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), j 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)
