How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!” (Isa. 52:7
I’m not sure when it became essential for every successful enterprise to have a logo, but apparently it goes back at least as far as the ancient Egyptians, and in Genesis 38 we first see a seal that represents the “brand” of its owner. Whenever it was that logos became essential, they certainly seem to be today, and therefore, as the Fred Craddock Center for Preaching Excellence gets up and running, we needed a logo. Some very creative and thoughtful folks looked at what the Fred Craddock Center does and distilled the essence of it into a single graphic image—the image suggestive of a stained-glass window showing a pulpit with an open Bible set in the mountains with a sunrise behind it.
Although pulpits today may be a tall table holding a tablet or a barely noticeable clear plastic stand or even a counter in a coffee shop, the pulpit is the one piece of material culture most closely connected with preaching. Preaching done well, regardless of the setting or the furnishing, is clearly what the Fred Craddock Center for Preaching Excellence is about.
To be done well, preaching must bring the truth of the biblical text to bear on the life of the listener together. Hence, the logo places the open Bible centrally in the image.
Fred Craddock and Johnson University share a concern historically for the one from Appalachia who wants to preach. The logo therefore contains the image of mountains. But the mountain imagery is suggestive of more than just the region. As Isaiah prophesied in his time, and Nahum recorded witnessing in his, there is beauty in the act of crossing the mountains to bring the good news of peace and salvation and the reign of God. Paul takes the image beyond the mountains in Romans 10, emphasizing the need for preaching if people are to hear and believe, no matter where they live. The Fred Craddock center will serve the under-resourced preachers of Appalachia, but also those who preach in Spanish in central and southern Florida, and all those who want to become better preachers.
The sunrise, the dawning of light on a darkened world, is also representative of the task of preaching. The suggestion of a stained-glass window but looking out into the whole world represents our commitment to the local church as well as the preacher without walls.
So the Fred Craddock Center for Preaching Excellence is here to serve those whose feet on the mountains, and beyond, bring good news, who proclaim peace and salvation.