Persuasive Preaching

I was immediately intrigued when I read the title Persuasive Preaching.  All preachers desire to get better in their preaching.  I want to stir people to action when I preach.  The author, Larry Overstreet, contends that there is a trend away from persuasion in preaching which is a detriment to the church.  While I resonate with the critique to a certain degree, I am not sure it is wholly true.

The book is divided into four major parts: 1) Issues facing persuasive preaching, 2) Biblical support for persuasion, 3) Structuring persuasive preaching, and 4) Pertinent applications in persuasive preaching.  I find section 3 on structuring persuasive messages to be most helpful.

The book is very different from any other preaching book that I have read.  It is very academic in tone and contains a lot of footnotes.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but at times the book felt more like a research paper than a persuasive argument for persuasive preaching coupled with practical insight on how to preach persuasively.

I appreciate the 20 pages that Overstreet devotes the ministry of the Holy Spirit in preaching.  He is on target when he writes, "The ministry of the Holy Spirit is essential since only He can turn our 'speaking' into true preaching which will have a persuasive spiritual impact.

Overall, I found the book to be well-written, but maybe too thorough at times.  I found myself wanting to skip large sections because I felt like some of the research was a bit exhausting.  I always ask myself to whom would I recommend a book that I am reviewing.  While it is not an indictment against the book itself, but rather the usefulness of the book, I couldn't think of anyone.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for this review as a part of the Cross Focused Reviews program.