Customer Reviews

Tony Evan's Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes From More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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I had a preaching professor in seminary who said if you get one good illustration out of an illustration book, you got your money's worth. Okay, so I got my money's worth out of this book, but not much more. It suffers from several problems. Let's review them.

Many of the illustrations are directly from Tony's life, and as such are pretty soggy and not really transferable. How many congregations want to hear a pastor repeatedly say, "A funny thing happened to Tony Evans awhile back..."

For instance, he tells a story about going to Tennessee for a speaking engagement. The flight was delayed, and when he landed, he had an hour drive ahead of him to get to his destination. He was worried the entire time about being late. The man who picked him up at the airport repeatedly told him not to worry, as the audience would wait. Sure enough, when he got to the engagement, late, no one had left, and the entire audience burst into applause. So-so story, and since it didn't happen to us, how do we drive it home? It just sort of lays there. And it has too many brothers on these pages.

Concerning the non-personal illustrations, many are available elsewhere. Worst of all, sometimes Evans says things that I just find offensive. On two separate occasions, he says that God is looking for "groupies." I understand his point: God wants people who worship him with the same fervor they do their favorite entertainer. Still, the language is just tasteless. The word has too much negative baggage. Groupies are usually mindless sycophants.

The positive side of this book is that it might give pastors an idea of how to look for illustrations in their own lives. I have often found that the personal illustrations I come up with are just as good as ones I find in books. So, all in all, this volume is worth a glance, if you can get it cheap. Don't expect too much, and you won't be disappointed. Oh, by the way, the numbers in the index refer to the numbers of the illustrations, not the page number. The illustrations have tiny superscript numberings at the end of each. Just thought you should know.

This man is truly anointed by God Almighty. I grow from his preaching/teaching.
There's one draw bback to the book, when you're in a hurry to get that one special illustration or thought.

The index is confusing. It's explained that the reference numbers are for the illustrations not the page numbers. But, the illustrations are not numbered.

Other than that, a wonderfully on-time piece of work by one of my favorite teachers/preachers.

Tony Evans is one of the greatest preachers of our time. Ive always enjoyed reading his books. This book is classic Evans. His anecdotes and illustrations are very helpful in helping to get the point accross. Very useful for help with sermons and drawing a picture that anyone can understand. I have read some of the reviews about the illustartions not being numbered and the page numbers not accompaning the subject you may want to look up. I agree, the illustrations should have been numberd or at least include the page number BUT if you look, you will see that all topics are in alphabetical order in the back and throughout each section of the book also, so if you want to know about Grace, then go to G in the book and you will find your illustration on grace, its really not that hard.

Every illustration is new and fresh! Dr. Evans shows the model of how to gather illustrations from everyday life. Lots of encouring and insightful stories... Good!

This book is everything it claimed. It will make teaching, preaching and understanding complex issues easier due to the great and realistic illustrations. There is an illustration, story or quote for every topic imaginable and a scripture reference for each one. Young and old will benefit from this book.

I think that the book is full of excellent examples and illustrations that can be used by anyone that is a public speaker. I am looking for some particular examples that I have heard Dr. Evans use before but so far I have not found them. I think that this book is good for anyone looking to add flavor to their speeches or sermons!

This book was in perfect condition! And it's an incredible book!!! Thank you amazon.com! Thank you!