Legacy of Preaching: Charles Simeon, Rodney "Gipsy" Smith
John Jasper, John Albert Broadus
j j j j Charles Simeon's preaching career lasted fifty-four years, mostly at the Trinity
Church in Cambridge, England.1 Simeon Saw a need for homiletics for the church,
so he began documenting and keeping notes for how he prepared for and
developed skills to prepare for preaching. The structural diagram skill, from
McDill's text, is the one that most closely associated with one of Simeon's
methods for sermon preparation. He would build an outline or "skeleton" from
which Simeon would build his sermon and preach from that.2 Working from the
skeleton, Simeon would determine the scope and meaning of the text, how the
passage should be divided and discussed, and then would work to an application.3
One can see other shades of McDill's skills within Simeon's approach to sermon
preparation, but the skeleton was the backbone of his perparations for his
sermons. Much like the structural diagram, this would assist Simeon in properly
showing how a text could be treated naturally in its proper context.4
j j j j Rodny "Gipsy" Smith had a seventy year evangelistic career that spanned five
continents.5 Rodney was raised in a British Romanichal Gypsy culture, which relied
heavily on orality and oral traditions.6 He was a self-taught preacher who initially
only utilized the Bible, an English dictionary, and a Bible dictionary for his
education.7 In most of his methodology and practice in preaching, Smith did not
use any of McDill's first six skills when preparing for sermons. Smith admittedly
had somewhat of a disdain for sermon notes and did not see any value in
enumeration, which was common in his day.8 Smith relied on his charisma, his
oratory skill and had an undaunting reliance on the Holy Spirit and the power of the
message found within the ross, repentance and atonement through Christ
crucified.9
j j j j John Jasper was a slave in and around Richmond, Virginia, who was bought by
a wealthy business man and deacon of the Baptist Church of Richmond, whose
name was Samuel Hardgrove.10 While working for Hargrove in 1839, at the age of
27, Jasper would make a commitment to serve Christ.11 Upon his conversion
Jasper began to learn to read and write with the assistance of a slave preacher
named William Johnson.12 Jasper would develop a reputation as a capable and
influential preacher to blacks and whites, respectively. Jasper did not rely heavily
on any kind o homiletic methodology, but rather focused on preaching a narrative
story infused with emotive and persuasive speech, with the intention of pointing to
a future with Christ, who is the "kinder, gentler and caring" master.13
j j j j John Albert Broadus was a seminary professor, president and one of the 19th
century's most influential contributors to sermon preparation and delivery.14 While
teaching and presiding over the Baptist Southern Theological Seminary, Broadus
would use his experiences and teaching opportunities to write A Treatise on the
Preparation and Delivery of Sermons.15 It could be argued that Broadus used all six
of the skills found in McDill's text, but the three that jump out are the structural
diagram, research questions, and bridging the text to sermon idea. His value of
grammatical method of exposition and the use of a logical way of working through
sermon text seems to reflect the structural diagram.16 And his value of having
knowledge of the original languages and a vigorous historical analysis of the text,
point toward the a great deal of importance being placed on research.17 Broadus
believed that preaching should be applicational and that application should be
consistent through out a sermon.18 The idea of providing application from the
biblical text to the sermon begins to happen through the text idea, sermon idea
and purpose statement found in the bridging the text sermon idea skill. I would not
be surprised if some of McDill's methodology has been influenced by Broadus's
work.
j j j j j j j j j j j
j j j j j j j j j j j 1Forrest, King, Curtis and Milioni, editors., A Legacy of Preaching: Enlightenment to the
Preesent Day Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 38-39.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j 2Forrest, King, Curtis and Milioni, A Legacy. 45.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 3Ibid. 47.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 4Ibid. 40, 42.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 5Ibid. 139.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 6Ibid. 125.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 7Ibid.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 8Ibid. 135.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 9Ibid. 134.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 10Ibid. 181.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 11Ibid. 182.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 12Ibid.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 12Ibid. 189, 191.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 14Ibid. 211.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 15Ibid. 214.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 16Ibid, 221.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 17Ibid. 222.
j j j j j j j j j j j j j 18Ibid. 223.
j j j j j j j j
