sources so long as it is relevant to the topic and he gives credit to the source. Polly-parroting someone else's material is pure laziness and is deserving of our contempt.

In 1977 or 78 a young Lt. Doug Fischer was saved at Calvary Baptist Church in Beaufort, SC. Me and a friend of mine were visiting door to door and were ready to wrap it up one night but my friend said he had one more tract left and insisted on stopping at one more house before going home. The house was that of Doug Fischer. He visited our church and was converted. The pastor of the church was Karl Baker who was an extreme Ruckmanite and had a great influence on me for many years after leaving the Marine Corps. I never followed Doug Fischer but understand he had a tremendous ministry at Lighthouse Baptist Church. From what I know of reading about him he remained KJV only but was much more balanced than Karl Baker.

I’ll give a few examples of what the church was like at Calvary Baptist Church at that time. There was a strong belief that women shouldn’t wear boots because that was reserved for men. A friend of mine who lived on base at Parris Island visited the church and while waiting for the service to begin noticed that he was the only man in the church that had shoes on so he leaned over to me and whispered, “I have boots on in the spirit.” The women wore no makeup. Wedding rings, birthdays, Christmas, Easter etc. were taboo. One Saturday down on Bay Street where we preached on the streets one of the men who was preaching on the back of a pickup truck around Christmas saw a man dressed up as Santa Claus. He pointed his finger at him and shouted, “Santa Claus is of the Devil!” to which Santa Claus shouted back, “I’ll kill you!” To which my friend replied, "God won’t let you!” That got enough attention that the man who was dressed up as Santa Claus and had a local radio broadcast invited Karl Baker on his show to explain why he was opposed to Christmas.

Another example that takes more of a dark turn is Karl Baker’s extreme views on race. I grew up in the South and most of my relatives were strongly opposed to integration so that wasn’t such an extreme view for me to believe that segregation was not the same as being in the KKK or things like that. But Karl Baker took it up to another level. One sermon entitled, Men With long hair, women wearing pants and the Civil Rights Movement” stands out because there was an older Black man visiting that morning and during the sermon Karl Baker stated with authority, “Some people are going to hell because they can’t stand to be called ni###rs; racial pride.”

I think Doug Fischer would be a good example of someone who didn’t blindly follow a spiritual leader the way so many Christians do.