I have been leading a variety of preaching events recently and thinking about ones that are coming up.
It has made me think about the people who have been my “preaching heroes”.
We all have role models who shape our thinking and practice. For me the early influencers were Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and a whole line of preachers who visited our Monday lunchtime service at South Wales Bible College.
One of those visitors was Geraint Fielder, who memorably preached on Luke 17:1–10. A couple of things impressed me about this sermon.
Firstly, he took a passage rather than a single scripture text as the basis for his sermon. This meant that the sermon flowed out of the passage rather than drawing in lots of thoughts from other biblical passages and themes. I felt at the time that the sermon had a clear intent and movement.
This was twenty years before my postgraduate work brought me into contact with the work of Thomas G. Long, who introduced me to the idea of the focus and function of the sermon. This has been a key element in the way that I have tried to preach and how I have tried to teach others to preach.
If there is fogginess in the preacher’s brain about the focus and function of the sermon there will be fogginess in the minds of the hearers.
I want to be clear about what the text of Scripture is saying (focus) and how it is saying it (function).
Secondly, Geraint Fielder preached with remarkable freshness of style, content and expression. He had been involved in speaking on local radio and had learned how to speak in a way that arrested the ears of his hearers. Perhaps for the first time I was hearing a preacher who communicated in the language and thought forms of late 20th century people. The sermon could be described in the title of one of my favourite commentary series from the first decade of my pastoral ministry: The Bible Speaks Today!
I remember that in conversation with the preacher afterwards he recommended Michael Wilcock’s book on Luke in the Bible Speaks Today series. After preaching through Luke’s gospel my copy was so well used that almost all the pages were loose.
Forty-five years on I have been able to expose myself to many preaching heroes. As readers of this blog already know, one of these is Timothy Keller. One of his great preaching heroes was Jonathan Edwards. I have recently enjoyed reading through all his published sermons and have been impressed by his depth and development as a preacher.
I am looking forward to leading a reading day on the book: The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader
There is a bit of a wait for the new book, but second-hand copies are easily obtained on Amazon, eBay or Blackwells. Places for the day are strictly limited and booking details can be found here
Prayer: Father God, thank you for all those people who have shaped the way we think about you and help us in the task of communicating good news in an effective and effectual way. Father, let your word run free and transform us and our world. Amen
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