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Jumping on the church furniture - you mean, like Billy Sunday? No, wait, he was Presbyterian.

BillySundaPreaching"Here’s how the Des Moines Register and Leader reported on his preaching in 1914:"

 
illinoisguy said:
Jumping on the church furniture - you mean, like Billy Sunday? No, wait, he was Presbyterian.

BillySundaPreaching"Here’s how the Des Moines Register and Leader reported on his preaching in 1914:"
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LOL, actually it was that image of Sunday that was at the forefront of my mind when posting that, but, with my own eyes I *have seen* some of what I am using as inspirational material for this thread, and this is one of them. I am very happy and proud to say that my current HAC-trained pastor of almost 20 years however has NEVER done or said a single thing from the pulpit in his entire pastorate that merits any of this sort of satire.
 
Billy Sunday, gotta love him - an early 20th Century version of Tony Hutson. But no mention of him boogeying to the music like Tony:

"Billy Sunday liked to call himself 'a rube of the rubes,' and a 'hayseed of the hayseeds.' But his New York Times obituary was more accurate in describing him as the greatest high-pressure, mass-conversion Christian evangelist America or the world has ever known. He was a professional baseball player turned preacher. His flamboyant, highly theatrical performances effectively banished all restraint and solemnity from the revival service. He became the master symbol of ragtime religion in the age of ballyhoo. . . . Gradually, Billy shed the decorum of his mentor and began to punctuate his sermons with the gyrations, gymnastics, and rapid-fire street epithets that would make him a preaching sensation. During a sermon he would skip, run, leap, and fall down on the stage in endless imitations of drunkards, society women, liberal clergymen, and moral backsliders. He would pound the pulpit, jump up on the pulpit, break furniture, and stamp his feet, perspiration spinning from his grimacing face. Then, crouching and weaving, with his coat and vest stripped away, Billy would shadow-box with 'the Devil.' One of his best-remembered acts was to slide into 'home plate' like a sinner trying to slide into heaven, only to be called 'out' by God the umpire."

Biography of Famous Preacher Billy Sunday Part 1 (trivia-library.com)
 
illinoisguy said:
Jumping on the church furniture - you mean, like Billy Sunday? No, wait, he was Presbyterian.
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A lot of those IFB theatrics find their source in Billy Sunday, who was a better showman than he was a Presbyterian. Though ordained by the Presbys, he didn't adhere strictly to the Westminster standards (he wasn't a Calvinist, for example). Unlike the indy-fundies, though, he wasn't a strict separatist (he avoided criticizing the Catholic church).
 
I think those antics would be too much of a distraction, and the lack of solemnity would be very off putting for me, but ultimately as long as things were theologically orthodox I would just treat it the same way I do other preference issues and say that that is not for me. Likewise, not exactly the same but similar, I would say that a homiletically boring presentation could not be my jam with any regularity either.
 
Once while preaching along the line of not comparing ourselves or thinking someone is a greater Christian, teacher, preacher, fill in the blank than we are, I had not planned it but out came, "Most of you are better parents than Billy Sunday." Things got real quiet, and I got the point across.
 
I wonder how many of Billy Sunday's fundamentalist admirers know that he was somewhat of an ecumenical. "Sunday attempted to steer clear of anti-Catholicism. This was because Sunday was an urban revivalist. When he went to the nation's largest cities, there was always a significant contingent of Catholics in places of power from whom he needed cooperation. He liked to say 'I am a Roman Catholic on divorce,' and he often told his converts that if they wanted to join a Catholic church, 'I'll help you if I can.' In Boston he urged Catholics, like Protestants, to come forward and sign decision cards attesting to their conversion, promising 'We'll see that the priests get them.'" [Barry Hankins, "Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, The Roaring 20s, and Today's Culture Wars," p. 52]. I personally do not support or endorse any type of evangelism in which converts are referred to Roman Catholic churches, but it is interesting to note that Sunday's ministry would not meet the standards of today's IFB movement, just as he was not always approved by conservative Presbyterians of his time, some of whom cringed at his antics. He was definitely his own man.
 
