Mike Wittmer

schmalliteration

Is this ironic? The Grand Rapids Press on Saturday wrote this about Rob Bell’s homiletics conference: “Absent from the agenda at an upcoming seminar on sermons: How to alliterate three preaching points by starting them all with the same letter [isn’t the last part of this sentence redundant?]. After all, turning gospel teaching into rational proofs of Christian faith is how many church pastors lost the art of preaching, said the Rev. Rob Bell.”

The name of the conference is “Poets, Prophets, and Preachers.”

Alliteration is dead. Long live alliteration!

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6 responses to “schmalliteration”

  1. Jonathan Shelley

    When I saw this article on Saturday my first thought was whether I could get advanced standing credit for Homiletics if I attended. This sounds so much more interesting than the tired old expository preaching style that Denyes teaches.

  2. Tertullian2009

    Do you think this seminar will include a section on being sensitive to the Spirit’s leading when preparing a sermon? Or maybe a discussion on discerning whether one even has the spiritual gifts of exhortation and teaching necessary to effectively handle the Word of God?

  3. Bill N.

    Another example of picking on a questionable secondary issue and treating it as though it was the major or the whole of what the practice really is…. When I see that being done, in my mind it brings up the question as to what the real agenda is behind such a gathering espically at $250 a whack… Pardon me if I am more then a little skeptical and cynical….

  4. mikewittmer

    Jonathan: those who don’t know you don’t know that you’re being sarcastic, so I’ll say it now in case Don reads your comment.

    Tertullian: Peter Rollins is one of the three main speakers, so I would be surprised if rightly handling the Word of God would even come up, at least in his presentations.

    Bill: you forget that it’s buy one get one free. For an Amway man, you sure are cynical! By the way, I loved the fireworks on Friday night in Ada. Amway put on a really good show. Made me think that maybe declaring our independence was not such a bad thing, Romans 13 notwithstanding.

  5. Jonathan Shelley

    Thanks for looking out for me, Mike.

  6. Jack H

    If I could afford the $250 for the seminar I might be able to splurge and subscribe again to the Grand Rapids tabloid. It is nice to know that someone still reads it. As a recovering politician, avoiding the Press is part of my recovery process not to mention a financial necessity during this time of economic readjustment. How’s that hope and change workin fer ya?

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