John A. Broadus (1827-1895)

Thankee, John was the constant greeting given to John Broadus by the first man Broadus led to Christ.

Perhaps in different words, many preachers, students and congregations have echoed the same sentiment.

Broadus is often considered to be the father of modern expository preaching.  On March 16, 1895 (117 years ago), Broadus left this earth.

At the age of 16, Broadus became a Christian when a friend urged him to heed these words of Jesus:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
(John 6:37 ESV)

Later Broadus would forego a career in the medical field to become a preacher and educator of preachers.  His oft repeated piece of advice to preachers was this:

If you forget everything else I have told you, don’t forget to treat the Scripture in a commonsense way (Broadus).

Facts about Broadus

- The 2nd president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

- Baptized Lottie Moon who is the most well known Baptist missionary in history.

- During the Civil War, Broadus preached before General Robert E. Lee.

- Declined a hefty salary offer from J.D. Rockefeller to become pastor of his church in New York City.

- Active member of Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.

- Worked 20 years on his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.

-  His book on preaching, The Preparation and Delivery of Sermons is considered a classic in the field of homiletics.

Quotes about Broadus

(Broadus had) every natural endowment, every acquired accomplishment to have become, had he been only a preacher, a preacher hardly second to any in the world (University of Chicago professor W. C. Wilkinson).

No man ever stirred my nature as . . . [he] did in the classroom and the pulpit (Greek and New Testament scholar A.T. Robertson).

No man ever heard him preach but understood every sentence; no one heard him preach who did not feel the truth of God sink deep into his heart. As a teacher of the New Testament as well as of homiletics, it is perhaps not too much to say that he had no superior in this country (Dr. William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago).

Online Articles about Broadus

Preaching Rediscovered: Broadus’ Lost Lectures and the Recovery of Exposition by Mark Overstreet (my former neighbor)

Our Presidents – John A. Broadus (1889-1895) from the Archives of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary