Sound Preaching for Today: A Strong Case for Expository Preaching

By Reverend Dr. Lewis E. Floyd Jr

The book was designed to help young ministers and laypersons understand expository preaching and the work of preaching or pastoring in God's church. Using our experiences and personalities in expository methods of preaching can help us to transmit and communicate through the Scriptures the writer's historical context as we are led by the Holy Spirit who applies our personality and experiences as we communicate them to the hearers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886449976

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Chapter 1: Historical Analysis

Chapter 2: Mentored Ministry

Chapter 3: Systematic Theology

Chapter 4: The Problem and Setting

Chapter 5: Exegesis of Key Passages

Chapter 6: A Study of Secular Philosophy

Chapter 7: Two Expository Sermons and One Dramatic Sermon (Acted Out)

Chapter 8: Second Expository Sermon

Chapter 9: Bridging Two Texts

Chapter 10: On Critical Expository Sermons by Teams within Third Baptist Church

Chapter 11: Becoming Transformational

Chapter 12: What Is Expository Preaching

Chapter 13: Other Acceptable Forms of Preaching

Chapter 14: Introducing the Sermon and Developing the Sermon

Epilogue

About the Author

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Sound Preaching for Today

A Strong Case for Expository Preaching

Reverend Dr. Lewis E. Floyd Jr

ISBN 979-8-88644-998-3 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88644-997-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Reverend Dr. Lewis E. Floyd Jr

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Chapter 1

Historical Analysis

Before beginning the analysis of the audience of Third Baptist Church in a pastoral setting, I would like to give the reader a historical background on how a few individuals of African descent longed for a church that represented the African American community.

Most of the African Americans came out of the south seventeen years after the civil war, and they knew of one another when they came to the town of Lawrence. The paper mill and textile industries were booming, located on the banks of the Greater Merrimack River during the late eighteenth and most of the nineteenth centuries.

They came to the area with the hopes of fulfilling their dreams and providing for their families.

The Merrimack River turned out to be a great plus in the early years for traveling and transporting manufactured goods.

Lawrence was what one could call a laboring town of hardworking people.

The church was founded in 1887 and organized in 1904. For several years, people met in various homes and halls. Later, the church purchased a cottage at 15 Margin Street that became a place of worship. At the time of purchase, it was the home of Rev. Walter Green's family. This group continued to worship there for many years.

Later, a few families were burdened about not having a church building; they decided to pray and ask God to bless them with a place where they could worship and a church building to provide other services. A group of men, along with their wives, decided it was time to minister to the needs of people of color in the Greater Lawrence Community. Its membership grew and developed into an institutionalized church, with ministries to help and assist in teaching, community work, and preaching the good news to a small but unique community of color.

There were the traditional barriers that blocked the people who wanted to start their church from lack of money to having little faith. They faced what seemed an uphill battle for many years to come. The first barrier was to secure a proper site for a new church building. Initially, the people found a school building, which was no longer being used, and attempted to purchase it from the City of Lawrence.

There were still many barriers to overcome; there was the fact that the city, at first, did not want to sell the property knowing it would be used for a church. A petition was signed and presented to the city council by the local community and critical people who gave evidence of goodwill and community support toward this small group of church people, who had been holding their services in a renovated house. They were blessed, on February 23, 1946, that plans began to emerge to erect a new edifice known as the Third Baptist Church. And on January 27, 1949, with the help of Rev. Graham Baldwin, the minister of the famous Phillips Academy in Andover, their prayers came true.

On December 18, 1949, the laying of the first cornerstone and the history of the church began.

A group of young men and their wives sought to obtain funds to build a church for worship, and on January 27, 1949, the Lord blessed the people, with the help of three hundred Lawrence youth, who led a campaign to raise funds on behalf of what has become known as the Third Baptist Church.

This original group of gifted people began and created the first cell which would come to be known as the TCB Men's Fellowship. It was through the evangelistic efforts of these people who reached out to the extended community of Lawrence and received from the local community what was needed to plant a church and minister to the community of Lawrence.

We thank Rev. Julius S. Mitchell and the many networks available to the men's fellowship along with Edward B. Choate of Phillips Academy and the Broadway Saving Bank and host of many other organizations. Such groups who partnered with us, the Massachusetts Baptist Convention and the Advisor on New Building of the Northern Baptist Convention, helped a dream come true.

The building project received the blessing and endorsement of the Greater Lawrence Baptist Association, and we can never forget the Merrimack River Baptist Association along with Massachusetts Baptist Convention.

And therefore, on October 15, 1950, one year later, the church and the congregation did dedicate themselves as a new church to worship God, thus fulfilling the birth in the community of Lawrence, the establishment of God's church known as the Third Baptist Church.

According to the church's history and documentation, growth peaks and low attendance were during the early years of growth; it was between 1950 and 1954 that the church had the lowest, about thirty people. However, by 1957, the church had grown to over thirty adults and thirty-three children. I am proud to be a part of this historic church.

