Page | 1

Courtney Evans,
Ms. Megan Weaver,
Rhetoric 101
11/10/2014

When we think about preachers we dont see them as a community, we only see them as
a single unit working by themselves. In reality, though preachers are a community of men and
women (dare I say a discourse community) that are all working towards one goal: to bring people
to Christ and to share Gods word. I will show that the preacher community is a discourse
community by looking at their goals, written text, communication, how they talk (aka their
lexis), shared passion, and the old and young members that are involved in this community and
how all these things work together through examples and personal experiences.
When researching for this paper I went about it in many different ways. One of the ways
that I researched was by attending a Sunday message at my friends church called First Baptist
Church of Indian Trail that has an 11 oclock message called the Lift which is for a younger
group that she attends. I arrived very early because I didnt want to be late and it was supposed to
start raining really bad around the time that I was supposed to leave to get there (and I didnt
want to drive in the rain). When I parked, a bus from the church came and got me and dropped
me off at the childcare center where I ended up having to wait for the rain to stop. While waiting,
the early more traditional service let out which allowed me to observe how the preachers and the
congregation interact after the service. After that I left and went to the 11 oclock service and
observed how people reacted before, during, and after the service. I then got the email of the
youth Pastor Lance Bradley and asked him some questions about how preachers work. I also
have a friend who is attending school at the moment to become a priest and had him answer
some questions about why preachers do what they do and how they do it. When doing my
research, I went online to the churchs website and re-watched Dr. Mike Whitsons message
from Sunday where I got even more information on preachers. And my last form of research was

Page | 2

going back and remembering my own personnel experiences with preachers and what I know
about them.
All these men in the preacher community share a common passion for God and
discovering the mysteries that the Bible and God bring to human kind. Through this passion they
are highly dedicated to sharing information that they have discovered with one another and the
world. One example of this would be how Dr. Mike Whitson shares a message that he has
researched and looked into every Sunday. Like his message about healing and how if you are
badly afflicted its probably because you are doing something that is affecting your body badly.
He then uses examples that he found such as: alcoholism and liver damage, smoking and cancer,
sex and sexually transmitted disease, and relates those back to actual historical and biblical
situations to give his point more merit. By sharing this discovery and point through his message
we as the listener are taught something new and applicable that we can now share with others
just as Dr. Mike Whitson shared it with us.
All preachers use the gospel and other accredited sources such as historical text and
scientific research to learn and see what God has to say about certain situations, its basically
their shared text that almost all preacher follow. One example would be when I attended a class,
that was for history and bible, where two preachers talked about the text that they use when
preparing for a sermon and how these text and their research helps them to be better equipped for
any questions their congregation might have regarding their message. Questions like whether
what they are saying is actually genuine, and will be capable to respond truthfully and
confidently that these are their sources, its not just them saying something. This is important
because, when you think about preachers you want to know whether or not they are telling the

Page | 3

truth. By understanding this, you will see that most preachers take the time to actually research
what they are talking about.
When preachers communicate with one another its usually by email, phone calls, and
social media; but most of the time this communication only occurs between preachers that work
and speak at the same church or have worked with one another before. The form of
communication preachers usually use is intercommunication between those in their line of work
who will understand what they are talking about. When I was communicating with one of my
sources pastor Lance Bradley, he told me that email and face to face were his preferred way to
communicate with other preachers because he is able to get his information right off the bat
instead of waiting for it. Intercommunication is pretty common between preachers that serve in
the same church because they usually all get together and discuss God, theories, and discoveries;
but when preachers arent involved in the smaller discourse community of First Baptist Church
of Indian Trail they arent going to really communicate unless they have to (as told from my
bible/history teacher Mr. Burnett).
I have noticed when I talk to preachers that I dont usually understand what they are
saying when they are talking to just one another because they use Latin words and roots and
bible language and words/verses when describing certain things and situations. One example of
this would be, when I was doing my research I was sitting in on a message that Dr. Mike
Whitson was preaching. This message happened to be about how there are multiple ways to be
healed in todays society and God knows what is going on in your life. As Dr. Mike Whitson
continues the message he starts using specific verses from the Gospel of John and the book of
Exodus to further his point. By using these specific verses it shows that he took time to study and
look deeply into the subject that he is discussing with the congregation. He uses large educated

Page | 4

words such as oblivious (not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one) and
sexually promiscuous (casual and indiscriminate sexual relations) to get his point across and
catch people attention. This language is not only used in church but also between preachers. I
believe that preachers have picked this way of talking up over time by reading and studying
different bibles, religious text, and seminars in order to become more educated for their flock and
themselves. It is very beneficial to preachers to be able to prove their merit by using these large
words and Hebrew text, so that they may stand out compared to other preachers.
Most of the preachers I have met and talked to are very educated and know what they are
talking about even if they dont always look like they would know all this information (so dont
judge a book by its cover). Of course none of this knowledge could come about if there were not
older members that helped accumulate this knowledge for the newer preachers that have just
joined their community. One example would be how the church of First Baptist Indian Trail has
multiple different services catering to many different persons and that each of these different
services has a different leader. When I attended last Sunday October 12, 2014, I went to a more,
hip youthful service lead by a young pastor name Lance Bradley who took his cues from the
older pastor Dr. Mike Whitson on what direction to take the service. What I found most
fascinating about this service and its message was that it was a prerecorded version of the more
traditional message that was at 10 oclock for the older members in the large, fancy chapel. Once
the fun music and worship session was done we had a meet and greet where I noticed that most
of the members where younger just like the youth pastor. I was waiting for my friend when the
early message ended, when I noticed that there were a lot of older folks attending that message.
Why this is important is that it shows the church needs these older and younger preachers so that
they can draw more people into the churches to hear what wisdom the older preacher has to

Page | 5

bestow upon them. So when it comes to the case of older and newer members for the preaching
community, we see that it is a much needed and beneficial relationship to have an older preacher
like Dr. Mike Whitson and a younger member like the youth pastor Lance Bradley to make the
church run and do its thing. Keep in mind that there are more pastors on staff but these where the
two that I saw personally in action.
When doing the interviews and research for this paper, I went in with distrust of what the
preachers were telling me because I really felt like they were doing this just to scam people and
make money. That wasnt the case though. Those men were preaching because it was something
they genuinely loved to do; and this made me realize that preachers arent all scam artist or
power hungry. So in the end Im glad I had to write this paper because its made me rethink a lot
of things in my life and gain respect for something that I had lost respect for.