This study examines the function, form, and structure of greetings and appreciation in the ‘exordium’ or sermon openings of Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos-Nigeria, a popular Nigerian charismatic Christian Preacher. Most often ‘exordium’ is referred to as ‘the introduction’: an ‘opening whose execution determines the success of the following speech or undertaking.’ The study specifically focuses on a vital but less focused structural sub-component within the sermon opening texts: perhaps the most highly stylized opening portions of sermon texts. The introduction is significant and crucial to the movement or progression of the sermon discourse. According to Cicero, the introduction must achieve three goals: it arouses interest, it secures favor, and prepares to lead. The introduction should not exceed 5 to 10% of the preaching time. A bad beginning and/or lack of greetings and appreciation mean a bad ending. We have particularly isolated for investigation 15 forms and functions of greetings and appreciations and analyzed their structures socio-pragmatically in the sampled six (6) Holy Ghost Service, HGS, sermons Exordium/opening/introduction data of 2006, 2009, and 2012 collected to demonstrate the (frequent or non-frequent) occurrences of speech acts types and/or their relationships as closely reflected in the selected corpus. Study findings indicate that Adeboye, the preacher, carefully focuses on his introduction and further that he does not begin speaking until he is in the pulpit and has established eye contact with the audience. The introduction of his HGS sermons is always subdued. It grips the heart of his audience and molds their mood. While the HGS sermon in general combines both inductive and deductive elements, the introduction is always inductive, starting significantly with greetings and appreciation perhaps, with contemporary contacts as much as possible.
Greetings, Pragma-discourse features, Exordium, The holy ghost service, Pastor E.A. adeboye
