THE MAKING OF A PREACHER
If preachers are made, not born, what goes into the process? An interview with Fred Craddock
Marshall Shelley and Jim Berkley
July 1, 1987
If someone asked you to fashion a great preacher, the product would probably not resemble Fred Craddock. Fred is not physically imposing, and he describes his voice as sounding like "the wind whistling through a splinter on a post." But Fred Craddock can preach. And he's equally at home delivering the Lyman Beecher lectures at Yale or preaching to a rural Appalachian congregation. Perhaps that's why God, not a human designer, is the one who calls and fashions preachers.
Craddock's formal education came from Johnson Bible College, Phillips University, and Vanderbilt, his informal education from Disciples of Christ pastorates in Tennessee and Oklahoma and a lifetime of thoughtful observation. Since 1979, he has served as professor of preaching and New Testament at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.
But Fred doesn't content himself with teaching about preaching; he preaches at least as often now as he did in the parish. It is his great love.
His workshops and sermons in Preaching Today consistently rank at the top of listener evaluations. He is sought out as a speaker, pastors flock to his preaching seminars, and his recent book, Preaching (Abingdon), has been given warm reviews.
Since Craddock has combined excellence in preaching with effectiveness in teaching others how to do it, LEADERSHIP editors Marshall Shelley and Jim Berkley journeyed to Atlanta to discuss with him the craft of preaching.
Did preaching come naturally to you? Or has it been a struggle?
I didn't like my preaching when I began in my first parish. I was uncomfortable with the manufactured style I felt I had to put on. I felt if old friends or family members would come to hear me preach, they'd say, "Is that you, Fred? What's the matter? You don't ...
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