Three YouTube Videos About Some African American Preachers' "Whooping" Styles Of Ending Their Sermons

CNN, Oct 20, 2010

The booming voice of Pastor E. Dewey Smith Jr. fills his sanctuary as he explains "whooping" in the black church. **** Edited by Azizi Powell This pancocojams post showcases three YouTube videos about the African American preaching styles for ending sermons that is called "Whooping". Information about whooping is included in this post along with some comments from two of these video's discussion threads.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, and educational purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all the pastors who are showcased in this post. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. **** PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE: WHAT IS WHOOPING? "Whooping" (also given as "hooping") is a term for a Black (African American) oratorical and homiletic (sermon) style that some pastors use at the end of their sermons to heighten the spirit and emotions of their congregations. Whooping is described as pastors speaking in a call & response, sing/song cadence toward the end of their sermon. Members of the congregation respond to the pastor's words ("calls"), sometimes by repeating his or her words, and/or shouting "Amen!", "Preach!", "Yes, Lord" or other words and phrases. Responses also include riffs played by the organist (and sometimes also the pianist, and snare drummer). In addition to preaching in that sing/song style, pastors who whoop may also sing a hymn or Gospel song towards the end of their sermon.

The word "whooping" ("hooping") may have come from the term "whooping and hollering".Here are definitions for the word "whoop":
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whoop
Definition of whoop
"to shout loudly in an enthusiastic or excited way"
**
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hollering
"hollering
"verb (used without object)
1. to cry aloud; shout; yell"
TWO ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT BLACK PREACHERS WHOOPING Excerpt #1 From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sermonic_tradition ..."Whooping

Raboteau describes a common style of black preaching called "whooping", which first developed in the early 19th century, and became common throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries:

The preacher begins calmly, speaking in conversational, if oratorical and occasionally grandiloquent, prose; he then gradually begins to speak more rapidly, excitedly, and to chant his words and time to a regular beat; finally, he reaches an emotional peak in which the chanted speech becomes tonal and merges with the singing, clapping, and shouting of the congregation.[1]

This aspect of Black preaching often utilizes what is called "preaching chords", bombastic interpolations played on an organ and juxtaposed with the preacher's emphatic lines".

**** Excerpt #2 From http://www.proto-kerygma.com/artofwhooping.html#.Y2aEmXbMK1s The Art Of Whooping ..." Growing up in the Black Church whooping was and still is in many places, the primary way the preacher and the congregation connect as one and worship the Lord in celebration of our victory in Him.
[...]
When the early itinerant preachers would preach to their congregants we see the emergence of a stylized art communication steeped in African oral tradition but evolved to meet the needs of that day. [...]

A sing-song call and response often found in the [N]egro* spirituals during the days of slavery has evolved into “Meter” in many African-American churches of today.  The power of this communication form even pervaded the way deacons prayed until about forty years ago.

So, whooping appears of have its origins in the depths of oral African tradition. After the pain, humiliation and horrors of the American System of Slavery…a resilient people rises to the highest level of its celebration in an intuitive connection with The Lord Jesus Christ." -snip- * The author of this article used a lower case "n" for the word "Negro". Since the mid 20th century that spelling is considered to be offensive. I prefer the term "African American Spirituals" to the commonly found term "Negro Spirituals". **** SELECTED COMMENTS FROM SHOWCASE VIDEO #1

(with numbers added for referencing purposes only) 1. C. Davis, 2010 "The thing is, preaching is an art form that accompany amyriad of styles. As long as whooping is done out of anointing and not out of expression only then God is pleased. Irregardless to the style you have or preferred method, be anointed, give God the glory and all will be well..." ** 2. Newyear2018. 2010 "Whopping is an gift from God. Not all preachers can do thet . Just like not all comedians can do people inpersonations. Or some artist draw alike. I listened to  a preacher who had a high pitch scream. It hurt people ears. wasn't good ** 3. Justin Potts, 2010 "If yall have a problem with it dont listen. Most African American pastors use this."

