Preaching in the African-American Tradition

In this week’s episode, Dr. Robert Smith Jr. and H.B. Charles Jr. join me as we discuss “Preaching in the African-American Tradition.” Robert Smith Jr. serves as Distinguished Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School. Before Smith served as professor of Christian preaching at Beeson for more than 25 years and held the Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity. Previously, he served as the Carl E. Bates Associate Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Smith is the 2017 E. K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference Living Legend.

He is a contributing editor for a study of Christian ministry in the African American church, Preparing for Christian Ministry, and is co-editor of A Mighty Long Journey. Additionally, he has served as an editor of Our Sufficiency Is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor (Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia: 2010) and Worship, Tradition, and Engagement: Essays in Honor of Timothy George (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2018). He has written the book, Doctrine That Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville: 2008), which was selected as the winner of the 2008 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Preaching magazine and the 2009 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Christianity Today’s preaching.com. In 2010, Preaching magazine named Doctrine That Dances one of the 25 most influential books in preaching for the last 25 years. He also has written The Oasis of God: From Mourning to Morning—Biblical Insights from Psalms 42 and 43. His latest book is Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Joshua (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville).

H.B. is the Pastor-Teacher at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville and Orange Park, Florida, where he has faithfully served since the fall of 2008. H.B. is also an author of several books, such as: On Preaching, On Pastoring, The Difference Jesus Makes, and It Happens After Prayer.

H.B. Charles Jr.

H.B. Charles, Jr. has been the pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida since 2008. Over the course of H.B.’s pastorate, his love for God’s Word, the church, and lost people has resulted in joyfully balancing his pastoral responsibilities with speaking engagements in revivals, conferences, and other church events. He is married to his best friend, Crystal, and they are the proud parents of three children, H.B. Charles III, Natalie Marie and Hailey Breanne. He is author of numerous books, including On Pastoring: A Short Guide to Living, Leading, and Ministering as a Pastor and On Preaching: Personal & Pastoral Insights for the Preparation & Practice of Preaching, as well as a contributor to the Power in the Pulpit, and continues to seek further education to help fulfill his prayerful desire to write and teach alongside his calling to pastoral ministry.