“John Calvin, another towering figure of the Protestant Reformation, is best known for his peerless theological work Institutes of the Christian Religion. What many do not know, however, is that Calvin gave his best energies on a regular basis to the pulpit of his church in Geneva. Calvin preached two different sermons every Sunday, plus every day on alternate weeks (6:00 a.m. /7:00 a.m. in the winter). He averaged 170 sermons per year. Olivier Fatio affirms the central role that preaching played in Calvin’s ministry: “In the city’s three churches [his preaching] sounded forth every day of the week…with sermons that lasted for more than an hour.”
Why did Calvin give preaching such emphasis? Because for him, preaching “was like a ‘visitation’ from God, through which He reaches out His hands to draw us to Himself”; Calvin was convinced that “the preacher’s primary task was to expound Holy Scripture, which is, so to say, the voice of God himself.” John Calvin changed his world for the glory of God. And preaching played no small part in this transformation.” Kent Edwards, Deep Preaching, p. 34
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