Final Arrangements for Rev. Horace Sheppard, Sr.

Sister Peggy Ann Sheppard, Sheppard family, and the West Oak Lane Church of God wishes to announce the passing and Home Going of Rev. Dr. Horace Wesley Sheppard, Sr. on Friday evening, February 22, 2008.

Service Schedule:
Public Viewing, Friday, February 29, 2008 from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
At
The West Oak Lane Church of God
7401 Limekiln Pike
Philadelphia, PA 19138

Home Going Church Family Service,
Friday, February 29, 2008
For
The West Oak Lane Church of God Family
Will begin at 7:00 p.m.


Final Service, Saturday, March 1, 2008
Will begin at 9:00 a.m.
At
New Covenant Church of Philadelphia
7500 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Dr. Milton and Hyacinth Grannum, Senior Pastors

The Death of Rev. Horace W. Sheppard, Sr.

The man who led me to Christ died today. Rev. Horace Sheppard, Sr. was an incredible preacher and evangelist who will spend quite some time in eternity meeting all the souls he helped into the Kingdom. He was funny, dynamic, insightful, powerful, and loving. He introduced me as one of his sons. It was an introduction I was quite proud of and thoroughly enjoyed.

When I wrote my book I penned part of the dedication to him. I quoted there an old gospel song he used to sing. A few years ago at Anderson Camp Meeting they gave Bro. Sheppard an award as one of the Treasures of the Church. As part of that presentation, some of his friends were on stage to sing this great old song. It had become his signature piece. Shep, too infirmed to go to the piano to play it and too weak to sing it, the group was there to honor him by doing what he couldn't do. Suddenly, the life came back into those eyes of his and he stepped forward toward the mic. Sure enough, when the chorus was over (all that the group was going to sing) Shep belted out in perfect voice the words to the first verse. The choir joined in on the chorus. Shep sang a second and a third. Weakened by strokes and Parkinson's it didn't seem possible that he could manage to do what he did. But the gospel always shined bright in Horace. And the gospel brings life, even to infirmed bodies ravaged by time. It was a magical moment.

I'm sure the funeral service will be packed. I wish I was close enough to attend. It is the least I could do for my friend, my father in the Lord, my brother, my friend. Hanging on the wall of the apartment Joanie and I live in is my Ordination Certificate. Shep was on the Committee. After I was ordained, I took the certificate to him and asked him to sign it. He did. Tonight, I am particularly glad he did. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

How Much Do You Say

One of the issues we try and help students with in preaching classes is how much do you say. That's not only a statement about how short or long to preach, but it also has to do with content. The quality or depth of a sermon is often related to how much you are able to say about your subject. In that sense, you should never preach everything you know about a text. If you are preaching everything you know, then you haven't studied enough or you haven't gone deep enough in your study.

Preaching is as much about depth as it is about anything. If preachers only tell their congregations what the congregants can find out on their own, they haven't done the job of preaching very well. Preaching is about telling others what you come to know because you have been trained to find out how to learn more about the text than someone in the pew can find out without that training. Preaching is about the privilege of spending time going deep into the Word. The deeper one goes, the more there is to say.

The real problem a preacher of depth has is trying to figure out just what to say. Knowing that learning as much as one does when the preacher goes deep there is too much to tell. However, because you know so much, it means that you get to pick out the real jewels and preach about those things. Therefore, what gives power to your preaching is what you know about the text and don't say rather than telling everything you know about a text.

Does anybody else find it ironic that the best preachers discipline themselves to tell only the best they have and not everything they know? The next time your preacher goes on and on and says nothing, it's because he/she is simply telling you everything they know about the text. And you have the right to ask the Holy Spirit to give your preacher more - more discipline in study, more knowlege of the scriptures, more time to prepare, and more dedication to the Lord. Amen.

Updates

Someone has prodded me to post again. Sorry for the long delay inbetween posts. It has been a very hectic time. I am carrying a heavy school load - my doctoral seminar (8 hours), a Masters level class to complete my language requirements (4 hours), TA for a Homiletics class of 49 students (4 hours), I am teaching a Preaching Practicum (2 hours), I just finished a 30+ page research paper for my Fall Quarter Seminar, I am beginning to meet with professors to talk about my Comprehensive Exam questions for next quarter, I am in the process of preparing lectures for the Summer Quarter when I will be co-teaching the main Homiletics course with the new Communications professor here at Fuller, I continue to be the Interim Pastor for Church of the Foothills and will continue to do that for the next couple of years, and I am attempting to remain in relationship to my wife and kids. Pretty busy. Not much time to sin. (LOL)

I will say that the challenge of this quarter has been to try and integrate all that I am learning on the Ph.D level with what is being taught by the professor on the Masters level. The course in Ethnicities and Churches, which is helping to fulfill my Statistics requirement without having to take Statistics (thank God) is a helpful but difficult integrative class. The issues of power and ethnicity are hard to read and integrate into my own cultural and ethnic models. I think it will be a class that will continue to impact me and may end up being something that I teach in the future (or team teach with someone of color).

Joanie continues to do an amazing job juggling all her tasks. She just spent a day at Fuller at a conference for Ministers of Music. She had a great time. She is doing a great job at Foothills as the Minister of Music. I remain amazed at her hour commute across LA and how she handles it and her job teaching Music at Crossroads Academy. The Boys are all doing great. Jonathan is into his studies at Seminary; Joel is working hard at an exhausting job and being an attentive and loving father and husband; I am looking forward to being with Doug and Susan this summer when I will be their Camp Meeting Evangelist for the NE Ohio Camp Meeting.

OK, that's enough for now. I will try and do better. Actually, I will just try and keep my head above water. God Bless.