Clyde E. Fant, Jr. was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Richardson, TX. The service begins with organ music (00:00-04:45). The speaker gives a word of prayer (04:46-06:24). Clyde E. Fant, Jr. is introduced as the Adams Lecturer (06:25-07:53). The choir sings a song of worship (07:54-12:00). Fant’s lecture is entitled “The Pulpit Today, Voices in the Wilderness and Echoes,” and he begins by saying the American preaching has been mainly inspired by the Puritans and American oratory style (12:01-14:09). Fant speaks about what brought the downfall of the Puritans, and he believes it was their legalism (14:10-22:33). Fant then moves to American oratory style, and he argues that its flaw is a lack of a prophetic voice and a countercultural message (22:34-38:16). Fant then describes what made good preaching of the past, and he says it was made people who took Scripture seriously, cared about piety, cared about the redemption of humanity, and took part in countercultural communication (38:17-48:52). Fant concludes his lecture by describing the echoers of good preaching who cared about a good performance and pleasing people over a good presentation of the gospel (48:53-58:24). The service ends with a word of thanks for Fant and a benediction (58:25-59:58).
