From my reading and observation, I chose the profound writer and scholar of
Harry Emerson Fosdickwas who would be someone that took on the the patterns
of McDill for the mere fact he had a way of capturing an audience because of his
simple talk with words. Also, he used his human experience as a testimony which
is something that McDill felt would help preachers bring the sermon to life by
sharing the experience of the preacher; they still needed to have a sense of
passion which is what Fosdickwas was all about. So much so, he founded
himself according to research; he wanted his congregation to “catch fire” every
time he preached (Forrest, Benjamin, K., 2019, p. 361). He wanted to show his
listeners to encounter how to feel what he was saying when he was preaching as
well as share the points that would draw them into the world of his imagination.
Doing this allowed him to have modern concepts and higher-critical methods to
the text of Scripture (Forrest, Benjamin, K., 2019, p. 362). This was something that
McDill held dear to his heart when it came to his studying time and sermon
preparation. According to research McDill suggested that “Better preparation
habits and time management can remedy all these causes for a creative block”
(McDill, Walter, 2015, p. 138). In the words of Fosdickwas motto, “Preach first of
all to yourself, if it hits you it will usually hit somebody else”(Forrest, Benjamin K.,
2019, p. 371). McDill wanted those who heard him to hear what was spoken and
to think about what had been asked of them in the form of a question during the
sermon presentation. This type of concept is what made Fosdickwas and McDill
the strong to all the world. The other writer, preacher, and scholar that connected
well with the things that McDill stood for when it came to sermon study and
preparation. His name is Charles Simeon. According to Simon; who had one
general rule, and that was to demonstrate how texts should be treated naturally”
(Forrest, Benjamin K., 2019, p. 39). Having this type of discipline was something
that McDill stood for because he felt that the more time you spend with text, the
more time it would allow you to get fimilar with the text which could then allow
the preacher to find things like figuretive that would create things like anologies
which would the preacher to brings things within the text to make the sermon as
relateable as possible for the audience. Because Simon had such life journey he
often times wanted to share his experience with other preachers. For example,
“He would gather a number of young men from Cambridge on a weekly basis to
go over sermon outlines” (Forrest, Benjamin K., 2019, p. 40). McDill was all about
fellowshippping with other clergy for the dialogue or just to bounce the things of
ideas off each other so the thought proces could be as crictical as possible.
Reference
Forrest, Benjamin K. (2019), d A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two: Enlightenment
to the Present Day.
p. 39
p. 40
p.359
p. 361
p. 362
p. 371
McDill, Walter, (2015), 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. B & H
Publishing Group (p.138)
