Jump Into the Story

Preaching is a challenging, privileged, and awesome responsibility. As important as mining the text for its meaning and message and making connections to our twenty-first-century world is the responsibility to engage the imaginations of the people in the pews (or chairs). In this book, Ray Friesen--life-long preacher and retired pastor--has provided twenty examples of how to be creative and engage those imaginations. Most were written under the pressures of bi-vocational ministry (preaching forty times a year as half-time pastor and operating a mediation practice). They are offered to you, not as sermons for you to preach, but as examples of what is possible, even with all the other responsibilities you may have. Each sermon and type of creativity will create an opportunity to set your imagination and creativity free to engage the imaginations, hearts, and dreams of your parishioners. ""Unlike other great preachers, Ray Friesen never preached to thousands on a Sunday morning, so I am glad that a collection of his sermons is available so that more can experience and appreciate his creative and engaging sermons."" --Gareth Brandt, Professor of Spiritual Formation, Columbia Bible College ""In this book, Ray calls all preachers to use their imaginations to reach God's people in relevant and interesting ways. Ray emphasizes the importance of the task of preaching and the contextualization of the ancient writings. This is not a 'how-to' textbook, but if you are looking for some renewal in your preaching, this is a great book to inspire one's imagination for inspirational proclamation."" --Gregory Kiel, Senior Pastor Southwest Lutheran Parish, Swift Current, Saskatchewan ""I picked up this book in the middle of my work day and had read to the end of the second chapter before I could force myself to put it down. I literally 'jumped in' and was soon caught up in the images that Ray creates. I can't wait to try out some of his story-telling techniques on Sunday morning."" --Annette Taylor, First United Church, Swift Current, Saskatchewan Ray R. Friesen is a retired pastor, having spent the last twenty years as a pastor in two different Mennonite Church Canada congregations in southwest Saskatchewan. He continues to operate his own mediation practice and is a member of the local Kiwanis club. He is a firm believer that preachers must have a community-involved life outside the congregation. He and his wife, Sylvia, have two adult daughters, Larissa and Rachelle.