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1COMPELLING PREACHINGInitiative ReportThespring 2023Christian Theological Seminary PhD Program in African American Preaching & Sacred Rhetoric
2We believe the history, beauty, depth, creativity, imagination, and power, and prophetic witness of the African American preaching tradition can help generate a preaching renaissance to revive American Christianity in the 21st century.Frank A. ThomasContents 3 Introduction 4 Audience, Consultation Attendees 6 Mandate & Rationale 8 What Is Compelling Preaching? The Need 10 Commentary 11 Content 12 Forming Preachers 13 Initiative 14 Next Steps 15 The Author 16 AcknowledgementWe are professional homileticians... And we need to be clear to the preachers, to the church, to the academy... We look at and plan theology and methodology... We’re not just talking about another preaching conference. No. We’re trying to improve the art itself...William Bobby McClain, 1938–2022
3IntroductionIn the diculty of these days of systemic oppression, polarization, digital church, and the Covid-19 pandemic, some find themselves uncertain as to how and what to preach to a divided, perplexed, and often confused church and nation Through our qualitative and quantitative research, we heard from students, alums, community members and friends of CTS across the nation who consistently shared that many preachers want to learn more about the craft of preaching, that clergy feel disconnected from their colleagues, and that bi-vocational preachers are yearning for more support. We know pastors are inundated with demands of their time, especially in today’s world, and long degree programs cannot always be prioritized. However, this does not keep them from wanting to know more about homiletics to improve their preaching for greater eectiveness.Therefore, we believe that by inspiring practitioners of African American preaching to deepen and develop their wisdom, knowledge, and methods; by training them in homiletical theory, theology, and pedagogy; and by inviting them to generate their own small groups of mentees to teach what they know, informed by what we have taught them, we can leverage the genius of African American preaching traditions to foster more powerful preaching to help in meeting the challenges of these days and revive American Christianity in the 21st century.COMPEL THEM TO COMEA Report on the Compelling Preaching InitiativeChristian Theological Seminary PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric Spring 2023Contents 3 Introduction 4 Audience, Consultation Attendees 6 Mandate & Rationale 8 What Is Compelling Preaching? The Need 10 Commentary 11 Content 12 Forming Preachers 13 Initiative 14 Next Steps 15 The Author 16 Acknowledgement
4This Report & Its AudienceThis report is an account of the discussions of three online consultations held in August 2022 to research and prepare for a grant proposal for the Compelling Preaching Initiative of Lilly Endowment, Inc. The meetings were sponsored by the PhD Program of African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric of Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. The report summarizes and recounts key themes that emerged from the consultations. While many subjects called for further discussion, some clear priorities emerged that are expressed and summarized in the concluding sections of this report. We believe the findings were significant enough to necessitate communication with a broader audience.The primary audience for this document is pastors, preachers, and teachers of preaching — African American and otherwise — who would benefit from insights on African American preaching method, theory, and practice. It also speaks to leaders of organizations that support graduate theological education including philanthropic organizations, mentoring communities, accrediting bodies, and professional scholarly organizations, as well as denominational bodies who hold an interest in a preaching renaissance in the twenty-first century. The PhD Program team at CTS that developed the consultations included Frank A. Thomas, Director of the PhD Program of African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric; Michelle Hummel, Strategist of CTS; two students of the PhD Program that were co-producers, Rev. Jennifer Carner and Eugene L. Gibson, Jr.; and Dr. Leah-Gunning Francis, former Vice-President of Academic Aairs and Dean of the Faculty at CTS.Consultation AttendeesThe consultations called together elders, those who have been pastoring and preaching over the decades, and younger pastors and preachers to represent generational and gender diversity. We are deeply grateful for the spiritual wisdom and homiletical insight that flowed from deeply meaningful conversations which left us wishing we could have continued for more sessions. Here is a list of our conversation partners that were so very generous with their time and creative ideas amidst busy and hectic schedules:Rev. Jeffery Johnson, Senior Pastor, Eastern Star Church, Indianapolis, INDr. Sean McMillan, Host, Fox Soul’s The Book of Sean Dr. Edward Branch, Pastor Emeritus, Third New Hope Baptist Church, Detroit, MIRev. Dr. Carolyn Anne Knight, Preacher, Pastor, and Professor, Atlanta, GA Bishop Timothy Clarke, Senior Pastor, First Church of God, Columbus, OHDr. Peter Wherry, Pastor, The Field, Charlotte, NC4< back
