(Part 1)

JBTM Book Reviews
174
the public invitation. The final chapter is a reasoned appeal for the recovery of an invitation
in the Christian worship service for the purpose of giving people an opportunity to respond
to the message heard. Overstreet argues that such a segment is important as a logical and
practical basis of persuading people to respond to biblical truth.
Appendices A–D contain information from secular sources as well as the New Testament
on the usage of various Greek words related to persuasion. Appendix E contains sample
sermon outlines for each of the four persuasion patterns.
Overstreet issues a strong challenge to recover persuasion as an essential goal of Christian
proclamation. He sets forth a biblical theology of preaching that should be in the curriculum
of every homiletics department as a reminder that true preaching, in its biblical form, is
more than imparting information. The preaching moment is not a performance, but a Godordained
means to call men and women to the obedience of faith as it relates to every facet
of their lives. Indeed, we preach to persuade.
As one with a weekly pulpit ministry, I was confronted by this work to embrace a renewed
intentionality to persuade. The need for persuasion has become an urgent need for those
called and charged to lead the church of Jesus Christ. In the face of an intolerant pluralism
and the daily bombardment of hundreds of appeals and messages in our digital culture, the
effort to persuade for the cause of Christ is ever present. Overstreet gives numerous exampls
to consider in this helpful text, and he concludes with this pastoral exhortation: “Our task
is to preach, to persuade others to turn to our Lord, and to live in full commitment to Him.
May it be said of our ministries for God, as it was said of Moses, ‘Moses was faithful in all His
house as a servant’ (Heb. 3:5)” (214).
- James B. Law, First Baptist Church, Gonzales, Louisiana
Prevenient Grace: God’s Provision for Fallen Humanity. By W. Brian Shelton. Anderson,
IN: Warner, 2014. 283 pages. Paperback, $24.99.
Prevenient grace is a doctrine which is rejected by its opponents and neglected by its
advocates. W. Brian Shelton, provost at Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, Georgia, defines
his topic: “The doctrine of prevenient grace is the belief that God enables all people to
exercise saving faith in Christ by mitigating the effects of sinful depravity” (259). Calvinists
reject the view that God provides grace which enables every person to respond freely to the
gospel; this rejection is exemplified by a survey of sizeable systematic theologies published
recently by Dortian Calvinists who fail to mention the doctrine. Ironically, Arminians assume
its truth but have not mounted a significant defense for the doctrine. Shelton explains there
have been “no seminal works on prevenient grace in the two hundred year legacy of John