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),==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)
