Preaching: The whole contemporary movement emphasizes narrative in preaching -- how do you react to that?

Wiersbe: Narrative preaching must not be simply retelling an old story in modern dress. Preaching is not just story, it's image. Paul in his epistles used dozens of images of the church. Peter did the same thing. Instead of giving a long speech about separation, Peter says, "You are pilgrims and aliens in this world." Symbolism has a way of growing. You take an image: it applies to my age, it applied to the age Peter wrote to, it will apply to the church fifty years from now. So imagery has a way of giving truth prominence of expression, but freedom to expand.

Narrative is good, but some preachers have made the mistake of thinking, "All you do is tell a story," and you become an evangelical Garrison Keillor, for example. Keillor is a master at telling stories, but I think preaching is much more than that.

Preaching: Tell me about the contemporary models. Are there some contemporary folks that you like?

Wiersbe: Unfortunately I don't get to hear many preachers. I do read them. He's dead now but J. Wallace Hamilton was really a creative preacher, and his books are worth reading. I appreciate Chuck Swindoll's preaching; he has a warm, practical touch. I appreciate David Jeremiah in El Cajon, California. We have been together in conferences and I thoroughly enjoy his messages -- biblical, contemporary, up-to-date. The old Youth for Christ slogan, "Geared to the times but anchored to the rock," sure applies to preaching. I wish I could get to hear more people but I don't.

Of course we've all heard the greats. W. A. Criswell has been a great blessing to so many of us. I remember listening to R. G. Lee and saying, "111 never preach again. There's no sense my even getting up, I'll never preach again." A. W. Tozer was a great blessing to me. I heard him preach many times. Vance Havner -- I miss him, I really do. We needed him and I always enjoyed hearing him, but these are very special people. There never will be another W. A. Criswell, there will never be another Vance Havner.

Most of what we know about preaching comes through the printed page rather than the spoken word. I've been with Stuart Briscoe in conferences. His ministry always blesses me and I think over the years Stuart's ministry of the Word has changed. He seems to be moving more toward the practical/imaginative rather than the didactic/ analysis type of sermon.

I think sermons are getting shorter. Bob Cook used to tell us in Youth for Christ that a sermon does not have to be eternal to be immortal. Sermons are getting shorter, preaching is getting more personal, and the preacher has to be more open and more transparent. The day is over when people simply accept the authority of the text; they also need to be assured of the authority of the preacher. We need to be more transparent. When I started my ministry over forty years ago, a preacher would not tell publicly about some dumb thing he did that week, but now many preachers do it. I think preaching is changing for the better if what I read is what people are hearing, and I think there are some fine young preachers coming along. I won't name them, but I'm grateful for what God is doing in and through them. They're better trained than I was when I got started, and they have better tools.