5Rev. Eddie Dowdy, Pastor, Greater Hope, Memphis, TNBishop Claude Richard Alexander, Jr., Senior Pastor, The Park Church, Charlotte, NCDr. William Curtis, Senior Pastor, Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, PARev. Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, Senior Vice President and Chief Mission & Values Officer, IU Health, Indianapolis, IN Dr. Toni Alvarado, Pastor, Preacher, Coach, SpeakerDr. Eugene L. Gibson Jr., Senior Pastor, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Columbus, OHDr. Lance Watson, Senior Pastor, Saint Paul's Baptist Church, Richmond, VADr. E. Dewey Smith, Senior Pastor/Teacher, The House of Hope, Atlanta, GARev. Sheleta Fomby, Pastor, New Life Church, Laurel, MDBishop Walter S. Thomas, Pastor, New Psalmist Baptist Church, Baltimore, MDDr. Jeanne Porter King, Founder, TransPorter Group, Chicago, ILRev. Dr. James Perkins, Pastor, Greater Christ Baptist Church, Detroit, MIDr. Reginald Williams, First Baptist Church, University Park, Illinois Rev. Jennifer Carner, Executive Pastor, Membership Care, the Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church (The House of Hope), Atlanta, GABishop Linwood Dillard, Founding Pastor, Citadel of Deliverance Church of God in Christ, Memphis, TNDr. Jamal Bryant, Senior Pastor, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA5
6Our Biblical Mandate & RationaleThe text reads, "Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them (compel them to) come in, so that my house will be full.” The church from the very roots of its beginnings has been commanded to “compel people to come in so that God’s house would be full.” Each age and generation of the church must struggle with its response to the command to compel people to come. The Lilly Endowment Inc. has initiated a grant program that helps the church to creatively grapple with this question. What does the term compel mean? The Greek word used is anagkazo, 'compel, force,' of inner and outer compulsion; it means to 'strongly urge/invite, urge upon, press upon to accept.' In Jesus’ time, it was a custom to politely refuse to come to a banquet until pressed to — kind of like politely refusing to take a second helping at a meal until the host says, "Oh, but you must!" We wanted seconds, but it is impolite to secure a second helping. But after the host compels the guest, we happily pass our plate to receive more. The rich man hasn't sent out soldiers to sweep the area, round up everyone, and march them to his house. But he instructed his servants not to take "No" for an answer. One commentator called it an “insistent hospitality.” To encourage and strongly urge everyone they meet to accept this invitation; to compel them to come.How does one preach in such a way as to compel them to in the best sense of the word accept hospitality — to politely insist that people come to God’s banquet? How do we not take no for an answer in preaching? What is compelling preaching and how do we foster it?The question of compelling people to God originates with Jesus and the early church and is found in the gospel of Luke 14:15-24 in this parable: When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, "Come, for everything is now ready." But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, "I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me." Another said, "I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." Still another said, "I just got married, so I can't come.” The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." "Sir," the servant said, "what you ordered has been done, but there is still room" Then the master told his servant, "Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." — Luke 14:15-24 (NIV) 6< back
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8Bishop Linwood DillardThe Need for Compelling PreachingWhat is Compelling Preaching? Compelling Preaching is the realization by the hearer that something authentic and real is in their midst so that they feel the invitation to take the journey with the preacher through the biblical text to God, what Howard Thurman called “the voice of the genuine.” Dr. Frank Thomas Bishop Walter S. ThomasRev. Jennifer CarnerDr. Eugene L. Gibson Jr. Seeking to address the need for Compelling Preaching, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. announced the Compelling Preaching Initiative in April 2022. The primary aim of the initiative was to cultivate practices among aspiring and active preachers that could help preachers proclaim the gospel to diverse audiences in more engaging and eective ways. Proposals for program funding were to respond to the following three questions:1. What kinds of preaching are needed today to help people in the United States discover, deepen, and share Christian faith? 2. What traditional (e.g., pulpit preaching, writing) and non-traditional (e.g., video, social media) forms of communication must preachers utilize today to communicate the Christian message eectively both to church members as well as to others seeking meaning and purpose for their lives? 3. How are these kinds and forms of preaching best cultivated and supported among aspiring and current preachers? 88< back
