The four preachers mentioned in The Legacy of Preaching by Benjamin Forrest
best illustrate two of the six-step reviews that Wayne McDill provided in 12
Essential Skills of Preaching. g Catherine Booth, one of the Legacy Preachers,
follows closely to the "Bridging from Text to Sermon." She does follow many of
the six-step reviews, but one that she does well is "bridging the text to
sermon." At the same time, she really centers her message on the text and the
sin of all humanity, then allowing the listeners to find hope in the redemptive
power of Jesus Christ. She then takes the text and then bridges that text to
the message in a deep understanding of the scriptures, allowing the message
to beckon the "listeners to the higher life of holy love."[1] One can see that she
would use the 5th step when she wanted the audience to concede a message
while they were in a particular situation; then, she would best use the sixth
step when calling them to that higher calling of living in a holy lifestyle. Many
can see this because of her upbringing as a Methodist, which these things
were ingrained in her life her entire life.
Henry Ward Beecher took a different approach when preaching; he believed
that his words should shape the lives of those who are listening and not their
minds. This approach was a very different approach, and many would say that
Beecher would not be theological-based preaching. His approach is much
different from the norm, but his focus is more on the application because the
cognitive aspect would make little difference if there were no application.
Charles Hadden Spurgeon is one who was really skilled in "Naming the text,"
which gave him the title of being the prince of preachers. By studying
Spurgeon, one can see that he "believed preaching should be nothing less than
exposition."[2] He aligns more with the "Naming the Text" because he
advocates for the application and how the text should expound on and that
one should no dismiss the intended theological significance in the selected text
but get the big picture.[3] Spurgeon wanted and firmly believed that preaching
should be nothing less than exposition or explanation and that the fact that
sermons are commentaries.
Last, Charles Finney is a legacy preacher that aligned well with "Bridging from
Text to Sermon." His style was to identify "a concept related to the text that
would serve as the main subject of his sermon," which gave the bridging that
the listener needed to build that gap from the original text.[4] This gave his
listeners the experience that prompted lives to change with action.
[1] Benjamin K Forrest, A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two: Enlightenment to
the Present Day, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 94, Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com.
[2] Ibid., 114.
[3] Ibid., 170.
[4] Ibid.
