Vance Havner (1901–1986)

Writing: 4.5; Theme: 5.0; Content: 5.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

Various thoughts and great principles shared by the widely known evangelist Vance Havner. He shares honest advice on many different topics. Highly recommend.

***April 11, 2026***

This is a collection of stories and sayings from evangelist Vance Havner. There were quite a few about communism--something that's apparently not as worrisome now as it was at the time some of Havner's works were created. My favorite was one that likened a dentist to a preacher.

This is a book of meditations for every day of the year. I gave this little devotional volume to my wife. We both loved the devotional writings of Vance Havner.

Vance Havner has the enviable reputation of being the most quoted preacher of the 20th Century. His writings are a great source of inspiration to me for sermon preparation.

The Quotable Vance Havner:

"You can't tell it like it is, if you don't believe it like it was."

"Most church members live so far below the standard, you would have show more to backslide to be in fellowship with them."

"Some preachers ought to put more fire into their sermons or more sermons into the fire."

"If you want to be popular, preach happiness. If you want to be unpopular, preach holiness."

Bottom Line. I made notations highlighting 15 of the meditations in this dog-eared book as being good sermon starters. show less

Much of our Christianity is a pale copy of the Acts of the Apostles, so pale that much of the orignal cannot be seen.