9We believe at the core of the need for compelling preaching is first and foremost the great need for preachers to love their preaching, and only those that love their preaching can strengthen souls and transform communities. We believe that our uniqueness and sweet spot is to start with the preacher because the best way for preaching to be relevant and transforming is for preachers to able to discern within themselves not just a good sermon, but a deep level of spiritual and personal accountability where the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth of God. Preachers are then able to utilize homiletical skills (homiletical theory, theology, and pedagogy) to eectively organize and deliver what they have received to its most transformative eect in people and communities. While we could oer a litany of personal and social needs of individuals and communities, our strategy is to resource those that are seeking God’s truth in the crucible of leadership, already doing inspiring and compelling preaching, and that have a desire to teach others to do the same. We target a national audience of preachers of diverse denominations and traditions that seek to engage in gospel-centered proclamation that captures the moral and ethical imagination of its hearers to live, work, and act collectively toward social, political, and economic equity and human well-being for all.Those that attended the consultations responded to the following critical questions: What is compelling preaching? What is the content of compelling preaching? How do we form preachers for compelling preaching? Walter ThomasBishop Walter S. Thomas Dr. Reginald Williams Dr. Jeanne Porter KingDr. Sean McMillan Rev. Dr. James Perkins
10Commentary on This Present Age:• We are living in a post-Christian era where biblical literacy and interest cannot be assumed; for the first time in my ministry, I have felt the need to defend the gospel• How do we fit the gospel according to an Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc. generation? Do we chop the sermon in smaller bites for a social media moment? Three points of the sermon and each point is a Twitter moment? • Experience is the new economy. People produce so much “experience” on Instagram, Facebook, etc. The currency of value is experience. Old school preachers are deeply challenged because many are embarrassed to post personal events that create “experience”• Preaching suers from a “loss of nerve.” We have lost the fundamental curiosity about the deep questions of life and often give easy answers to profound anxieties, systemic issues, troubles, and problems• “I look at the results of my preaching and it is scary. I can get 500 people to come to line dancing and 50 people to pass out gas cards in the community to help people in need;” • Contemporary preaching has an over emphasis on becoming market friendly for attraction and not an agitation that leads to action• Preaching must never be entertainment alone, but in some sense entertaining in order to maintain attention• Preaching can no longer be one to many; preaching must connect dialogical small groups without becoming Sunday school class per se and empower people to story themselves; Everybody loves a good story; how do we get people to story themselves through the biblical story?• Given the Covid-19 pandemic the following realities have emerged:• More than ever preaching is more visual and has a much bigger impact than just the congregation in the building; more cognizant of images and more careful with words — more poetry• 40 to 50 minute sermons are no longer eective; the preacher is given a shorter runway to build and develop message• The absence of call and response when the congregation is not present, which means preachers were stripped of some of the theater of the black church such as “turn to your neighbor,” or “touch three people and say” • The lack of the full theater of the congregation exposed the unprepared preacher and a massive opportunity for those that do the homiletical work • How do we get comfortable with churches that are half empty in person with the other half on the internet when so much of success has been traditionally celebrated as few empty pews as possible?• Preaching must oer rigorous systemic critique and reimagine an Afro future. We cannot do systemic critique without imagining a new future. The preachers show a new world• See our role as standing in the gap between injustice and God’s will10Following are notes on the critical concerns that emerged in the conversation.< back
11What Is the Content of Compelling Preaching?• Four principles from Patricia Collins’ book Black Feminist Thought:• connect to lived experience, • use of dialogue that creates connection for identification and response, • strong ethos of care such that people feel cared for• personal accountability to live the texts and truths that are Holy Spirit revealed. • Move past the praise paradigm, that is, praise is the only thing the preacher can preach • Does the experience of white evangelical preachers in books and television ministries speak to the experience of oppression of our people?Previous generations are very Bible Centered; that is, the exposition of scripture is the center of the sermon, following what might be called “Bible-centered preaching.” Contemporary audiences are not interested in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. They are “Bible Adjacent” and want the preacher to help them see the text as a value proposition for them by explaining life rather than explaining scripture. They want the sermon to connect with their lived experience and explain their lived experience; the preacher and text must apply spiritual principles to their lives. The Content of Compelling Preaching must be: • Revelatory and relevant — reveals and exalts Christ; Christ centered and Holy Spirit revealed• Therapeutic — giving voice to the people’s pain — empathetic from a place of deep listening with access to hope• Help people to be prophetic witnesses and give them an opportunity to act. The listener must be left with homework and asked to act• Prophetic preaching is a call to live the values of an alternative reality 11
