The Call

I read Fred Brenning Craddock's book, Reflections on My Call to Preach, in two days. It's a thin volume, primarily a collection of childhood and teenage memories that sometimes wear a bit wearisome and inane for the reader. But Craddock is, perhaps, the best-known homiletics teacher of my generation, so I endured his tome with a steely-eyed desire for insight.

I don't think I discovered any great truths here, other than Craddock's insistence that the call to preach is never a lightening-strike moment. The call comes for most preachers through people, places, times, and the slow matriculation of a life-unfolded in God's grace.

I guess I can buy that. I did. Paid $15.95 for the book.