Jerry Falwell’s preaching falls under the persuasive model of preaching. Although he shows God’s credibility to the audience by referring to God’s works in the biblical text, the dominant method of preaching he uses is persuasion. Falwell’s persuasive preaching shows when he starts his ministerial works after conversion. He established a local church in his hometown and knocked on over a hundred doors to persuade people to join the church and convert to Christianity. When the church grows, he starts telecasting sermons so that the gospel can reach more people who are reluctant to go to church.
His preaching involves the application of the biblical text to a Christian’s contemporary life and experiences. In the excerpt, the author states that Falwell’s sermons were practical, where he reads a specific biblical text and starts explaining it regarding current events and their meaning to the Christian life. Falwell effectively achieves persuasive preaching by reading bible texts and defining them according to his intended message to the community. In Falwell’s world, the Christian race is getting more people into Christianity rather than living by faith and following the scriptures individually.
Additionally, Falwell is good at applying biblical texts to appeal to the audience’s conscience. He insists on changing attitudes, lifestyles, and behavior, which hinder the one form of obtaining spirituality that persuades the congregation to check their lives and remove the obstacles. Today, People have burdens that weigh them down, disregarding God as the provider of all solutions. Falwell’s persuasive preaching can effectively direct contemporary Christians’ way of life as he insists on shedding the weight that hinders spiritual nourishment (MacDill, 2017). Finally, the preacher’s sermon preparation is simply memorizing the scriptures and relating them to the intended message. Writing down notes and preparing sheets for systematic guidance is unnecessary for a persuasive preacher because everything comes from his memory.
Bibliography
MacDill, Wayne. “Preparing Bible Messages – Wayne McDill.”Preparing Bible Messages. 2017.