12How Do We Form Preachers for Compelling Preaching?A great Mentor must: • Inspire the love of the church, love of God, and love of the people; is any ministry possible without these three?• Every person has not experienced a legitimate call; help mentees discern a Spirit-led authentic call and the true motives for ministry and preaching; • Remind mentees that that they have been given a preaching tradition and must honor, respect, care for it, and bequeath it to future generations. No preacher is greater than the tradition that birthed them;Formation of the preacher though mentorship is the key to compelling preaching. We asked focus group how mentorship has changed. Here is the formula that the group suggests: Mentorship + formation + identity of the preacher = approach to Scripture and preaching. Question: Has mentorship changed?• I found a preacher and became enamored with his person and style and spent the rest of my ministry trying to be like him; • Women preachers were formed in otherness what Lisa Thompson calls “Ingenuity;” initially, not much mentoring from men, solely wisdom from through women Elder preachers;• Many contemporary preachers are learning how to preach through video sermons more than mentors or schooling; many are more interested in analysis of what moves the crowd rather than the intricacies of sermon development and design; • We did not ask to be mentored, we imposed ourselves through service, carrying the bags of older preachers, picking them up from the airport, and making sure they had whatever they needed, and we were invited to lunch and mentoring moments occurred in conversation and service; • More listening to mentors than seeking ministry opportunities. There was no such thing as mega church such that most of us were not invested in marketing and platforms to make our ministry popular;12< back
13Our Compelling Preaching Initiativevideo library of these Exemplars. Those they mentor will learn and grow in the community with their cohort, and do this in a world where preaching styles and delivery methods look much dierent than before. Exemplars will help those they teach adjust to the ever-changing needs of their congregations and constituents, with growth in their own personal style and method, and they will become compelling preachers that proclaim the gospel to diverse audiences in engaging and eective ways.Our Compelling Preaching Initiative focuses on a mentor-based teaching approach to empower program participants (known as Exemplars) by giving them a safe space to develop, deepen, and discover their homiletic method; articulate their sermon preparation process; and as a result, to teach others to proclaim the Gospel more clearly and eectively, compelling hearers to a deeper commitment to God, church, and community. In this year and a half program, we will lean into the genius, the beauty, and the power of the African American preaching tradition adjacent to and benefitting from the CTS PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric. Our mentorship model forms preachers to continue and add to the African American preaching tradition that desperately needs to be preserved, studied, recorded, taught, and practiced for the good of the African American community and the nation. During their time at CTS, in four engaging on-campus intensives and a writing colloquy, preachers and program Exemplars will have the opportunity to deepen and discover their preaching method, including their sermon preparation process and writing practices, the basics of homiletical theory and rhetoric and using the latest scholarship on Hebrew Bible and the Gospels and Letters, theology of preaching, biblical hermeneutics, and pedagogy to enhance their mentoring, teaching, and group facilitation. They will be taught to constructively critique sermons that will inspire and lift preachers and implement this skill by teaching in our Mixed Methods Preaching Conference. In the program's final phase, they will mentor aspiring preachers and contribute to the 13Frank A. Thomas interviews Claudette Anderson Copeland for the African American Preaching Legacy Series
1414Next StepsIn November 2022, in order to support our proposed Compelling Preaching Initiative outlined herein, the Lilly Endowment awarded Christian Theological Seminary a three-year one-million-dollar grant. Please view the press release at this link.In the Spring of 2023, we will be recruiting Exemplars for the launch of our first cohort in July 2023. If you are interested in the Compelling Preaching Initiative or would like to learn more about the possibility of becoming an Exemplar in cohort 1 or 2, please click here. To learn more about the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, click here.
