Stephen Chapin Garner, Getting Into Character: The Art of First-Person Narrative Preaching. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008. Paper, 142 pages. ISBN 978-1-58743-218-7

It has never been a common sermon form – even where it is used, it tends to only show up around the Christmas holidays when the preacher dons a bathrobe and pretends to speak as Joseph or the innkeeper. Yet in recent years there has been a growing interest in the first-person narrative sermon, and some helpful resources are appearing to help pastors learn to use this homiletical form more effectively.

First came It’s All in How You Tell It by Haddon and Torrey Robinson, then J. Kent Edwards produced Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching. Now one of Robinson’s D.Min. students—Stephen Chapin Garner, a Massachusetts pastor—has written Getting Into Character, a useful guide to developing and presenting such sermons. Garner—who is also an actor and playwright—offers practical advice for preparing and presenting first-person narratives that will be fresh and engaging. Pastors who don’t have much experience with such sermons will find this a helpful resource and an encouragement to try such sermons from time to time.

Using a baseball metaphor, Garner reminds us of the need for successful pitchers to have several types of pitches available and that, “Even a great fastball pitcher won’t last long in the big leagues unless he has a solid breaking ball and perhaps an effective change-up. I have realized that the preaching art is much more akin to pitching than it is to hitting. We take the biblical text, and through prayer, exegesis and thoughtful reflection we come up with a homiletical idea that serves as the strike zone for our sermon. The next question we need to ask ourselves is: which homiletical style of delivery will best serve my congregation on a given Sunday? Will a deductive, an inductive, a narrative, or a first-person sermon style best communicate the homiletical idea? I have come to believe that, like an effective pitcher, a preacher’s ability to command several different styles of delivery and memorable.”

First-person narrative brings characters to life in ways that can illustrate memorable gospel messages, thereby increasing effectiveness. Garner draws the connection between first-person narrative sermons and the dramatic monologue in theater, then uses those insights to help preachers develop their own work. He discusses selecting characters and use dialogue, how to plot your narrative, and other vital elements in crafting such messages.