Passion in the Pulpit: How to Exegete the Emotion of Scripture

About the AuthorDR. JERRY VINES (B.A., Mercer University; Th.D., Luther Rice Seminary) retired as pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida in 2006, where he served for 40 years. He served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jerry is author of a number of books including Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons, and A Practical Guide to Sermon Preparation. He and his wife, Janet, have four adult children and five grandchildren.DR. ADAM DOOLEY serves as the senior pastor of Sunnyvale First Baptist Church on the northeast side of Dallas. He is a two-time graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he has also served as an adjunct professor. He is married to Heather, and they have three sons and one daughter.Biblical exegesis doesn’t stop with the words alone. Faithful preachers exegete the emotion of the text as well.It’s easy to let our own personalities dictate the emotional dimension of our sermons, but the best preachers mirror the Bible’s emotive intent in their sermons. In Passion in the Pulpit, Jerry Vines and Adam Dooley will teach you how to exegete not just the verbal content of Scripture, but its emotional appeal as well. They show you the role the Bible’s emotional intent should play in each stage of sermon prep, and: Offer exegetical steps to discern the biblical pathos Teach you how to avoid manipulation while making your sermons emotional Help you determine the appropriate limitations of emotional appeal Give you verbal, vocal, and visual techniques to help convey the biblical emotional intent in your sermonsWhen we elevate the Bible’s emotional intent above our own, we preach truth rather than personality.ReviewPraise for Passion in the PulpitPassion in the Pulpit by Jerry Vines and Adam Dooley is a must-read for every person who stands to preach. The man of God is called and charged with one responsibility-preach the Word. Proclaiming the Word is more than dispensing truth. If that is the only goal, the result will be dry preaching that produces dry Christians. The goal should always be passionate proclamation that produces passionate followers of Jesus. Masterfully, Vines and Dooley provide the proclaimer with understanding and techniques to deliver the passion and emotion of the given text in order to connect with the heart of the listener. I enthusiastically commend this book to all practitioners of preaching.Frank CoxSenior Pastor North Metro Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, GAIt would be difficult to find two more competent preachers of God’s Word than Jerry Vines and Adam Dooley. These two remarkable preachers have combined their efforts to capture the essence of biblical passion. This moves us beyond the exuberance of human energy and enthusiasm to allowing the passion and pathos of the biblical passage itself to be expressed through the preaching of God’s Word. In these pages, the preacher is relieved of having to focus on his own abilities of communication to revealing the passion of the text itself. Here is a guide to linking the emotion of the Holy Spirit in the inspired text itself to the proclamation of the Word of God. You will sail in uncharted waters in these pages and will sharpen your ability to genuinely touch the emotions of the hearers with the emotion and passion of Scripture.Jimmy DraperPresident Emeritus, LifeWayAdam Dooley and Jerry Vines have taken their combined preaching experience and years of study to produce a resource that walks the preacher through a process for identifying, crafting, and proclaiming the emotion of a text. This book is a significant contribution to the field of preaching. It should be required reading for every pastor.Robby GallatyPastor of Long Hollow Baptist ChurchAuthor of Preaching for the Rest of UsTo say that my life and ministry has been impacted by the leadership and example of Jerry Vines would be a major understatement. I have bee