Time magazine recently named T.D. Jakes as “America’s Best Preacher.” On the cover, over a picture of Jakes, the magazine asked “Is this man the next Billy Graham?”
As part of its “America’s Best” series, the magazine wondered which preacher is at the top of the game right now. They called Jakes a virtuoso: “Jakes’s eccentric pauses, coy glances at his audience, and the occasional odd, Holy-Spirit-inspired stutter that sounds like a skipping CD might normally mystify the nonanointed,” Time religion writer David Van Biema says. “And yet somehow, they do not. Like Brando’s mumbling or Michael Jordan’s outstretched tongue, they are pendants to an overwhelming gift.”
Time cited as one of the factors in their selection of Jakes “the extravagant celebratory bounty of black Pentecostal preaching.”
“When it comes to rhetoric, says former Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson, “the best Anglo preachers on their best days don’t preach as well as a good black preacher on his worst day.”
If rhetoric is the test, then Jakes ranks. But what about exegesis and application? What other factors should we consider in determining “best” and “effective”?
We need your help. The winter issue of Leadership focuses on preaching: what makes preaching effective, and who are the best examples? Would you take a few minutes to help us out?
Who is today’s best preacher? Is it T.D. Jakes? Is it Billy Graham? Or is it one of the preachers on the famous Princeton list from 1996? or maybe one of the radio preachers? Or is it someone much of the world has not yet heard of?
We want to know who the pastors and church leaders say is the best preacher. Please send us an e-mail with your nomination. Tell us who you think ranks as the top preacher in the world today. Also give us the reasons for your choice, the criteria on which you judge the effectiveness of a preacher. The results of our polling will appear in the next issue, and we’ll publish as many of your comments as we can.
Contact Us. Please give us your name, church, and city and state.
Thanks for your time. And thanks for adding to the meaningful exploration of preaching in our times.
Eric Reed is managing editor of Leadership.
To reply to the editors of this newsletter, contact us.
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