REVIEWED:

"Telling the Old, Old Story"

by David L. Larsen

"Resurrecting Hope"

by John Perkins with Jo Kadlecek

2 Fax Services for Pastors

3 New Audiotapes

"The NIV Application Commentary"

THE PREACHER AS STORYTELLER

Help with a lost art.

People crave stories, whether a Tom Clancy novel, an Annie Dillard piece, a buddy's fishing story, or the latest scoop in "People magazine." Surely this accounts for the dominance of narrative in the Bible--more than 50 percent, by conservative estimate. However, pre aching Bible stories is a little like playing the saxophone: it is easy to do poorly.

How can preachers expound "Noah and the Ark" so that listeners hear rain splatter against the ark and get drenched by the meaning of the story?

David L. Larsen, professor of pastoral theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, offers help in "Telling the Old, Old Story: The Art of Narrative Preaching" (Crossway, 320 pages, $14.99). But I caution: This is not a primer for handy reference but an exhaustive study requiring ...