Come Alive with Illustrations: How to Find, Use, and File Good Stories for Sermons and Speeches. By Leslie B. Flynn. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987. 222 pages.  

This book is an introduction to using illustrations in Christian communication. The subtitle accurately describes the first half of the book. The last half of the book contains about 430 illustrations arranged topically.  

Flynn, pastor of Grace Conservative Baptist Church in Nanuet, New York, thinks of illustrations as supplements to biblical exposition. He does not mention recent homiletical literature calling for story sermons and story-shaped sermons.  

Flynn covers the basics well, but readers may wish for more detail on cultivating an eye for good illustrations. It is useless to know where to look until we know what to look for when we get there. Learning to see the illustrative potential in what we read and observe is, after all, the key to having a plentiful supply of fresh illustrations. Admittedly this mental process is difficult to describe, but a book on illustration should make more of an effort at it than is found here. Too often Flynn substitutes examples for explanation.  

Despite this shortcoming, Flynn’s book is a helpful work for beginning preachers and more experienced preachers in need of aid with illustrations. Those who have already mastered the principles Flynn discusses may find his illustrations helpful.