Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today … Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact – Robert McKee

Preacher’s foremost obligation bearing in mind the function good news plays in the lives of people is to the truth of the gospel with absolute trust and loyalty to God. The gospel as a function of evangelism entails a process of communication in which preachers uses proclamation and storytelling to make the gospel good newsworthy. My study and research about Graham’s preaching shows that he used strong central characters for “storytelling with a purpose” by capturing the meaning behind words. Graham’s stories captures emotion, provides context and empowers the people to the point of making decision for Christ. As Christians, we are our stories. The creation and gospel start with stories just as stories shapes the people. Beyond the business as usual approach to the communication of the gospel, Graham was a specialist is story telling. Graham used stories and illustrations to communicate the gospel and reach out to peoples’ spirituality and emotionally connected.

The reality is that ‘stories are all around us.’ Stories and story telling, the oldest form of arts ‘are what move us, make us feel alive, and inspire us. Our appetite for stories is a reflection of the basic human need to understand patterns of life — not merely as an intellectual exercise but as a personal, emotional experience.’ Graham moved beyond business as usual by building his sermons with content ‘that is engaging and powerful, by harnessing the energy of the well-told story.’ Graham, with the understanding of the purpose of preaching and evangelism provides his audience with the good news they need to make the best possible decision about their eternal lives. Graham’s sermon beyond one-of-a-kind outlines are enriched with profound biblical exposition with unforgettable illustrations.

Craig Brian, a former editor of Preaching Today explained that Graham wrote messages ideal for the masses and for calling people to decision. According to him, Graham ‘really knew how to preach an evangelistic sermon with the use of stories and illustrations connected to deeper themes. Graham spoke of life and death, heaven and hell, repentance, society in decay, souls in misery, the love of God, the Cross of Christ. He majored in the gospel in a way simple and clear, relied on Scripture alone for his authority—repeating “the Bible says” without apology—and pursued the listener’s heart and will from beginning to end.’ Graham with his single-minded aim in ‘his preaching displayed a galvanising urgency because he asked the listener what they would do with Christ today’ through contextual stories. One could say that Graham like a typical photographer think and preach visually with focus on the core of a story as he navigate his way through the fog of detail collected in the preaching process.

Janet Litherland provides a helpful insight about what story can do in communicating the gospel. According to her, ‘Stories have power. They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help us understand. They imprint a picture on our minds. Want to make a point or raise an issue? Tell a story.’ Indeed, Graham was a great story teller. With his commanding appearance, Graham understood how to imprint the gospel in the heart of people couple with a corresponding story shaped invitation. The power of a story is a profound one. Stories helped Graham to connect with and moved his audience and make his preaching more memorable. Using the words of Maya Angelou rightly said “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Graham, by telling compelling stories emphasised the best way to make people feel blessed. Graham as a story teller evangelised with imagination, instilling hope again and again. Graham, beyond the danger of story telling that disconnects people as mere entertainer connects and helps his audience to see and understand the call to salvation through Jesus Christ.

In one of his sermons, Your Will Reap What You Show, Graham with reference to Number chapter 32 explained that we are all sinner. We all breaks God’s law including Christians and every sin committed will find us out now or on the judgement day by God’s tape recorder. According to Graham, God have tapes recording our actions and intents, and more sophisticated than our technological inventions. The message is that we will all reap what we sow. Graham used the water melon story involving a little boy in North Carolina very close to South Carolina, the water melon capital of the world. According to Graham, the father of the little boy while going to town instructed his little hungry son not to touch the water melon on the farm. After the father left the farm, the little boy found a ripe water melon and split it with rock and gave himself a good treat. He later dug a hole and buried the seed and left over of the water melon beside the farm wall. After some weeks, water melon sprout came out and while walking round the farm, the father saw the shoot of the water melon and gave his son a little reprimand. Graham also added the story of a shop lifter, while trying to pass through the cashier, the alarm went off. The lesson from the two Graham’s stories is that, our sins will surely find us out except we repent.

Andy Smith provides some useful insight which resonates with Graham’s power of story telling. According to Smith, stories are about people, Graham’s stories connects with other people, with characters speaking for themselves. Graham’s stories with clear meanings without the danger of neglecting his evangelical strength stirs up emotion and with ‘moment of truth,’ people become more involved with the story by making decision to follow Christ.