So John Walsh's Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story is an important book for preachers. This book is really written to those who wish to perform stories in public (for example at a library for children or as a Sunday School lesson), but Walsh makes it accessible to a variety of others by guiding readers through portions of the book that non-storytellers can skip. The last section of the book gives specifics for applying his steps and principles to telling Bible stories. Walsh's storytelling abilities prove themselves throughout the pages of the book as he illustrates what he teaches.
That's what makes The Art of Storytelling essential reading for preachers.
In two major sections of the book, Walsh lays out steps for telling a compelling story before refining the storyteller's communication by providing tools for better communication.
Reading this book reminded me of the power of a story and put tools in my toolbox to help me improve my storytelling/preaching craft. Since it's formatted as a how-to guide, reading it straight through may not prove the most interesting read, but I recommend it as a good reference for beginning storytellers' bookshelves. The Art of Storytelling is certainly a book that will remain on my preaching bookshelf.
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I received this free book from Moody Publishing in exchange for my honest review here.