Ministers Invited To “Preaching
For Results” on March 2, 2006
“Come with open minds and prayerful hearts,
and we will learn and laugh and be inspired to practice the high
art of preaching with renewed faith, intelligence, and gusto,”
says Reinhardt seminar leader Dr. Robert M. Franklin Jr. He
will be the featured speaker at “Preaching for Results,” a
continuing education program sponsored by the Reinhardt College
Ministerial Association, on March 2, 2006, from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Ministers of all denominations are invited to the program
at the Falany Performing Arts Center on the campus of Reinhardt
College in Waleska, Ga. The $35 registration fee includes a
boxed lunch.
Today's Culture Has Complicated the Ancient Art
of Preaching
In addition to addressing how today’s
culture has complicated the ancient art of preaching, Franklin
will share ideas on how ministers can best respond, how they can
help people “see the gospel in Technicolor.”
“In earlier times, people knew how to sit
and listen,” he said. “My parents grew up listening to the
radio. Most of our parents listened and exercised the power of
imagination. Today, modern technology has shortened our
attention spans and suppressed our imaginations with eye-bulging
special effects. In response, we don’t have to become
entertainers, but we do need to be more engaging.”
Sought-after preacher, speaker and lecturer
As one of the most poignant voices in
theological education, Franklin is the presidential
distinguished professor of social ethics at the Candler School
of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.,. He has taught at
his alma maters, the University of Chicago and Harvard divinity
schools. As director of Black church studies at
Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and at the Candler School of
Theology, he became nationally known. A former president of the
Interdenominational Theological Center and a former program
director with the Ford Foundation, he is the current president
of the Regional Council of Churches and has provided leadership
for Atlanta’s ecumenical response to Katrina evacuees. He has
also advised the White House on religious, racial, public health
and community development issues and has given guest commentary
on religion for CNN and NPR. His third book is due out this
year.
Franklin expects to use references from
Martin Luther King, Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, and the great
Scottish preacher James Stewart. Participants “may even hear
about a few non-preaching examples of great storytellers like
Garrison Keillor and Maya Angelou,” he said.
Franklin has had a longstanding interest in
the art of preaching, he said. “I had the benefit of studying
with Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, one of the great preachers of the
modern era, “ he said. “At Candler, I have been blessed to be
surrounded by the nation’s most impressive collection of
preaching experts. I have learned a great deal from colleagues
Fred Craddock, Tom Long, Teresa Fry Brown, Ted Hackett, Gail
O’Day and others. I like to combine the art of preaching with
the content of a socially prophetic gospel.”
His ultimate model is Jesus of Nazareth.
“Jesus was a master story teller,” he said. “He knew how to
reach into people’s lives with the power of a good tale. In the
Bible, you can almost see his audiences lean forward as he wove
the intricate details of the parables. Then, in the midst of a
great story, he introduced them to a new moral outlook, a new
way of ordering their lives. That is why preaching and ethics
must always be tag-team partners.”
Helping churches learn from one another
He is also interested in helping churches
learn from each other’s similarities and differences. “Every
culture has its own unique way of bearing witness to the truth.
African Americans have seen and experienced the Christian story
in some distinctive ways. Our ways of expressing what we have
seen, known, and believed is somewhat different. But, the vast
terrain of the human spirit is common ground, indeed, universal
ground. We all know something about hardship and suffering. We
all know something about sacrifice and working together to
achieve great things. So, our preaching can never be altogether
different, for we have been embraced and loved and accepted by a
single Lord. My faith and hope is that black preaching can
enrich other preaching traditions, and it can also learn from
the preaching traditions of our neighbors and fellow believers.
We have gifts to offer to each other, and God is waiting for us
to get on with it.”
For more information about the seminar,
please call 770-720-5790 or see “Preaching
for Results.” Advanced registration is encouraged.
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