Finding the Hum represents the audacious task of a white, rural, Presbyterian preacher’s embrace of a homiletical tradition not his own with the hope of facilitating consistency in the interrelationship of the preacher, folks, and the Holy Spirit during the preaching moment. Embracing the Black homiletical tradition, specifically the practice of participant proclamation, was only the first step. Though Evans E. Crawford provides the foundation this work required the guidance of three homileticians believed to represent three generations within the Black preaching genre known as Celebration: Henry H. Mitchell, Frank A. Thomas, and Luke A. Powery. This embrace holds promise for other preachers as they too pray, “Come, Holy Spirit, come!”
