Through nearly 50 books which have sold more than 28 million copies, Max Lucado has become one of the best-known preachers in America. Since 1987 he has been Pulpit Minster at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. A former missionary to Brazil, Max has been featured in national television programs and was dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today. More than a decade ago, Preaching magazine featured an interview with Max; recently editor Michael Duduit visited with Max again and talked about his use of story in preaching.
Preaching: You are so well known for your use of story. Why do you think “story” is so effective in communicating truth?
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Of course, the obvious answer is because Jesus modeled it for us -- that goes without saying. But I think there is something about a story that is enduring. Stories take on a life of their own. What I may intend for a story to communicate and what a story ends up communicating could be two different things. And it could be an even more positive thing. The strength of a story is that it stays with people and it gives an opportunity for that story to connect with people where the Holy Spirit intends for it to do so.
In this post-modern culture in which we live -- where people question absolute truth -- they are resistant to platitudes; they’re resistant to me making declarations of truth to them. A story can do that in kind of a Trojan-horse fashion. Truth can arrive within the story and ride latent -- a bit incognito -- within a story, and people are more prone to receive it. I think one reason is our society is just less open to platitudes, more open to stories.
We are such a sound-bite culture; people are so accustomed to flipping through their television so quickly that we only have just a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. And a story does that: it will reach out and hook somebody and hold them for just a few moments while you unpack this story in their presence. I think it is an attention grabber. I think it’s a truth conveyor. Those are two great features of a good story.
Preaching: How do you respond to those that cite the danger of over-reliance on story to the exclusion of proposition?
Lucado: That’s a great concern. I think you can tilt too far to the side of the story where the message is just simply entertainment. So I think your goal has to be to craft in one sentence what the truth is you are trying to convey. And then you find or create a story that you wrap around that truth. You know, there are so many examples that come to mind of how Jesus did this. You know the Prodigal Son story is, I think, the greatest short-story ever written. It has such drama in it, such great characters, it’s so clear and concise, and it’s entertaining in the sense that everyone can relate to it. But you have no doubt what our Lord was trying to communicate in the heart of that story. So the truth was not sacrificed on the altar of entertainment in that case. And it can be.