Who's right?

After visiting a church service with two church colleagues, we were asked by our hosts to evaluate the sermon. One colleague (an American pastor) said that it was “excellent” because the preacher spoke with such passion. The other colleague (an African pastor who was working in Canada) rated the sermon only “fair” because, though it spoke in the language, history, and culture of the group present, it would not speak to his own context. I rated the sermon as “poor” because there were far too many exegetical flaws in the interpretation of the biblical text that was preached from. Which one of us was right? We could all agree that the preacher was passionate, but the crucial question is whether the people were actually exposed to God’s revelatory and formative Word that day. These are the questions that have driven me to pursue this exploration of authentic Christian preaching (the task I have before me) in this postmodern culture (the setting I find myself in).