Anderson University’s College of Christian Studies is preparing to launch the John A. Broadus Lectures on Preaching as an annual event for students and church leaders, honoring one of the nation’s pioneering teachers of preaching.
Haddon Robinson, professor of preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, will be the inaugural lecturer. The first Broadus Lectures series will take place Jan. 24-25 and will be open to the public.
Broadus was one of the four founding faculty members in 1859 of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, S.C., which moved to Louisville, Ky., in 1877. He served as professor of preaching and later president of the seminary. His classic book, “On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons,” was written while teaching in Greenville and was the nation’s preeminent text on the subject for the next century.
“Broadus was the father of modern expository preaching, and today’s great evangelical preachers are his legacy,” said Michael Duduit, dean of AU’s College of Christian Studies. “We are blessed to be able to reclaim this important part of South Carolina’s Christian heritage through recognizing the Broadus name in connection with this significant new annual lectureship.”
Robinson, who will be the inaugural lecturer, is well-known through his own textbook, “Biblical Preaching,” which is the dominant preaching text used in evangelical college sand seminaries today. Former president of Denver Seminary and professor of preaching at Dallas Theological Seminary, Robinson joined Gordon-Conwell in 1991 and served for a year as interim president. In 2010, Preaching magazine named him one of the 25 most influential preachers of the past 25 years.
Attendance at the lectures will be free and open to the public. Lectures will be held Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Robinson will preach for campus worship on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 10 a.m., then bring the concluding lecture at 2 p.m.
For more information, call 864-328-1809 or e-mail ministry@andersonuniversity.edu. – AU