In a prior post, I recommended notable preachers that I repeatedly turn to for nourishment. I really do love preaching, and listening, to sermons.
At last year’s Westminster Conference on Preaching and Preachers, Harry Reeder of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, shares a couple of his own favorite preachers. The first was James “Jim” Baird, one of the founders of the PCA who went to be with the Lord in January of this year. I don’t know very much about the preaching ministry of Jim Baird, and his sermons are relatively hard to locate online.
Harry also mentioned, however, a man whom he referred to as the American version of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. That’s quite an adulation. He was referring to Al Martin who ministered for 46 years at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. While I was generally familiar with the ministry of Al Martin, I had not actually heard him preach.
Not only this, but before I arrived at the pulpit of Faith Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, I was aware that Al had mistered in that pulpit while the church body was seeking their next pastor. I am so grateful that I was ignorant of his preaching ministry before stepping into that pulpit. Al is a supremely gifted preacher and I lament the fact that Faith Pres had to endure my preaching when their appetite was whetted by Dr. Al Martin!
I understand why Harry has been so impacted by this preacher. I have come to find out that many other preachers (like David Murray of HeadHeartHand) have been similarly impacted. You can find many of Al’s sermons linked here and I highly recommend that you take a listen. He preaches in a very logical, structured manner. You can sense this in the manuscript for his talk, What is a Biblical Christian. I think that, in large part, the clarity of his communication is what has made him such a successful preacher.
He wrote a two-volume Pastoral Theology, and he wrote a nice book on preaching and the Holy Spirit, but he also wrote a little booklet published in 1967, What’s Wrong With Preaching Today?, which I’ve not read but have just ordered (and I wonder what he thinks about preaching today!).
I have been enjoying his sermons; he will certainly be added to my original list.