illinoisguy said:
I wonder how many of Billy Sunday's fundamentalist admirers know that he was somewhat of an ecumenical. "Sunday attempted to steer clear of anti-Catholicism. This was because Sunday was an urban revivalist. When he went to the nation's largest cities, there was always a significant contingent of Catholics in places of power from whom he needed cooperation. He liked to say 'I am a Roman Catholic on divorce,' and he often told his converts that if they wanted to join a Catholic church, 'I'll help you if I can.' In Boston he urged Catholics, like Protestants, to come forward and sign decision cards attesting to their conversion, promising 'We'll see that the priests get them.'" [Barry Hankins, "Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, The Roaring 20s, and Today's Culture Wars," p. 52]. I personally do not support or endorse any type of evangelism in which converts are referred to Roman Catholic churches, but it is interesting to note that Sunday's ministry would not meet the standards of today's IFB movement, just as he was not always approved by conservative Presbyterians of his time, some of whom cringed at his antics. He was definitely his own man.
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i didn;t know that...... but i like him already..... :cool:
 
Baptist City Holdout said:
Once while preaching along the line of not comparing ourselves or thinking someone is a greater Christian, teacher, preacher, fill in the blank than we are, I had not planned it but out came, "Most of you are better parents than Billy Sunday." Things got real quiet, and I got the point across.
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So, by that anecdote, should we conclude that ....."if you've ever used Billy Sunday in a positive light during one of your sermons...."

YMJBAIFB?


:LOL:
 
illinoisguy said:
I wonder how many of Billy Sunday's fundamentalist admirers know that he was somewhat of an ecumenical. "Sunday attempted to steer clear of anti-Catholicism. This was because Sunday was an urban revivalist. When he went to the nation's largest cities, there was always a significant contingent of Catholics in places of power from whom he needed cooperation. He liked to say 'I am a Roman Catholic on divorce,' and he often told his converts that if they wanted to join a Catholic church, 'I'll help you if I can.' In Boston he urged Catholics, like Protestants, to come forward and sign decision cards attesting to their conversion, promising 'We'll see that the priests get them.'" [Barry Hankins, "Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, The Roaring 20s, and Today's Culture Wars," p. 52]. I personally do not support or endorse any type of evangelism in which converts are referred to Roman Catholic churches, but it is interesting to note that Sunday's ministry would not meet the standards of today's IFB movement, just as he was not always approved by conservative Presbyterians of his time, some of whom cringed at his antics. He was definitely his own man.
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All that's very true of the comparison of fundamentalism of 100 years ago versus Hyles style fundamentalism of today. But I would add that Hankins is not exactly a friend of fundamentalists. He is a southern baptist who has written on a variety of fundamentalist issues usually from a jaded perspective in my opinion. Of course the context of the time when Sunday preached was a little bit different than today when you consider the issues facing American evangelicalism and fundamentalism like the modernist controversy, prohibition, communism, and several other early 20th century issues that served to unite ecumenical efforts at revivalism. Sort of a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach.
 
ALAYMAN said:
So, by that anecdote, should we conclude that ....."if you've ever used Billy Sunday in a positive light during one of your sermons...."

YMJBAIFB?


:LOL:
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Meh. Lots of more conservative Christians will use Billy Sunday anecdotes, though perhaps without so much hero worship. Theatrics and theological difficulties aside, so far as I can remember, he wasn't touched by any nasty scandals.
 
Ransom said:
Meh. Lots of more conservative Christians will use Billy Sunday anecdotes, though perhaps without so much hero worship. Theatrics and theological difficulties aside, so far as I can remember, he wasn't touched by any nasty scandals.
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Yeah, but "you might just be a Conservative Christian if..." just doesn't have the same ring to it.😁
 
...if you've ever preached against going to amusement parks, professional ballgames, or fall festivals under the guise of being unequally yoked....


YMJBAIFB
 
...if you've either heard, used, or AMENED the phrase....I don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with those who do....
 
ALAYMAN said:
...if you've ever preached against going to amusement parks, professional ballgames, or fall festivals under the guise of being unequally yoked....


YMJBAIFB
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I've heard those preached against, but not for that reason.
 
voicecrying said:
I've heard those preached against, but not for that reason.
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I used the "unequally yoked" catchall synonymously with anti-worldiness. Is that the sense you heard it railed upon? Or something else?
 
...if you won't darken the doors of a restaurant that serves booze, but the grocery store and gas station dispensing the devil's brew is just fine...


YJMBAIFB
 
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