This book contains 475 illustrations, anecdotes, metaphors, and narratives useful to any preacher or public speaker. The contents are indexed according to 63 topics, ranging from Advent, Angels, Blessings, Church... to Prayer, Pentecost, Resurrection, Spiritual Life, Stewardship, Truth, TV Commercial, and Worship.

Schmalenberger, who has served as senior pastor in some of America's largest Lutheran churches and who has taught preaching at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, gathered this collection from his own preaching journals. Jerry Schmalenberger is a graduate of Wittenberg University and Hamma School of Theology in Springfield, Ohio. He received the Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Wittenberg and Hamma. He taught speech and communication at Wittenberg University and Urbana College in Ohio and was a parish pastor for 29 years. He recently retired as president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California, although he continues to maintain his professorship at the seminary. During the past year he taught courses at the Batak Seminary on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Dr. Schmalenberger has also appeared frequently on television and radio programs.