I read about John Stott and really liked his style. Stott wanted people to live to
the glory of God in the world. Stott was wondering, especially during the 1960’s
and 1970’s¸ when people tended to “do their own thing,” how could he get people
to listen, let alone come inside the church? He also said that “if our theology is
right then we have all the basic insights we need into what we ought to be
doing.”[1]
Although Stott believed that it was important that he must add contemporary
studies to biblical and theological studies in order to preach effectively. I think
that Stott preaches for faith. Stott spoke the Bible around the world, and he loved
to let the scriptures speak for themselves. His most important contribution to
preaching was being able to be faithful to the scriptures even during the twentieth
century, when preaching was not always biblical, and more and more churches
were seeing less and less attendees.
“Jerry Falwell Sr. was first and foremost a pastor and preacher.”[2] His sermons
were filled with words of encouragement, practical application, calls to action, and
a dynamic faith. Falwell was not bothered by his critics. He became a spiritual
giant, even as American morals were eroding, and people were becoming
spiritually adrift. In the 1970’s Falwell was preaching to other preachers telling
them to preach with power, be willing to pay the price, build great congregations
of believers, everything must be bathed in prayer and penetrate the entire
community.
Falwell was not an expository preacher he found a biblical reason for every
problem. I think that Jerry Falwell preached the human experience. he used
expressions of defeat, lack of spiritual nourishment. He wanted his words to fix
the lives of all Christians. Jerry Falwell built a large empire starting with a church
and a college in Lynchburg Virginia. He was also quite active in politics, while
also maintaining a large audience that tuned in each week to hear or see him on
national television. He tried to remain an available and helpful man as he
preached the Bible.
[1] Benjamin K. Forrest, Kevin L. King, Bill Curtis, Dwayne Millioni, Ed. A Legacy of
Preaching : Enlightenment to the Present Day. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan,
2018): 343 g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g
[2] Benjamin K. Forrest, Kevin L. King, Bill Curtis, Dwayne Millioni, Ed. A Legacy of
Preaching : Enlightenment to the Present Day. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan,
2018): 525
