Old School Postmodern?
In looking over my list of preachers I posted on Monday, I realized how "old school" they were. Not so much in their style as in their generation. Several of them, being story tellers certainly were in the vanguard of the "narrative" style of preaching. Craddock, who made the term "inductive preaching" his term, could certainly be seen in the postmodern style. But these are my generations preachers. These are the ones who opened my eyes. Who is doing that today and what does their preaching sound like?

From glancing at some of the comments on Adrian Warnock's posts that started this, I have a feeling that even in the broader persepective, most of the "name" preachers are still "old school." Is that something that comes with experience (age)? Is that something that is harder for younger preachers to stand out in doing because they haven't found their own style or voice yet?

As I said in the post on Monday, it was in 1981 that I found my voice after sitting listening to Fred Craddock for a whole week. I was 32 at the time. My best preaching was still a few years in the future as I worked with the voice/style, dug deeper into my own faith and spent time listening more fully to God more often. The preacher who starts out as a "great" preacher at age 25 is unusual.

It is important that we find our own voice in whatever it is we do. Each of us is unique. Each of us has the calling to take the style and life and experiences we have been given and utilize them to the glory of God. In this age of transition, when worship styles and therefore "preaching" styles will be changing, it is not surprising that the names we come up with for preachers are still the old school.

What I am not asking overtly, yet, is how will preaching itself be different in coming years? If we move to a more mystery/mystical style of worship, for example, preaching will not seek to explain it all. If we move to a house church style, preaching becomes a community act. In some ways it would be interesting to see what would happen to the church if in 50 years we couldn't name our favorite preachers, but rather our favorite spiritual leaders or prayer leaders.

Christian Carnival LXXX
Daddypundit is hosting and has posted this week's Christian Carnival. Finally remembered to get a post in for this one.