Discussion Post 2- After reading about the legacy of seven different preachers
throughout this course, focus particularly on the sermon excerpts for this
discussion. Specifically, choose two of these excerpts and analyze where this
excerpt fits within the sermon, using McDill’s terminology. For instance, does the
excerpt model the natural analogies, human experience, persuasive elements, or
preaching for faith. Feel free to use any of the elements from McDill to analyze
these excerpts. It might also be worthwhile to find the full sermon from these
examples for greater context.
Part One: Nineteenth-Century European Preaching
Rodney “Gipsy” Smith-Forgotten Evangelist. 1860-1947.
Background
c c c c c c c c c c Rodney Gipsy Smith’s background in fundamental orality formed his
preaching style and encouraged those who heard him.[1] Like Moody and Sunday,
he brought the language of “everyday people into the pulpits of the world.”[2]
Smith’s use of “simple words and sentence structures made the gospel message
available to all, not just the educated elite.”[3] Smith also “demonstrated the
remarkable skill to communicate the gospel in the most descriptive of terms.”[4]
His sermons were inundated with “beautiful pictures of the world around him.”[5]
His was the “language of poetry and pathos, capable of evoking memory and
moving emotion in the hearts of his listeners.”[6] Smith also combined the
“language of narrative.”[7] As a result, his sermons were not “artfully constructed
expositions, filled with points and sub-points; they were filled with stories, which
were based on the stories of the Bible.”[8]
c c c c c c c c c c The excerpt sermon from Smith’s “Repent Ye” models Wayne McDill’s
“persuasive elements and natural analogies sermon.”[9] In this excerpt, Smith used
descriptive language to explain what repentance is, argued what repentance is not,
illustrated the analogy of sin and repentance from “darkness to light.”[10] In this
sermon, Smith uses metaphor to investigate the significance of repentance;
“Repentance is turning from darkness to light, from sin to God.”[11] I “cannot
make it easier; the Bible does not; Jesus does not.”[12] There must be “the
surrender, and nothing less than that will satisfy your conscience, nothing less will
be acceptable to God, and nothing less will bring you peace.”[13]
Part Four: Twentieth-North American Preaching
Edward Victor Hill-Preaching God’s Word for Spiritual and Social Transformation.
1933-2003.
c c c c c c c c c c Edward Victor Hill’s preaching theology was a c Christ-centered message
that did not violate the “Great Commission by preaching to one’s culture
context.”[14] c Hill’s method of “preaching was not that of an expositor, but that of
a textual preacher (a textual preacher is one who preaches a sermon based on
one or two verses from the Bible), who had characteristics of a middle style
preacher; Hill’s middle, or persuasive style of preaching was interesting and
energizing.”[15] The persuasive style of Hill’s preaching centered “on taking the
biblical text and using sound biblical exegesis to appeal to the listening audience’s
intellect and imagination, and to persuade them to have a new life in Christ.”[16].
E.V. Hill frequently used his “words to paint pictures of Scripture and to define its
practical meaning.”[17] Using his rich “palate of words and phrases, he painted
with sayings, stories, analogies, metaphors, figures of speech, contrast and
comparison, historical references and illustration.”[18] His gift of illustration
allowed “him to use his words and hang pictures in the gallery of the listening
audience’s mind.”[19]
c c c c c c c c c c The greatest strength of E. V. Hill’s preaching was his remarkable ability
to provide “insightful and life-changing application during the preaching moment;
Hill’s application touched three categories of human needs: Felt needs, hidden
needs, and spiritual needs.”[20] In studying Hill’s method “for application, we see
he used three kinds of sermon applications: Interrogative application, indicative
application, and imperative application.”[21] Hill shaped his “application by asking
probing questions of c people, by showing the congregation who they are in Christ,
by encouraging the hearer to believe what God says about them, and by
presenting clear ways to take action once the message was understood.”[22]
c c c c c c c c c c The sermon excerpts of “When God Was at His Best, “From Genesis 1:1, “
In the beginning, God created heavens and the earth, and the sermon excerpt “
What’s in a Name (Act 4: 7, 10, 12) and “ Who Needs a Savior” models a plethora
of Wayne McDill’s sermon skills: “persuasive elements, drawing pictures, telling
stories, and human experience.[23] In the sermon excerpt “When God Was at His
Best,” Hill was competent at “capturing people’s senses for spiritual
transformation through God’s Holy Word.”[24] c c c c c c c
c c c c c c c c c c Hill’s gift of illustration empowered “him to use his words and hang
pictures in the gallery of the listening audience’s mind.”[25] Hill had the inherent
ability, “through the power of the Holy Spirit to instruct some person on how to
live, inspire some person to go on living with hope, despite troubles and strain,
give an insight into problems and possibilities within and beyond those problems,
to liberate the hearer’s spirit.”[26] In this excerpt, “God revealed himself to Hill, and
entered his heart and saved him.”[27] Wayne McDill postulated that “God reveals
himself through the experiences of ordinary people made extraordinary by his
special involvement in their lives.”[28] Hill used specific and concrete terms in
telling his story.
Bibliography
Forrest, Benjamin, K, Kevin L. King, Bill Curtis, and Dwane Milioni. A Legacy of
Preaching: Enlightenment to The Present Day: Volume Two. Nashville: Zondervan,
2018.
McDill, Wayne. 12 Essentials for Great Preaching. Nashville, TN: B & H Academic,
c c c c c c c c c c 2010.
[1] Benjamin, K. Forrest, Kevin L. King, Bill Curtis, and Dwayne Milioni. A Legacy of
Preaching: Enlightenment to the Present Day: Volume Two (Nashville, Zondervan,
2018), 138-139
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Forrest, King, Curtis, Milioni, A Legacy of Preaching, 138.
[9] Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (Nashville, TN: B & H
Academic, 2010), 126.
[10] Forrest, King, Curtis, Milioni, A Legacy of Preaching, 138-139.
[11] Ibid., 140.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid., 512.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid., 517.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid., 517-518.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, 126.
[24] Forrest, King, Curtis, Milioni, A Legacy of Preaching, 517.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.,522.
[28] Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching,151.
