It All Begins in the Pulpit - Part 1 - Basic Training

It all begins in the pulpit - Part 1 - Basic Training

Note:  As I planned this posting, I thought it would be a single "chapter."  After writing the first part, it became evident that I had more to write on this topic than I could expect anyone to read in one "sitting."  Therefore, there are six parts to my reflections on preaching.

A Preamble - First, be sure that the following reflections and observations are not aimed at any of my dear colleagues and friends at Village Presbyterian Church.  Tom, Meg, Jarrett, Dwight and Jay are all good preachers.  To date, I have not heard the newest member of the staff, Cynthia Holder-Rich, but I have confidence in her skills in the pulpit.

With the previous qualifiers stated, I have to wonder why it is that the following appears to be true: At the beginning of the 20^th Century, the most gifted, influential platform communicators were preachers, especially in mainline denominations.  But at the beginning of the 21^st Century, so very few of my colleagues could be counted as gifted platform performers.

On what do I base my comments?  In high school, I preached and led worship both in the Sunday morning “adult” worship services and the Sunday evening Youth Church.  My college training included a minor in speech and communication at the University of Cincinnati plus professional work in radio and television.

At McCormick Seminary in the mid-1960s there was a strong emphasis on the skill and art of preaching.  The preaching faculty was composed of three adjunct professors who were practicing preachers.

George “Gibby” Gibson was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  He would travel to Chicago in order to teach the classroom portion of Senior Preaching.  It was said that the last sermon “Gibby” preached at Kalamazoo before retiring was so challenging that several of the long-time members of the church were infuriated afterwards.

John Fry was pastor of First Presbyterian Church on the Southside of Chicago.  John’s work with the notorious Black Stone Rangers street gang earned him a trip to Washington, D.C. to appear before the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities.  John taught one half of the preaching practicum.  John’s evaluation of student preaching seemed to feel as if the student had been hacked with a machete and left bleeding on the chapel floor.

The third member of the adjunct-preaching faculty was Elam Davies, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  A Welshman, Elam is still remembered at Fourth Church as one of its eminent preachers who inspired a major mission thrust of Fourth Church that is continued today.  His sermon on the Sunday after the assassination of Martin Luther King pointedly spoke of the turmoil of the 1960s caused by racial prejudice.  In the congregation were some of the wealthy “shakers and movers” of Chicago.  Elam’s evaluation of students’ sermons felt as if a skilled surgeon had operated and sewed the student up so they would completely heal.

This was my training ground for preaching. 

The first element in preaching excellence is training.  It is important that seminary students be trained not only by excellent “classroom” scholars but practitioners who work weekly in the craft of preaching. 

In addition to learning the craft of preaching in the seminary setting, the students should be encouraged to practice the craft in local churches.  One of the advantages McCormick Seminary in Chicago had was its location.  Presbyterian and other mainline churches would “hire” seminary students to fill their pulpits for one Sunday or months at a time.  Some of those Sunday morning treks were up to 170 miles one way.

The students were apprentice skill level, but they had the opportunity to preach and lead worship in the real world of Sunday morning.  And for the congregations, they were exposed to some of the current theological teaching in the seminary and the energy of young preachers. 

Exceptional skill begins with exceptional training.

--Dr. Ron Patton, H.R.