Biographical Preaching: Bringing Bible Characters to Life

The experiences of other people are among the most powerful of all teaching tools. This is especially true with the lives of those who are part of the biblical narrative. Recorded and preserved by God, their stories offer timeless principles for living. Biographical preaching--preaching about biblical people with solid exegetical integrity--is becoming a lost art, depriving the modern pastor of its life-changing benefits. In this guide for pastors, Dr. Larry Overstreet offers practical advice on bringing to life the people of the Bible for the people in the pew. He presents a workable method to determine the principles that directed the life of a Bible character and shows contemporary pastor how to effectively apply those principles to the modern listener. Included are the philosophy and value of biographical preaching, the method and mechanics of biographical preaching, and a model demonstrating how to preach biographically. Each chapter features clear objectives, review questions, and practical exercises for application. R. Larry Overstreet (M.A., Ph.D., Wayne State University; M.Div., San Francisco Baptist Theological Seminary) takes his passion for biographical preaching on the road through dramatic monologues he presents in churches, schools, and on mission fields. A former pastor, Larry currently teaches at Northwest Baptist Seminary in Washington, where he lives with Linda, his wife of thirty-eight years. …