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), h 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)
