Hicks told of viewing a picture of a contemporary sanctuary. What he saw were the rows of chairs for the choir, a majestic grand piano, an electric keyboard and other musical instruments dotting the platform, and, then, off center was a small and frail piece of furniture used for preaching. Drawing a comparison to many church’s worship services today, he explained, “Emphasis in worship has shifted toward music, drama, dance, and other avenues of expression. What is required is a level of balance so we are not all for one and nothing for the other. All have their place. We are on a slippery slope when we diminish preaching. The place in which the preacher stands can have significant bearing on how one views oneself and how others views the preacher.”

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He paused, and then added, “If I’m standing in a place (the pulpit) that is minimized, then others will minimize it. If one sees the pulpit (and the preaching task) as a place that stands between the living and the dead, then that place must be prominent in the sanctuary of our worship.”

The Winds of Change

While the prominence of preaching in churches and in society has not changed and must not change, several significant changes in the past twenty years have come to light.

One is an increasing refinement in the understanding of what it means to preach biblically. The term “expository preaching” is increasingly used by pastors and teachers of homiletics, though there are many definitions of what it means to be an “expository” preacher.

Haddon Robinson is the dean of this movement. Robinson — who now teaches at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary — has left an undeniable mark on the field of preaching with his book, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Robinson’s emphasis on returning to the text has exerted a powerful influence on the evangelical church over the past twenty years, not only through his own students and those who have used his book (and approach) who are now pastors, but also through a new generation of homiletics teachers in seminaries that he has taught and mentored.

Today, most students in evangelical seminaries are taught using some type of expository preaching model. And in recent years, major books on expository preaching have been released on an annual basis by Christian publishers, including Christ-centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell, Rediscovering Expository Preaching by John MacArthur and the Masters Seminary faculty, The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text by Sidney Greidanus, and others.

In addition, the return to exposition has been coupled with an emphasis on Christ-centered/redemptive sermons. Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary, has been an ardent champion of this movement. Writing in the second edition of his influential book Christ-centered Preaching, he states: “The more I have become aware that God’s revelation of his redemptive character occurs at the micro- as well as the macro-level of Scripture, the more I have delighted to preach his redeeming character from virtually every page of the Bible.” A number of scholars — including Sidney Greidanus, Edmund Clowney, and Paul Scott Wilson — have led in the redemptive sermon movement’s development and growing influence.