Waxahachie, Texas – January 13, 2017 – As a well-known speaker on the forefront of sermon development techniques, Andy Stanley ’s teachings have become a popular subject of discussion for pastors and church leaders throughout the nation.
With such a significant role in this field of study, Dr. Jeff Magruder recently presented a paper to the Evangelical Homiletic Society comparing and contrasting Dr. Stanley’s approach to other leading scholars.
Magruder, Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) Professor of Bible and Church Ministries, utilizes visual representations to effectively portray the conceptual similarities between Stanley and other well-known teachers of Preaching. The title of the paper says it all: “What Andy Stanley, John Broadus, Fred Craddock and Haddon Robinson Have In Common: A Rhetorical Analysis of Andy Stanley’s Message Map.”
“What I was especially impressed by, was how all of these well-known teachers of preaching, along with Stanley stress the importance of one big idea governing our messages,” Magruder said. “If we learn to do this in our preaching, it makes it easier for the preacher to remember and easier for the audience to understand.”
The process leading up to this opportunity all started a few years ago at an annual meeting of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. Magruder approached Dr. Michael Duduit, the editor of Preaching Magazine and the Dean of Christian Ministries at Anderson University . Magruder was interested in hearing what textbooks Duduit used in teaching his courses. Magruder found that Duduit was using two different textbooks each authored by separate authors, Andy Stanley and Haddon Robinson. Duduit believed that the ideas contained in each of the books were “conceptually identical.” Thus started the curiosity of Magruder which would lead him into delving deeper into this idea and utilizing both books himself in his undergraduate preaching course. After approximately six years of using this approach and studying the similarities between Stanley and Robinson, Magruder decided to put his thoughts on paper.
The proposal for the paper was submitted to the Evangelical Homiletics Society this past spring and was presented during the fall of 2016.
Magruder is currently working on a more condensed version in hopes for the work to be published in Preaching Magazine sometime this year.
“I’m most excited about helping the teaching of preaching and students learn that Stanley’s approach to sermon development, which has proven to be a highly effective way of communicating, is similar to other approaches they are likely already familiar with, and they should consider adding his approach to their sermonic tool belt,” Magruder said.
About SAGU:
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