** 4. Wormanatti, 2010 "Whooping is foolish. It's carnal we have no bible to substantiate all that screaming & carrying on. A bunch of this mess has creep into the church to substitute sound exegetical teaching. All the touch ya neighbor, slap 90 people high five & whatever else they do is nothing but fleshly mess. Half the time people leave the church & can't quote nothing of merit the preacher said when all that whooping is going on. That stuff don't do nothing but rile up carnal christians & give them goosebumps." ** 5. ldyjcj2, 2010 "@tonkinshipwreck69 Ok now..Please don't go there with me. If u would listen and pay attention, whooping is a celebration of the message that has been delivered. It has gotten a bad rep because there are those who do it to get themselves out of a pit for "crowd" sake. If it's done right, u whoop cuz u did ur homework studying the text u are presenting. My father is a pastor so I grew up around this style of preaching. If u whoop or don't, it does not bother me."

**6. Idyjcj2, 2010 "@tonkinshipwreck69 Whooping is a style of delivery. If that's not the style u like, don't listen to it." ** 7. Idyjcj2, 2010 "@tonkinshipwreck69 Ok..I understand, but the point I was trying to make is that some people who only talk about the "whoop" didn't intend on paying attention to what was said before that. The preacher who focuses on the "whoop" is just trying to get attention. It's the ice cream on the cake. It's the gravy to the roast. All the whoop is, is celebration of what u studied of God's Word. Every experience is different

** 8. Matthew Belthrop, 2013 "It's amazing how people who are not pastors can tell us what he means to say. Yes whooping is an emotional thing when you think about what Christ has done for us you should have some form of emotion. Everybody reacts differently. Dr. Smith doesn't just get up and start screaming he teaches and preaches the gospel. The whooping is like the emotional climax. My pastor whoops but I can still tell you what he preached about and where he came from out of the Bible.

** 9. K Green, 2013 "He did not say they were taught whooping in seminary he said they were taught to find their own style of preaching and the gravy and steak was just an example."

** 10. AtlantaSaxMan, 2015 "As a musician, I have backed Pastor Smith up several times when I was musician for the "KING" of WHOOPING Preachers, Rev. Jasper Williams Jr...  I have to say this is simply the way he "closes" his sermons...  His sermons are very biblical and teach.  The whooping is closing the sermon almost sealing and confirming the sermon.  I absolutely love collaborating the unspeakable energy between a good preacher and the musicians as we exhort and "push" the congregation.  It's a natural occurrence, never scripted, at least from my point of view...  Not every preacher can do it, and not every preacher that does it, does it genuinely or has God in mind when doing it.  I believe from my direct experiences with Pastor Smith, he is a genuine after God's heart whoopin' preacher...

** 11. Joseph Parker, 2016 "ummm who is in that organ...Cause. .....Hey glory"**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 : Pastor Jamal Bryant- SERMON CLOSING 2006

BrothaRollins, Oct.22, 2016 Final sermon ending of the sermon "Convicted By a Candle" Dr. Jamal Bryant - February 2006 -snip- Notice that this is the end of the sermon and not the complete sermon. Here's a comment from that video's discussion thread: Juanda Deshauteurs,2021 "Oh yes indeed he can whoop when he wants to💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥"
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/we-dont-need-walker-we-need-runner.html for a 2022 pancocojams post entitled "We Don't Need A Walker. We Need A Runner": Pastor Jamal Bryant's Speech About Georgia's Midterm Senate Race (video, information, & transcript)". Notice that that YouTube video is part of a longer church service and isn't an example of whooping. 

**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: The Best SERMON Closings from Great Preachers

Brotha Rollins, April 21, 2022 Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr. " I'm Qualified " Full Sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDd6I... Bishop Willie James Campbell " God Is On Your Side "- Full Sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z18G... Pastor Terry K Anderson "The Sacrifice of Biblical Worship "(Sermon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kknIl... HB Charles Jr Where Does Your Help Come From? Sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NrEF...
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