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 g 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.
g g g 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]. g 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, g g g g g g g
g g g 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