We continued to worship at the site built in 1949. This building still stands as a tribute to those who have come before us in worship and praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This building was turned into a century renovated schoolhouse. It has two levels and seats of about two hundred. The choir loft is behind the podium, and the baptistery is behind the choir loft. There are no classrooms. There is a large kitchen and a basement the same size as the sanctuary

There were four small rooms on the main floor: One was for storage (1) (the smallest of the four), another was used by the trustees to count money and store the things they need (2), one was used as the church office (3), and the last was used as the pastor's study (4). The last pastor added the last two rooms.

The church owned two single-family houses in the same location as the church property. The church was composed of eighty-two members: ten children, thirty-five men, and thirty-seven women.

There were about fifteen to twenty people who attend regularly but had not joined yet.

A Snapshot of the Surrounding Community

Today, the current population of Lawrence is approximately composed of 4.9 percent African American, 2.7 percent Asian, 38.6 percent Caucasian, and 69.7 percent Latino.

Lawrence has faith centers that are very diverse today with many denominations and styles of worship. The community has many events and civic organizations that work to sustain the broader community. Within two blocks in both east and south, there is a housing development whose resident populations are composed of 98 percent Latinos. The housing development in the east has a census of 102 units. The development to the south houses at least twice as many people.

Most of the city businesses are located within the town limits and have access to I-495 and I-93 corridors, which offer more resources and services, restaurants, and retail sales. There are many recreational facilities exclusive and communal for people to use and enjoy.

Lawrence has a high crime rate including auto theft and drug problems as most urban areas have. Another resulting problem in this community is other people from the outside who have come into this community and taken part in the unfortunate problems that already exist.

However, Lawrence is a growing city, despite its problems and amenities and proximity to the interstate and other cities. The cost of living is rising and has become extremely high for low-income people to live comfortably. The average household income is twenty-seven thousand dollars for 70 percent of the population.

Lawrence presents a unique challenge and opportunity in sharing the Gospel message because of its changing appearance from the dominant Caucasian culture to its growing dominant culture of color. Within the next ten to fifteen years, there will be a multicultural community of people of color versus the usual racially integrated White/Black/Latino scenario.

As more Caucasians move to the surrounding communities of Lawrence, we will see an increase in other groups of people of color moving into the community. One cannot help but take notice of the lack of building enforcement on properties and how this pushes people of affluence out of the community, seeking other alternatives in other communities.

In a study done several years ago, churches found that many of those heads of household were younger people who lack training and, in some cases, were single parents. Could this be an indication that extensive training is needed to bring the younger generation into the important technological society that calls for highly educated persons?

It appears, from the church's interaction with the community, that activities like the GED programs are needed along with continuing education and community events, which seek to provide the information and tools that will raise the funds for the programs needed to make the younger generation successful.

Within the same radius of the Third Baptist Church, there are about ten places of worship.

Now we have a brief historical background, let us now begin with the internal analysis of ministry at the Third Baptist Church located at 22 Warren Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Analysis of the Ministerial Audience

The congregation is made up of second-, third-, and fourth-generation family members of the founders of the Third Baptist Church.

As a family church, they are close-knit and intermingled through marriage. Everyone is related to everyone else through marriage.

At that time, and as a result, they became a family church that tends to run smoothly as long as they remained close together and were not forced to make too many changes.

At first, they were not open to too much change because, as a family church, they were satisfied with what they already had until one family was in charge of the finances and the upkeep of the church, another family member was in charge of the worship service, and everyone else just attended service.

So the latter had opinions and ideas about how things should go but did not have a voice. So they said nothing.

It has been fascinating trying to change this culture mindset and behavior. The question for me was, Does this make them wrong or unspiritual? No, it just makes them difficult to work with on specific issues.

However, I have learned that there is a balancing act that we are to manage if I am to continue pastoring this church and be productive in ministry.

When it comes to how one deals with a family church, how one operates its daily business, and what its worship and understanding of the Bible are, I have learned not to get too discouraged with them or speak negatively, for in doing so, one may offend a family member unaware.

Looking at how they have treated my family, it has been as if we were part of the church family and were treated with the same love that they give to one another. What is surprising, more than anything else, is the love they have shown over the past twenty years.

One of the difficulties I have encountered was the level of education in both church and community. Most of the community, including the church, settled in Lawrence to work in the paper mill or textile industry. The paper and textile industries are nonexistent today. Most of the people who worked in this once-booming town of success never went further than high school. They were expected to work in one of the two industries until retirement. So most have done just that.

Why is this important to the ministerial setting? Well, it is necessary because it influences their thought process and how they understand what they read as a growing cultural shift from what they have experienced in the past.

The church I serve has had only three pastors since 1949, one of them for forty years, another for five years, and me for twenty years. During the first forty years, I was told there was only one teaching ministry—Sunday school—no Bible study, no workshops. The pastor came on Sunday and preached. Other members of the congregation conducted Sunday school. That was it. And occasionally, this pastor would attend meetings in the community. Things changed when the second pastor took the helm.

He taught Bible study and held workshops, but that soon stopped when he decided to go forth and plant a church. Then we came on the scene with an intensive Bible study and workshops to promote spiritual growth: Called and Accountable, The Purpose Driven Life, Leadership Training, and many other workshops designed to help educate the body of Christ.

While teaching Bible study and doing workshops, we