Author and former Chick-fil-a executive, Mark Miller, recently reminded me about an experiment recited in the book Made to Stick. 

A Stanford class was asked to prepare a one-minute speech on a topic. Half were for the topic, half were against. On average, the students used 2.5 statistics in their speeches, but only one-in-ten students told a story.  

When asked ten minutes later, only 5% of the audience could remember any statistics, but 63% could remember the stories. Stories were twelve times more effective than statistics.  

Jesus also knew the power of story. In Matthew 13:34 we read, “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.” 

When you need to communicate something important, don’t forget the power of story.