Sermon Evaluation Two

Dr. James Merritt, President
Southern Baptist Convention

In the Chapel at GGBTS
At 10:00 AM on March 20, 2002

for

P1411: Introduction to Preaching
Dave Page
Spring 2002

by

Chris A. Foreman, Box 780
March 31, 2002

Message synopsis:
The chapel service was one hour long with the first ten minutes given to music and then a few announcements. President Crews introduced Dr. Merritt who began to speak at 10:14. He first spoke of his initial encounter with San Francisco when he visited our fair city in June. He had booked a hotel room only to find that it was Gay Pride Week. He then introduced his text: I Corinthians 2:1 "And I, Brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." He then told a personal story of a conversation between his son, Joshua, and him. Next he gave a preview, saying we must move from preaching on the inside to preaching on the outside. He mentioned that "Great preaching covers a multitude of sins" and said that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is the most important ingredient in preaching. He then gave us the title of his sermon "Portrait of a powerful preacher", basing it on Paul in I Corinthians 2:1-8.

Dr. Merritt made three application points. The first was that we must dedicate our preaching to the Son of God. We will never debate a sinner into the Kingdom of God. We must preach like Jesus did on the sermon on the mount - so easy that children can understand. Second, we must demonstrate preaching with power. He talked about I Thessalonians 1:5. We need power to preach. He said that the most amazing thing about the Bible is how it has withstood bad preaching. Third, he said we should practice direct preaching to the saints of God, citing 2 Corinthians 2:5. We must believe in the infallible scripture. As he walks up to preach in the pulpit he whispers to himself "I believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit". He ended with a prayer at 10:54.

Maybe, I am too judgmental, but Dr. Merritt seemed uncomfortable in this setting. His San Francisco humor made me feel like his coming to the Bay area was a chore for him. He also seemed a bit antagonistic toward seminaries. He said several times, "Now don't get me wrong a seminary education is great, but ….." He said this often enough that I felt he denigrated the usefulness of a seminary education. But this is just my opinion.


1. Content

a. Is the introduction clear and moving?
When he mentioned that he was trying to book a hotel in June, I could anticipate where his initial humor was going. Maybe, I've lived near San Francisco too long, but being caught up in Gay Pride events doesn't amuse me as much it used to. This humor would probably have been more appreciated in Georgia.

b. Is the message clear?
I think so. He was preaching to would-be preachers about the art of preaching. He based his text on I Corinthians 2. I thought it a bid odd that he didn't give the title of his sermon until 10 minutes into the preaching.

c. Is the material well organized?
Yes. It appears that he worked from notes. I observed some rustling of paper. [He covered all the points discussed in our class. It was almost like he was sitting in on our class.]

d. Does the message flow easily?
I think that he moved from introduction to body and to conclusion quite well. His title in the middle of the sermon was a bit surprising.

e. Is the message true to the text?
Yes. His main point seemed to be that we must not rely on school-learned preaching skills, but on the Holy Spirit.

f. Does the message have good supporting material?
He didn't seem to have a lot of outside supporting material. He did bring in maybe twenty other scripture references.

g. Are the illustrations helpful and contemporary?
His only illustration was of his young son and how his son would remind him to get his sermon completed. Getting the sermon done was the most important thing.

h. Is there good application given?
He used a classic three-fold application: (1) Focus preaching on Jesus, (2) preach with power, and (3) preach to the saints of God

i. Is the conclusion clear and moving?
It was OK, but it was fast. Maybe he detected he was running short of time.


2. Delivery

a. Does the speaker show a desire to communicate?
Yes, his words were precise. He spoke very fast and used a lot of "one-liners". President Crews laughed the loudest.

b. Does the speaker seem to believe what he is preaching?
Most certainly. Preaching in the Holy Spirit is definitely something that this man believes in.

c. Does the body language support the message with enthusiasm, energy, and gestures?
Dr. Merritt overflowed with body language. He would stand a while at the podium, then he would pace back and forth across the stage. It seemed that he returned to the podium to glance at his notes, then return to pace the stage. Lots of energy.

d. Did the message convey conviction and sincerity?
Yes it did. He was sincere in his views. His desire was to pass on wisdom from one preacher to an audience of would-be preachers. As I mentioned earlier, he did seem somewhat uncomfortable being in he Bay Area and in a seminary.

e. Was the audience responsive?
Yes. Many people went up to speak with afterwards. I'm not sure if this was because of his sermon or because of his position as President of the SBC.

f. Did the message include elements of the professor's ideas?
Yes, I did pick out a clear introduction, a preview, a sermon title, and a clear conclusion. He specifically mentioned the sermon text. He did seem awfully "Southern" in speech and mannerism, but after all this denomination is called "Southern Baptist" and Dr. Merritt, as its president, is the archetypical Southern Baptist. I think that we here in California are a bit outside the mainstream of the SBC, so perhaps as southern Southern Baptist appears a bit unusual to my ears and eyes.