A Golden Era Valentine's Day Word

By: Joseph Middleton

During the Golden Era of Gospel, it was not uncommon to see entire albums dedicated solely to sermons. Some of these popular preachers of the day who recorded sermons included Rev. C.L. Franklin, Rev. Morgan Babb, and Rev. Willie Morganfield just to name a few. Yet, as time went on into the 1980s and 1990s, new sermon albums were rendered obsolete once churches began their own in-house production. Now, a preacher could preach a sermon and have it recorded live, and available for purchase on tape and CD immediately after service. No longer did one have to wait months for the record company to put a sermon out for home enjoyment. Now, you could have that same sermon in your hand just minutes after it ended.

On February 14, 1965, Valentine's Day at Friendship Baptist Church in Houston, TX, Rev. Omie Lee "O.L." Holliday, the father of Jennifer Holliday, preached a sermon titled "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You." In the sermon, Rev. Holliday makes it known that he borrowed the title of the sermon from Marvin Gaye's 1964 hit single of the same name. The sermon was released on LP for Jewel Records in 1966. Rev. Holliday recorded more sermons for Jewel and pastored many churches across America. Rev. Holliday died on June 1, 1987.

While the sermon is hard to find today for purchase, here are links to the entire sermon broken up into 4 parts. You'll notice how dated the sermon sounds today, with references to "modern" dances such as The Mashed Potato and The Dog. Still, it's a nice look into yesteryear, and a good example of old time preaching. Enjoy!

PART 1


PART 2



PART 3



PART 4