Heed Dr. Warren Wiersbe's advice: "If at first Boreham does not excite you, give him time. He grows on you. He has a way of touching the nerve centers of life and getting to that level of reality that too often we miss. Some may consider him sentimental; others may feel he is a relic from a vanished era. They are welcome to their opinions. But before you pass judgment, read him for yourself and read enough to give him a fair trial."

Boreham preached in numerous pulpits, to a variety of crowds, over the course of six decades. Nuggets for the preacher are buried just below surface level throughout his writings. One fine day, while on a bush walk in New Zealand with a very eminent preacher, young Boreham was asking advice from the seasoned preacher regarding the art and calling of preaching. His walking partner turned to him, looked him squarely in the eye, and remarked, "Keep up your surprise power, my dear fellow; the pulpit must never, never lose its power of startling people!"

Let's have Boreham mine the ore and extract the gold: "Is it enough for a preacher to preach the truth? In a place where I was quite unknown, I turned into a church one day and enjoyed the rare luxury of hearing another man preach. But, much as I appreciated the experience, I found, when I came out, that the preacher had started a rather curious line of thought. He was a very gracious man; it was a genuine pleasure to have seen and heard him, yet there seemed to be a something lacking. The sermon was absolutely without surprise.

"Every sentence was splendidly true, and yet not a single sentence startled me. There was no sting in it. I seem to have heard it all over and over and over again; I could even see what was coming. Surely it is the preacher's duty to give the truth such a setting, and present it in such a way that the oldest truths will appear newer than the latest sensations. He must arouse me from my torpor; he must compel me to open my eyes and pull myself together; he must make me sit up and think."

In his essay entitled, Wheels Within Wheels, from his book, Cliffs of Opal, Boreham writes to a young man, the son of a ministerial colleague. The young minister had just been ordained and the reader senses a veteran Paul addressing a greenhorn Timothy. Boreham tells our young friend that preaching has "three distinct values."

Preaching, he says, should have an entertainment value. This is not to be confused with what comes through our television cable boxes that some call entertainment. Preaching should be of entertainment value in the regard that the preacher should, "at every art of his command ... capture and hold the attention of his hearers. It is not enough that [the preacher] should say what it is his duty to say in the first words that happen to come. He must arrange his matter so attractively, and present it so effectively, that the most listless and languid will be compelled to follow him. There is no earthly reason why actors, [lawyers] or statesmen should state their cases more attractively, more convincingly, or, if you like, more entertainingly, than the preacher. The art of preaching ... is the art of compelling the congregation to listen to your mess-age; and you can only be sure that they will listen if you make it worth their while to listen. The Master preachers Jesus, Paul, Wesley, Whitefield, Spur-geon, Moody and the rest -- knew that they had something to say that was well worth saying."