By William H. Willimon 

Will Willimon is known and read throughout the world for his riveting, edgy, witty, and provocative stories or parables. His most beloved, memorable, and impactful stories are presented in this collection.  The Stories of Will Willimon will expose readers to joy, agony, thankfulness, greed, trust, fear, healing, suffering, laughter, weeping, yearning, irony, hatred, and love.  Readers may see themselves or their friends at times in these stories.  Fellow storytellers are likely to retell these stories to friends, family, colleagues, and churches. Preachers will find illustrative materials to support their sermons and all readers will be inspired by the insights into the Christian faith provided.

 

What others are saying!

“Will Willimon is a great storyteller—and some of his stories are actually true! Will’s stories will make you laugh, cry, raise an eyebrow, and typically see God and yourself more deeply, clearly, and truthfully. Stories by Willimon is a great gift to us all.”       —L. Gregory Jones, dean, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC, and author of Christian Social Innovation 

“Preachers, cancel your commitments for the next few hours. You are about to sit down to a buffet of vintage Willimon—stories and insights that break in through the back door of your heart. Believe me, you will not be able to put this book down. When you do finally put it down, keep it close because there are a gazillion sermon illustrations in it.” —Charley Reeb, senior pastor, Johns Creek United Methodist Church, GA, and author of That’ll Preach! and Say Something! 

Stories by Willimon excerpt

William H. Willimon

Will Willimon is a preacher and teacher of preachers. He is a United Methodist bishop (retired) and serves as Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. For twenty years he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. A 1996 Baylor University study named him among the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English speaking world. The Pew Research Center found that Will was one of the most widely read authors among Protestant clergy in 2005. His quarterly Pulpit Resource is used by thousands of pastors throughout North America, Canada, and Australia. In 2021 he gave the prestigious Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale Divinity School. Those lectures became the book, Preachers Dare: Speaking for God which is the inspiration for his ninetieth book, Listeners Dare: Hearing God in the Sermon.