Jeff Weaver
New Member
This style of "Preaching" is common in Appalachia and the south. It's not always the Baptists and Pentecostals that do it either, I have heard Methodists and Presbyterians get into it. There is a common perception that it is necessary to get loud to be heard, and that when God wants everyone to hear it. I don't particularly agree with it, but there are some that do. I get a lot of criticism for not being loud enough. I pastored a church in the northeast for a long time with a microphone, and I didn't have to get loud to be heard.
As for performance, I have only experienced what Amen-Corner is talking about once, and it was disturbing. I went to a tent revivial. Yikes, not a good thing for a Primitive Baptist to do -- it wasn't one of our services, just went to see what was going on, never been to one, etc.
It seems to me that most all groups get in various routines of doing things which disturb those who are not used to them. I know the mounful sound in a Primitive Baptist Church is a turn off to many. But then again, a service where there are 40 things going on at once is a distraction to me.
As for the yelling, does the preacher realize he is doing it? I suspect that many don't, it is what they are used to doing, and I suspect a good bit of it is unconscious. Those that do yell probably feel that it is expected, maybe what they grew up with. Most everyone emulates someone they hold in high regard, perhaps some preacher in their past did it, and they feel that they should do the same. I don't care for the yelling either, nor do I care for hearing a copy-cat sermon, but some other feel differently about it. Maybe you need to have a conversation about it.
As for performance, I have only experienced what Amen-Corner is talking about once, and it was disturbing. I went to a tent revivial. Yikes, not a good thing for a Primitive Baptist to do -- it wasn't one of our services, just went to see what was going on, never been to one, etc.
It seems to me that most all groups get in various routines of doing things which disturb those who are not used to them. I know the mounful sound in a Primitive Baptist Church is a turn off to many. But then again, a service where there are 40 things going on at once is a distraction to me.
As for the yelling, does the preacher realize he is doing it? I suspect that many don't, it is what they are used to doing, and I suspect a good bit of it is unconscious. Those that do yell probably feel that it is expected, maybe what they grew up with. Most everyone emulates someone they hold in high regard, perhaps some preacher in their past did it, and they feel that they should do the same. I don't care for the yelling either, nor do I care for hearing a copy-cat sermon, but some other feel differently about it. Maybe you need to have a conversation about it.