In this selection from Ed's latest book, The Creative Leader, he discusses why personal and biblical illustrations are always best.
While most speakers know the importance of timely illustrations, let me add a few final comments that I have gleaned by observing many great communicators. For biblical preaching and teaching, I’ve discovered that personal and biblical illustrations are always the best way to give an abstract truth a concrete home in everyday life. I have nothing against illustrations and anecdotes from books, but I have not found those as effective as using stories from own life or those of biblical characters. I love to hear speakers talk about their lives, so why would I expect my audience to be any different?
When we allow the audience into our lives, to discover that we aren’t perfect, we will connect more deeply and identify more significantly with them. An important warning here is to emphasize our weaknesses more than our strengths when we use personal illustrations. In other words, don’t make yourself the hero of all your stories. Talk about your bad days as well as your good, but also how you have submitted to God in all circumstances and have been blessed because of it. In other words, whether you’re talking about good times or bad, God is always the hero of the story. His strength, not ours, is the catalyst for change.
As far as biblical illustrations go, you know as well as I do that the Bible is rich with stories that communicate with great emotion the love, mercy and grace of God. God could have had the biblical authors pen a heavy doctrinal dissertation on God’s historical interaction with humankind, but he didn’t. He had them write the stories of their lives and God’s faithfulness in spite of their failures. God knew that we would connect in a deeper way with stories, so he used stories to communicate his great love for us. We should follow His lead when we teach and preach.
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