For the past two weeks, many of my evenings have been spent watching the various speeches and presentations offered at the Republican and Democratic national conventions. As someone who appreciates a well-crafted public address, I realize that most books I have read and most seminary classes I have taken on preaching and oration fall short of the exceptional displays of rhetoric presented at these two political gatherings. Last week as I sat in my living room watching speaker after speaker ascend the podium and address the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, I almost felt as if I were watching a cinematic reel of some of the nation’s top preachers.
Alex Gallimore
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As these champions of the pulpit inspired their congregations, the camera scanned the audience to reveal its response. With hands raised in solidarity, participants shouted catchy anthems, some even with tears in their eyes. I felt like I was watching an old-fashioned tent revival. Seriously, at any moment, I just knew an organist would begin the haunting melody to Just As I Am and thousands would descend to the altar. It was church, these were the preachers and I wasn’t the only one who had made this connection.
Following Bill Clinton’s speech on Wednesday evening, my good friend and Religious Herald blogger Matt Johnson said this: “Preachers take note: Bill Clinton just gave a master class in public rhetoric. Humorous, folksy, impassioned, specific, intelligent, rehearsed, off the cuff, filled with facts, figures and funny stories. Just an absolute clinic on how to speak.”
Those in Charlotte had been brought together in fellowship for the renewal of their identity and to leverage their collective energy to carry out their mission in the months ahead. The pulpit was center stage and the source of their excitement.
When the convention ended, I began thinking of some of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gatherings I have attended in recent years. There are few things I look forward to each year with as much anticipation as I do the general assemblies of the CBF and the CBF of North Carolina. These are great events which provide moderate Baptists with opportunities for networking and partnerships in hopes of accomplishing the same ends I saw at the DNC — renewed identity and collective energy to carry out our missional ministries in a world which desperately needs them. Yet as I continued reflecting on these recent gatherings, I noticed that lately we seem to have missed a key ingredient — preaching.
This past June in Fort Worth, we heard a passionate closing address to the CBF from retiring executive coordinator Daniel Vestal during our Friday evening worship service. Other than Vestal’s uplifting sermon on Friday, however, our gathering was void of any other real preaching. Sure, we had very inspiring presentations on missions the evening before, but, sadly, few attend these events. Tampa in 2011 was similar and while Charlotte in 2010 did bring us sermons from Bill Leonard and Lauren Winner, these did not feel like the “main events” of the assembly.
I think it’s past time for revival for those of us seeking to practice our moderate Baptist identity in CBF life. I think it’s time for more preaching. When I think of some of the prominent pulpits and preachers that make up our movement, I yearn for a gathering which communicates CBF identity and mission by showcasing the sermons of those who are in the trenches truly cultivating it. From the leaders of our urban flagships to rural ministers in the Appalachian Mountains, what could breathe new life into our movement more than a series of consecutive sermons rousing us to be the incarnational presence of Christ through our churches and ministries in the 21st century? We need an assembly which continually reminds us of who we are as Cooperative Fellowship Baptists and motivates us to act on those convictions. Good preaching does this!
Last month I was honored and humbled to join 24 other young ministers at an orientation for the inaugural class of CBF Fellows. Throughout the week I heard countless stories of inspired and intentional ministry being carried out by some of our movement’s brightest and most courageous emerging ministers. The rest of the CBF needs to hear these stories! We need to give these ministers a platform to testify!
So let’s unite the young and the old, the experienced and the beginners, the urban and the rural, and be renewed through the spoken word. Let’s create an environment at our gatherings which celebrates preaching in a variety of forms. It is my prayer that this might challenge and energize us to live out our missional identity in solidarity while being reminded that we’re all in this together! Let’s preach and bear witness! Who knows, I might even walk the aisle and surrender to world missions.
Alex Gallimore (alexcgallimore@gmail.com) is pastor of Hester Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C.