(Part 1)

JBTM Book Reviews
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over his testimony.
This book is of great help for the young minister needing advice in the pastorate. At the
same time, this work challenges mature pastors to examine their ministries and to recommit
to these biblical priorities. The length makes it easy to read, and the practical nature of the
material makes the book an asset for any minister’s library. Although the work may fall short
of being a textbook for pastoral ministry, it certainly my serve as supplement as well as
recommended reading for ministerial students and church leaders. Whether reading this as
a textbook or for personal growth, the material instructs and encourages readers to focus on
God’s word and to accept the challenge to shepherd faithfully God’s flock.
- Tim Tew, Charleston Southern University, Charleston, South Carolina
Persuasive Preaching: A Biblical and Practical Guide to the Effective Use of Persuasion. By
R. Larry Overstreet. Wooster, OH: Weaver, 2014. 312 pages. Paperback, $24.99.
R. Larry Overstreet is adjunct professor in the PhD program at Piedmont International
University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In addition to Persuasive Preaching, Overstreet
has written Biographical Preaching: Bringing Bible Characters to Life. The author brings a
solid academic tenure, coupled with seventeen years of pastoral work in churches in both
Michigan and Indiana. He writes as a seasoned practitioner, and this work makes an important
contribution to the field of preaching.
In Persuasive Preaching, Overstreet seeks to make the case that persuasion was a key
element to New Testament preaching, a case he makes convincingly, as he examines the
Greek words used pertaining to persuasion. The author follows his study of the biblical
material by offering clear examples on how to organize sermonic material for the purpose
of persuasion. He provides helpful case studies of how to form various arguments for the
purpose of persuading one’s hearers to respond to the biblical message.
The book reads as an impassioned plea for the recovery of persuasion in contemporary
pulpit ministry. Overstreet laments that too often sermons excel in exposition, but fail in
persuasion. Faithful preaching must be seen as more than imparting biblical information, but
also as a call to respond in faith and obey the living God.
The book is arranged in four parts, with part one addressing the challenges facing
persuasive preaching. In this section, Overstreet provides a careful working definition
of persuasion, which draws from secular sources as well as from the field of homiletics.
Overstreet understands persuasion in the preaching context as “the process of preparing
biblical, expository messages using a persuasive pattern, and presenting them through verbal
and nonverbal communication means to autonomous individuals who can be convicted and/