What books did Joel Osteen read?

mike

A serious question,

This guy's ammo on "illustrations" are endless and I got to say they're pretty good. (let's be honest)

Not a lot of people are gifted with telling illustrations like that.

I wonder what books he read to get his illustration or where he got them from?

anyone ever searched?

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JT (alabama24)

This guy's ammos on "illustrations" are endless and I got to say they're pretty good. (let's be honest)

I know very little about Joel Osteen and have never read a book or heard him speak. However, I have no idea what this sentence means! What's "ammos"?

On a general note: Andy Stanley is one of the best speakers I know... He admits that he uses a team to assist him. Perhaps Joel does the same?

mike

I'm sure a quick googling can give you information.

anyway if you never heard him, watch this and count how many illustrations he gave in one sermon.

Anthony

I'm sure a quick googling can give you information.

Google only returns restaurants and attempts at possible abbreviations - what do you mean by 'ammos'.

DAL

I'm sure a quick googling can give you information.

Google only returns restaurants and attempts at possible abbreviations - what do you mean by 'ammos'.

Boy, it looks like none of you were born in a country that is currently at war. Ammunition = Ammo...hence, lots of bullets (illustrations) to make his point and he doesn't run out of them. I know because where I work we use Ammo cans to store radioactive material. Those things are heavy (about 50 lbs each - depending on how much we load them - I'm sure with bullets/Ammunition [ammo] they weight more). [;)]

DAL

Paul C

I am told that most of these prosperity preachers hold the Wall Street Journal in high esteem.

DAL

A serious question,

This guy's ammos on "illustrations" are endless and I got to say they're pretty good. (let's be honest)

Not a lot of people are gifted with telling illustrations like that.

I wonder what books he read to get his illustration or where he got them from?

anyone ever searched?

Join Toast Masters or pay a Public Speaking Coach to help you. A lot of motivational speakers (which is the category I put Joel in) they sometimes pay a coach to help them get better in their particular area of expertise...or as others have suggested, he's got the talent, but he also has a team working for him to help him craft the right illustrations.

DAL

Schezic

anyway if you never heard him, watch this and count how many illustrations he gave in one sermon.

I think I'll pass. But I challenge you to count the Bible references. I would guess a stark contrast.

(‾◡◝)

FWIW:

A long time ago, I learned a very simple truth (although it took me a while to work it out) ...

1) Good preachers are not necessarily good speakers and,

2) Good speakers are not necessarily good preachers.

Ken McGuire

I am reminded of the parable of the dishonest manager. It is easy to complain about the content of his message, but as the OP mentioned, he does speak well. And we who claim to have a better message should not be afraid to learn how to speak by comparing ourselves with him...

Daniel Lee

And we who claim to have a better message should not be afraid to learn how to speak by comparing ourselves with him...

Unless we violate the spirit of Paul in http://ref.ly/1Co2.1 and http://ref.ly/2Co2.17

Eloquence is not inherently Christian or virtuous, though I'm certainly not advocating for lack of clarity when preaching.

Jerry Bush

I will refrain from stating my opinion about Joel.

He certainly has a research team and a good one. Once you get to a certain level, you can afford that .

I got to spend some time with Rick Warren's research assistant (he also had a secretary and some other assistant if I remember correctly). She had an amazing system of filing and organization; it was fascinating. I think she had 1-2 people working with her.

At the basic level, she said Rick might say he needs an illustration about respecting your spouse or whatever. She would go to work and find a few and he would pick one out. Or he might want a picture or something else.

Most of her job was to collect illustrations and file them away in the system. Rick would sometimes give them to her and sometimes she would come across one. I am going by memory here from several years ago.

By the way, everyone I came across at Saddleback seemed to be very genuine and humble, including Rick.

So anyway, that is why speakers at that level seem to have an endless supply of illustrations; it's because they do. They have help and a good system for getting the right thing for the right sermon.

Just my anecdotal observation.

Jerry

Allen Browne

A serious question,
This guy's ammo on "illustrations" are endless and I got to say they're pretty good. (let's be honest)

Not a lot of people are gifted with telling illustrations like that.

I wonder what books he read to get his illustration or where he got them from?

anyone ever searched?

Actually, that's a good question, mike.

Like most of your respondents, I'm not a fan of Joel Osteen either, but there may be something to learn from him about story-telling.

In college, I learned about the importance of illustrations--the stories that illustrate the importance of the points I was trying to make. I've come to believe that that approach is wrong-headed. The stories are the message. That's why the God didn't give us a systematic theology or a wiki or a policy document or a set of principles. He gave us stories of people's lives: Adam, Moses, David, Ezra, Jesus and his apostles. Many of the Psalms are storied. The prophets make sense within the Israel's story. Paul's letters all have storied substructures. Revelation is a single enacted story.

God is a person, not a theological principle, so he shows up in people's stories. We can abstract those stories into principles that help us comprehend him: that's fine, but God is found not in the principles but in the stories. That radical change of epistemology has revolutionized the way I teach.

God is known through people and their stories. He always planned to be known through people. We are people whose stories reflect (image) God to each other. Israel's calling was to be the people through whom other nations would know God. The ultimate revelation of God was through a person. Corporately, our stories are the revelation of God, known through his body.

We might argue that guys like Joel O choose the wrong stories, but perhaps they have understood why the storied approach works. I'm no longer looking for good illustrations: I'm looking for God at work in people's lives.

Hope that's helpful, Mike.

Paul C

I don't think anyone objects to using illustrations to help understand/demonstrate Scripture. It becomes troubling when the rare inclusion of a Biblical text is an attempt to support one of a multitude of feel good illustrations.

Robert M. Warren

Not a lot of people are gifted with telling illustrations like that.

Hmm...Bill Cosby, Garrison Keillor, Tom Bodett. But they're not staring down the barrel of James 3:1 judgment.

Kent

I listened to Joel Osteen once and that was enough. I won't comment further. However, since it has been mentioned and we are in Logos Forums...

The Preacher as Storyteller https://www.logos.com/product/2544/the-preacher-as-storyteller

abondservant

Going to link an image that is potentially offensive to followers of Osteen. There are a few others in the image, Joeseph Prince, Joyce Meyer, and Sara Jakes. If you like any of them I wouldn't recommend the image. I'm sharing it because it made me laugh, and because the image follows the tenor of this thread RE Osteen.

Click Here.

Apologies if you find your self offended.