Preparation

After a too long absence from writing here, I return to the keyboard afresh. I am in Minneapolis writing this after having attended the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Homiletics Meeting. This gathering of professors of preaching from around the world (I know of at least 7 different countries represented) is a time of both scholarly pursuit and networking. During the Meeting, professors and Ph.D. students present scholarly papers that are open to any Academy members to read, critique, and question. Next year, I will be presenting a paper (hopefully) dealing with some of the issues that I will be dealing with in my Doctoral Dissertation. It will be a chance for well qualified and published scholars to ask questions of and critique my thinking. I will be required to give a defense of my positions and arguments. Sounds both challenging and exciting to me!
This year, I spent time making connections and networking with members of the Academy. This is crucial since, after all, these will be the men and women who will be on or chair search committees looking for professors of Homiletics for their various seminaries and graduate schools. Knowing them gives me a foot in the door when submitting my resume. Some of these men and women are the leaders, movers, and shakers in the world of preaching. I spent time with Richard Lischer from Duke Divinity School, maybe the leading homiletical theologian in America; O.C. Edwards, retired from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, who has written the definitive History of Preaching for this generation; Eugene Lowry, now retired from St. Paul School of Theology in Missouri, and the leading voice in the area of Narrative Preaching. To one seeking a career in Homiletics, this is like a baseball player meeting Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays. Maybe more importantly (and amazingly) they now know who I am. Let me explain.
I don't know that I am now or will be in the future a scholar of the rank of these gentlemen I have listed. I think I am smart and continue to have a thirst and capacity to learn. However, I do have confidence in my performative abilities. After all, that's what I have been doing now for more than 30 years. This year at the Academy, the Performative Studies Group (one of many small scholarly groups that meet to hear papers dealing with the area of Performance Theory as it relates to preaching) received permission to take an hour at the Academy meeting to share some of their performative arts. One of the members, Todd Farley, is both a professor of communication at Calvin College and a professional Mime (he studied with the great Marcel Marceau). He performed a magnificent Mime piece about the meaning of God's call. Another professor of preaching, Dr. Jana Childers, did an oral interpretation of Daniel 5. Dr. Charles Bartow, professor of homiletics at Princeton Seminary, shared a series of poems he had written (even if you don't like poetry that much, his performance of them is riveting). My mentor, Dr. Clay Schmit from Fuller, performed several musical pieces - he is an excellent baritone. And there, on the same stage, was this unknown Ph.D. student sharing a "midrash" (a story based on a text of scripture). It was only 6 minutes long (about the prophet Elijah and his home town of Tishbe) but it was a hit. Over the next several hours members of the Academy sought me out to ask me about what I had done and how to teach others to do the same. One professor wants me to put some of these stories on DVD and send it to her to use in class as a teaching tool. Others bought my book. One who sought me out was Dr. Eugene Lowry. Not only was he complimentary of my performance, but he offered to help me in my dissertation. We will be communicating over the next couple of months and I may get the chance to study with him for my Dissertation (that would be a huge "coup" and make my Dissertation far more important and respected.
All in all, for someone attempting to make a place for himself in a crowded and competitive field, it was quite a week. Maybe God really does have something for me to do in this pursuit of Homiletics. I don't think I'll set the world on fire or win a Pulitzer Prize, but I might help a few young preachers catch fire and change their world. That would be enough of a prize for me. Thank, God, for an opportunity and a vision. They feel pretty good on the inside.