Thursday
Oct132005
A good description of class with Haddon
Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 11:40AM From Preaching Today:
Twenty students and two professors stared at the handwriting on the wall. One by one, students in a seminary preaching class were to project on overheads their first attempts at a sermon outline from an assigned passage. I waited apprehensively for my turn. My friend, Rod, was up first. Rod looked at his transparency and read aloud his main points for a potential sermon on 1 Samuel 17, the David-Goliath story: I. Goliath Challenges God's People.
II. Saul Cowers with God's People.
III. David Conquers for God's People.
After a pause, Haddon Robinson, the lead professor, growled: "That sounds like it came out of a book called Simple Sermons for Sunday Evening." The class erupted with laughter. Nervous laughter. Sympathetic laughter. "Nobody talks like this anymore, except in the pulpit," he continued. Duane Litfin, guest professor, chimed in: "What Haddon is saying is that he's afraid you might go out and actually preach that sermon!" More laughter.
Yep, that's pretty much what a class with Haddon is like. My favorite line from Haddon last year came after a student complained most people in his church completely missed the point of one of his sermons. "They can't all be stupid," Haddon said. Love that guy.
Reader Comments (3)
Well, what kind of format does this haddon guy suggest for a sermon message?
The rest of the article reflects a bit of his approach. Haddon would encourage a preacher to discover the purpose of a passage (its big idea) and to communicate that truth and its relevance to today instead of just a history lesson.
Hi Darryl, I thought I would just come over and give a shout out to you. BTW, I took Haddon while I was student at Gordon-Conwell.