My New Ebook

Today I am "self-publishing my new ebook, Salt for Sermons. Check it out at the page link above.

Homiletics professor and preacher Fred Craddock dies

One of the outstanding homiletics professors and preachers of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, Fred Craddock, has recently died at 86 years of age. 

   He was a creative teacher and preacher, who emphasized what became known as “inductive preaching.” This form of preaching involved the listeners to make their own conclusions concerning the ending of the sermon, which Craddock often left open-ended. Craddock was a master at story-telling—I highly recommend his book of anecdotes called Craddock Stories. Since he often told stories and parables, he was also regarded as an inspirational model of "narrative preaching." 

   I never had the privilege of meeting him in person or studying under him. However, I have viewed a couple of videos of him available online—you can Google his name to find them. What I like about him is his folksy, down-to-earth style, and his southern U.S. drawl. He truly was a servant of God who blessed and inspired many a preacher and parishioner. LORD rest eternal grant your servant Fred Craddock. 

   Perhaps the following video will inspire you in your preaching (if you’re a preacher), as well as encourage you in your faith journey. 

The joy of music

Last night we attended fundraising event at Augustana Campus, the University of Alberta, and

Ava Numminen

the keynote speaker, a music professor, referred to a study done on adult non-singers by Ava Numminen and her colleagues at the University of Helsinki.

   Among other things, here are a few things Numminen and her colleagues learned from their research of theology students.

   Non-singers are not necessarily born non-singers, they stopped singing because of some kind of negative experience in their past, often in their childhood.

   The negative experiences had emotional and belief system consequences for these non-singers.

   The research leans toward debunking the stereotypical premise that one can either sing or one cannot sing—implicit is the premise that most people can sing.

   The research successfully demonstrated that non-singers, given an encouraging environment, and music teachers who inspired them could sing, and even improve their singing.

   Once the non-singers discovered that they could sing, they were willing to sing more, as well as sing in public—e.g. in choirs, and soloists, and liturgical church music.

   The act of singing helps singers to discover the joy of music.

   I find it a sad cultural trend in our society that fewer people sing as often as previous generations did. Other research has discovered that music enhances our health physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

   Read the article by Ava Numminen and her colleagues here. 

[Image from: http://www.terapiahuonemielentila.fi/ava.php ]