The Reason for Preaching 201
September 21, 2005
They are working us this year to become preachers. We have an 8am plenary for quite of a few weeks, then a 1-2hr precept where we preach, and we also have a 5-7 week Preaching Workshop where we preach and get critiqued on delivery, body-language, enunciation, etc. I think they’re actually trying to get us to look like Franklin Graham over here. He’s pretty intense. I have my Harley Davidson leather jacket on order, so hopefully they don’t have me preach before it gets here (keep your fingers crossed!!!).
They really want us to get good - we are required, for the most part, to preach with manuscripts. And we have to turn in our exegesis paper for the sermon before we preach. But, I’m sure it’s all for a really good reason in the end. And if you want one example of why perhaps it’s good to be prepared and have a manuscript, you should definitely check it out.
If all of this crazy preaching intensity is to keep me away from having a slip like that in my sermon…alright, it’s probably worth it!
Tags: Preaching, Seminary
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
September 21st, 2005 at 4:51 pm
OMG!!!!! I hope they don’t keep you from making that mistake. That was awesome. It sounds like preaching classes have changed since I graduated in ‘98.
September 21st, 2005 at 7:27 pm
duuuuuude . . .
September 21st, 2005 at 8:08 pm
That clip was funny! I think that you should go for the Benny Hinn style… Hurricane hairdo, the Hallelujah chorus, and a whiter than white suit!!!
TOUCH!!!
September 21st, 2005 at 8:47 pm
on the whole forced manuscript thing. had some good conversations with preaching prof at CTS about this…she does manuscripts..i dont..we both agreed that for each of us, our method demanded more from us. For example, it seems easier for me to write it all down nice and polished..it takes less of me..but its just the opposite for her..
and it seems that whatever takes more of you, whatever demands more of yourself is always the hardest and best in the whole preaching attempt..
i thinks its good to try all kinds of things in seminary and see what feels right for you..It irks (SAT word) me that they are seemingly forcing one way..
peace
mark
September 22nd, 2005 at 3:36 pm
I tend to think it’s all right to have some improvisation at times, but before you earn the right to do that, you have to be able to really WRITE so that the words you speak when you don’t have notes make sense. In the early stages of learning to preach, I think it would be tragic not to force people to work with manuscripts.
Good to see classmate Scott Erwin writing in…
But on to the real reason for posting: Funniest sermon clip ever!!! You’ve got to tell us … Is that someone you know? What was the aftermath of this? I have to think that was pretty much the end of the sermon that day..
September 22nd, 2005 at 4:52 pm
I love that sermon clip. Love your blog too. You should check out http://www.nathanhart.org if you haven’t already. Good to see more and more PTS students blogging.
September 23rd, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Oh my goodness! I am still laughing. I can’t stop.
September 23rd, 2005 at 11:59 pm
That clip is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. That was great, thanks for sharing it. Congrats on the engagment. My wife and I have been married for 16 years next month and what a wonderful journey you are getting ready to embark on. Good luck!
September 24th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
there is a lot of techniques and preparations that go into public speaking, and preaching at that.. at Dallas Seminary, when I went there, our preaching classes required us to do 12-minute and 15-minute sermons WITHOUT notes. Tho’, beforehand, we did have to go through the exegetical exercise, and manuscripting also. And, every class sermon was videotaped, while the professor was back in the sound booth, providing color commentary on the video tape. One of the more painful things is to watch yourself preach, and then to hear the color commentator go — good eye contact but keep your hands out of your pocket! :)
September 24th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Loved that clip, Adam!
September 26th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
brilliant audio clip.
September 26th, 2005 at 12:59 pm
tit pinching aside, i have a feeling that the sermon might have been doomed to begin with. who actually says, “it’s time to catch ourselves on fire”? i can just imagine the literalists in the room readying the kerosine.