Wednesday Night Revival

A Baptist revival, for those who have never been to one, is like a rock concert with the preacher as lead singer, the chancel choir as the back-up singers, the organ, piano, and drum set as the band, the chancel as the stage, and the sermon as the star's best-known rock anthem.
The "set" starts out with some of that pre-song patter, introducing the sermon's theme and reading the pertinent Bible verses; as the sermon progresses, the piano and organ start providing a little background to the preacher's spoken words; then things heat up fast, with the preacher beginning to not just hum in between important phrases, but outright sing the message. The band picks up the tempo, the musicians get louder, and the Amens and My, my s from the choir and the front rows add to the buzz. Then the whole congregation gets into it, swaying and clapping and hollering, following the preacher's ascent until things are at a fever pitch, and the preacher is sweating, and the people are swooning, and the organist is bouncing on his bench and the deacons are running up and down the aisles... you almost expect a moshpit to break out up near the altar. Things keep getting hotter and hotter until the preacher blows himself out on the last electric riff of his sermon--"Wake Uticus UUUUUUUUP!!!!"--and turns and walks straight off the chancel/stage and out the vestry door, like the explosive finale of a sold-out show. And at the very end, after the altar call and the prayer circle and the choir benediction, he briefly re-enters, making an encore appearance for his loyal fans. The last blessing is said, and the faithful concertgoers file out of their pews, hugging and greeting each other, all a-tingle from the fiery performance. The host deacon shakes hands at the door, but The Preacher himself is nowhere to be seen--you can almost picture little Sunday school students lining up at the back entrance to the church for a chance to get his autograph.

Not bad, for a profession often seen as stuffily unglamourous and uptight.