pulpit diction

I've been flicking through some ancient scrapbooks and, in one from about 1988, came across this clipping I had pasted in (but didn't note the source--I think it was probably the Herald) which still makes me smile:

BATON ROUGE (Louisiana), Monday: Jimmy Swaggart, defrocked but defiant, returned to the pulpit yesterday and sought to save his troubled ministry by unleashing the talent that once had made him and his operation the envy of television evangelism.
For more than two hours, the golden-haired preacher in the sharp black suit wept, shouted scripture, sang, danced, embraced cripples, grovelled on his knees, played piano, wept, hugged his weeping wife and told in whispers of dark, prophetic dreams and desperate, late-night conversations with the Lord.
He also asked for money more than once but on this, his triumphal return... [clipping ends]

Some ideas for John Howard in there, anyway.