15The AuthorFRANK A. THOMAS, PHD, currently serves as the Director of the PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric and the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. Thomas has spent a lifetime practicing, studying, teaching, and writing about preaching. His first book, They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration In Preaching was first published in 1997 and then revised and updated for release in August 2013. To complement this classic preaching book, Thomas published, in 2014, Preaching as Celebration Digital Lecture Series and Workbook. Currently, Thomas devotes much of his time and energy to advancing the PhD Program. He is also a nationally and internationally sought-after keynote speaker and lecturer. When discussing the PhD Program, Thomas says the mission is “to teach and develop the beauty, the depth, the genius, the history, and the power of African-American preaching in order to ignite a preaching renaissance in the twenty-first century.” Thomas is convinced that “the best of African-American preaching can be pivotal” to this much-needed renaissance.For many years, Thomas has also taught preaching to Doctoral and Master level students at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois; Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee; and United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio. He is the CEO of Hope For Life International, Inc., which formerly published The African American Pulpit. Thomas also serves as a member of the International Board of Societas Homiletica, an international society of teachers of preaching. Prior to full time academic work, Thomas served with distinction as the senior pastor for two remarkable congregations: New Faith Baptist Church of Matteson, Illinois; and Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church of Memphis, Tennessee, for eighteen years and thirteen years, respectively. Thomas’ many publications include The God of the Dangerous Sermon (Fall, 2021), Surviving a Dangerous Sermon, How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon and Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching, released by Abingdon Press respectively, April 2020, February 2018, and November 2016. He also co-edited Preaching With Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons 1750 to the Present with Martha Simmons, published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2010. This critically acclaimed book oers a rare view of the unheralded role of the African American preacher in American history. Thomas is also the author of several other books on subjects from matters of prayer to spiritual maturity.Thomas holds a PhD in Communications (Rhetoric) from the University of Memphis, a Doctor of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary, Doctor of Ministry degrees from Chicago Theological Seminary and United Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, and a Master of Arts in African-Caribbean Studies from Northeastern Illinois University. Thomas and his wife Joyce Scott Thomas have two adult children, Anthony William and Rachel Dickerson (Milton) and one granddaughter, August Elise Dickerson.15< back
16AcknowledgementsWe would like to express our deepest appreciation to the consultation participants for their work in bringing this initiative to life. Their insight, wisdom, courage, and passion for Compelling Preaching has deeply enriched this work. Thank you to Dr. David M. Mellott, President of Christian Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr. Frank A. Thomas, and The Lilly Endowment, Inc. for their ongoing support. This report would not have been possible without the contributions of CTS Ph.D. Program Students Dr. Eugene L. Gibson Jr. and Rev. Jennifer Carner, with Rose Arant, Dr. Courtney Buggs, Dr. Kristin Champa, Rev. Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, Michelle Hummel, Ward Logan, Ed Norman, Dr. Robert Saler, Stephanie Seeger, and Scott Sims from CTS. Brochure Concept, Content, and Design: Frank A. Thomas, Director Compelling Initiative Michelle Hummel, Assistant Director Stephanie Seeger, Content Producer Ed Norman, Creative DirectorLearn more at www.cts.eduPhD Program in African American Preaching & Sacred Rhetoric African American Legacy Preaching Series at CTSDr. Frank A. Thomas on YoutubeMixed Methods Preaching ConferenceChristian Theological Seminary PhD Program in African American Preaching & Sacred Rhetoric