Being a woman in ministry, I felt comfort in reading about a woman who followed
the calling of God to preach His Word during a time when women were not
encouraged to be in ministry. I felt that she also used the skill of bridging the text
to sermon. The reason behind this is that Catherine based her sermons upon the
authority of the Scriptures. "The theological framework for Catherine Booth’s
preaching was clearly from her commitment to the authority of the Scriptures. She
was a serious student of the Bible all her life and was attentive to the teachings of
the Bible in her own life."1 e She used this as the basis of her sermons, bringing
biblical authority from the text to her audience. According to McDill, "the sermon
has direct biblical authority when its central idea and purpose are the same as that
of the text."2 I find it interesting to see the different skills that each of these
preachers used in their sermons. Again, great job on your post.
e e e I also chose B.H. Carroll. Carroll was concerned with aiding the “hearer to
comprehend the appropriate explanation and interpretation of the text; he was less
concerned with the application of the text.”[1] Carroll’s textual emphasis governed all
facets of his “sermon introduction.”[2] While many preaching theories argue that the
sermon should be centered around a purpose statement early in the sermon, he rarely
utilized such statements.”[3] Carroll’s sermons were an “outgrowth of his approach to
the Bible; he understood the Bible to be God’s inspired word.”[4] Carroll’s
fundamental interest in each sermon was that “his listener came to a proper
understanding of the biblical text in its original context.”[5] His entire homiletical
methodology is centered on his approach to the biblical text; as a result, Carroll’s
approach to preaching was dominated by the biblical text.”[6] Carroll constructed his
sermons around a “single text and developed much of his sermons from other texts
like expository preachers; he sought to consistently explain the text in context, even
when this meant he ended up explaining a multitude of texts in a sermon.”[7] This
is reflected in McDill’s model skill four, “inductive study of the text.”[8]. e I found it
extremely difficult to find a skill that Rodney "Gipsy" Smith utilized from the
McDill skill set. My conclusion was that Smith did not really show any reflections
of the skills that McDill teaches. However, if you read the reply to my discussion
board post by Mrs. Pamela, I think that you will find her insights very helpful.
Smith most definitely utilized a form of bridging the text to sermon skill. The
Forrest, King and Curtis text states that the most effective part of Smith's sermons
were the illustrations that he used, and that his sermons were filled with these
illustrations.Skill number five, bridging the text to sermon, McDill explains why one
need to provide a sermon idea statement and a text idea statement. When explaining
why there is a need for two different statments, McDill suggests that one of the
particulars of the sermon, built from the sermon idea statement, is the use of
illustrations, which provide the theological principle of the text for the contemporary
audience.2 This was how Smith made a personal and emotional connection with his
audience in order to influence their hearts toward the Gospel message.
1 Benjamin K Forrest, Kevin L. King and William J. Curtis , A Legacy of Preaching,
Volume Two: Enlightenment to the Present Day (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 91.
2 Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (B & H Publishing
Group, 2015), 86.
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,
e e e e e e e e 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,
2018,262.
[2] Ibid.,265.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.,263.
[5] Ibid.,264.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.,269
[8] Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (Nashville, TN: B & H
Academic, 2010), 75
