A new resource book for Biblical storytelling and narrative preaching

"The customary model of preaching that we have inherited," says James Ayers, "is based on the careful verse-by-verse preaching of the great doctors of the church, which came to its peak with the two-hour sermons of the Puritans. It's a great model – except it doesn't work well any more. People don't listen to two-hour sermons. They don't have the background or the stamina for it. What they can do, though, is hear a story that enables them to 'get' what's happening in a Bible passage – and that's not even the most important part: which is for them to hear the prompting of the Spirit, in their soul. In Finding the Story, preachers will learn how to offer that to their congregations."

What our hearts especially long for is an encounter with God – and that often seems to happen not so much when the preacher explains a doctrine or a Bible passage, but rather when the preacher tells a story as a means where the Spirit can speak into our souls.

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Check the Table of Contents for a list of chapters.

Here's an excerpt from

Chapter 6: What do These Words Mean? preaching ancient Greek and Hebrew roots as a story

It was taking longer than they expected to fix my car, so I had wandered over to McDonalds and was standing in line there when this couple came in.At first glance I guessed they were in their late fifties:but I was immediately unsure, because they also looked like they were honeymooners – perhaps not in-their-twenties honeymooners, but with that so-much-in-love look that it made me think maybe they were younger than my first guess.

Sometimes you see a couple of a certain age, more

Here's an excerpt from

Chapter 1: The Scriptures and the Power of God

... some of the most religious people got so upset with Jesus that they set themselves as his enemies.In their rage they accused him of being the friend of outcasts and sinners (Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34).They were mad that Jesus didn’t maintain the proper superior attitude over the dregs of society.It almost gives us the feeling that these people might have been able to approve, if Jesus simply wanted to do good for the poor wretches as the bottom of the social ladder.But he went ahead and liked those people.With laughter and congeniality more

Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1982, James Ayers has served churches in Kansas, Massachusetts, and Kentucky.  He earned an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Boston College.  He currently serves as Teaching Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.  He has written the Q&A column for Presbyterians Today since 1995, as well as numerous scholarly and popular articles. He and his wife Micaela have been married for 34 years and have two grown daughters. He travels to Mexico on mission projects several times each year to provide leadership and translation services for various church groups, and he has bicycled in 32 states. Feel free to drop him a note at james.ayers@ecunet.org if you have any questions.

His latest book (forthcoming in 2009) is From the Mists of Eden: stories from my family from long ago, a retelling of some of the formative stories from the Torah. Here is an excerpt from chapter 1 of From the Mists of Eden.

Finding the Story is published by CSS Publishing, Lima, OH.

226 pages / 5.5x8.5 / $19.95 retail ISBN 0788024450