84 thoughts on “Podcast #1 “Why Is That Man Yelling?””

  1. Good stuff! I grew up in a crowd that equated yelling with spirituality. If a preacher didnt scream at you he must not be right with God.

  2. I had to take my headphones off when @Darrell demonstrated how ineffective yelling is! Yellers need to find ways to communicate their ideas, not vent their frustrations. I guess you can make the point that they don’t have ideas to communicate, maybe?

  3. Awesome. By the way, I could have sworn you once said you’d never do podcasts. I’m glad you decided against that, but still. 🙂

  4. I’m glad you changed your mind on this one. Good stuff. Besides, if none of us here ever changed our minds, we’d all still be fundamentalists. 🙂

  5. I change my mind a lot.

    I’ve done that before! The banjo intro/outtro music is *perfect* for SFL, imho.

    1. Would that be the John Francis who is BIL to John Wilkerson, Schaap’s replacement?

  6. Love the intro music. As usual, the podcast (like the text blog) makes some great points. However, I will point out that Fundy preachers *do* find yelling to be useful and appropriate. Fundy congregations expect to get a show. They want yelling, tears, red face, pounding, jokes, chest puffing out in self satisfaction, proud claims of very obvious points that nobody will argue against (like, “I stand by God’s Word; I don’t care what the rest of y’all think.” Who in the world in that audience is going to argue with that?)

    A Fundamentalist sermon is not a sermon in the way that normal people think of sermons: it’s an event, an experience, rather than straightforward communication. It is designed, not to inform, but to rouse emotions to the point of group catharsis in order to keep those who attend within the circle of the group. So your ideas, while very appealing to non-fundfies or ex-fundies, (and I do say Amen! to them, but not yelling it out) aren’t going to make much difference, I think, to real fundies.

  7. Darrell,

    Great job! But one minor quibble – those “wrap around the head” microphones are clearly satanic, and no real preacher would ever wear one. They make the pastor look just like Madonna singing in a concert, you know, with those scantily clad singers all around here. And the last thing we need is mental images of the pastor wearing a couple of those “cone thingys” on his chest while he’s preaching. I mean, it’s tough enough getting through the message without that thought cascading through you mind…

  8. This kind of preaching scared the piss out of me as a kid. I will start to get all panic attacky if someone starts up screaming in a sermon.

    BTW….How do I fill out a profile here? I would like to link my log and have a pic.

  9. JoshJ wins the booby prize!

    A complete leather bound collection of sermons by C.H. Spurgeon with all the Calvinism cleverly removed.

  10. Seems as if it’s all back-aswards: contemporary worship is rejected for being too emotional, but “that kind” of preaching, with its agitated, excitable, and quite emotional yelling, screeching, and other bellicose forms of voluminously holding forth, well, that’s just ok.

    It’s perfectly fine to raise hands, run through the aisles, and shout during a sermon from ‘th’ Werd o’ Gawd,’ but Heaven forbid any of the sort be done during the singing of the Grand Old Hymns of the Faith. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

  11. @Viniator3 I think it’s a power thing. Preacher dude is authorized to use whatever he deems appropriate, you are not.

  12. Huh. I KNEW it was Phil Kidd. Go on his Facebook page and read some of his lunatic ravings–he’s not only fundie, he’s evil!

  13. My husband didn’t grow up fundie, so he can’t stand yelling preachers. I, on the other hand, only had experience with the yelling types. I found out somewhere along the way that not all preachers yell. That was sure different.

    I agree with the lady above. Fundie audiences want “the show.” They like the drama. It’s a performance, not just relaying information well as a public speaker. It’s entertainment.

    And you know those cadences preachers get into-kinda like auctioneers.

    Anyway, I loved your first podcast. Look forward to more. My sister and I are so happy to find this site. We grew up in ALL the stuff you describe. Thank you.

  14. “Fundie audiences want “the show.” They like the drama. It’s a performance, not just relaying information well as a public speaker. It’s entertainment.”

    So basically they have “itching ears” as much as any liberal congregation to whom they feel so superior.

  15. I about peed myself with excitement when I saw in my RSS feed “Podcast #1”. Then I was sitting here laughing the entire time I listened to it! Fantastic. Keep ’em coming Darrell!

    I remember all the “yelling” at our summer church camp actually. Mind you, we were quite the “liberal” bunch of fundy-lites (as I now call them. Actually, could call them Fundy-emergent-lites…but you get the point I hope.) I remember many a time, when the one youth pastor (younger in age, dressed casually like the rest of us. Yes liberal I know.), would yell and scream to get his point across. It was done in quite an emotional way…Then at the “invitation”, cue a soft acoustic guitar to set the mood. etc. Yeah. That’s actually where I heard most of the “yelling” in fundamentalism.

  16. @Dave– Well, thanks for burning that fantastic image in my mental corneas. Yesterday’s yelling fellow, shirtless, in a cone bra with the “HAY-men!” chorus dancing behind him. Gee, thanks.

  17. Cool it works! No screaming this Sunday at my church, but one of the take home’s I got from the sermon was:

    Conservatives (Fundies): Be good
    Liberals: Do good
    Me: I’m not good
    Jesus: Good

  18. OH, yes, please continue yelling!
    Phil Kidd has subjected many to his bigotry and rants. He is an ignorant showman. He used to rant and rave to children like this.
    He takes after the likes of his mentor, Mac Ford, who ran New Bethany.
    SICK TWISTED people, putting on a show for money. Not caring who’s lives they ruin in the process.
    Snake oil and ammunition.

  19. @ Darrell,

    I can’t believe that some persons would formerly accuse you of not being constructive (obvious plug for post from last week). This is one of the most constructive things that you could say to fundy preachers. I am sure that they are all listening and will change their methods this very Sunday. I mean what-the-hey, change is their middle name.

  20. @Beth

    You’re welcomed! I guess the only thing that would add to all the Madonna imagery might be music – anything except “PAPA DON’T PREACH” – HAAAAAAAA!

  21. Thanks so much for the esteemed booby prize. C.H. Spurgeon has always been one of my favorite old-time baptist preachers (even though I’m a presby!). After all, everyone knows that Spurgeon was a sin-hatin’, hard preachin’, separated, KJB only, old paths travelin’, anti-cigar, anti-liquor, hard core fundamentalist preacher!

    And I know for CERTAIN that ol’ Charlie never ONCE used a stinkin’ NIV! So what does that tell you?

  22. Genius. Of course there is a difference between speaking forcefully and yelling; but speaking forcefully doesn’t mean you have to raise your voice all the time. Excellent points made there, Darrell.

  23. Yup that was Phil Kidd. To bad I was to busy to come and comment or Iwould have won the prize.

    @Darrell: Where did you get the audio bite from?

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