Another “preacher evaluation” metric I heard voiced in the past few weeks has to do with the preacher’s “volume”. In this particular case, it seems that a loud preacher is to be rated “lower” than a quieter preacher.
Once I preached a funeral sermon to a large gathering held in a funeral home parlor. My sermon was on the two thieves crucified with Christ. I must admit, my message became quite passionate. After 10 or 15 minutes, I noticed a couple of elderly ladies in the back get up and leave and as they left I could hear them muttering something. Later I asked some folks in the back what those ladies were saying as they left. Basically they were giving their less than enthusiastic opinion about that “loud Baptist preacher”! So I guess the “volume” metric was in force even several years ago.
I really do not see anything in God’s Word, though, concerning the volume of the preacher’s sermon. In Acts 2:14, the Word says Peter lifted up his voice which I understand to mean he spoke loudly. Maybe Peter was loud simply due to the size of the crowd, I don’t know. But to judge a man based on the volume level of his message instead of the content of the message doesn’t sound very Scriptural to me.
Personally, if the Spirit of God moves the man of God to lift (or lower) his voice as he preaches, so be it. A preacher who is passionate about the Word of God cannot preach in a monotonic voice.
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