Storytelling is a powerful tool for ministry that is underutilized today.
God is the master creator of our lives who is telling a beautiful story. The ministry that God is doing in our midst is worth communicating in a way that compels a response of life transformation towards Jesus.
Please check out the presentation I gave at the Drive-Thru Training Conference.
And for those interested, here are the notes I used to teach from: Storytelling_Drive-Thru_WEB
I have an 8 month old son who is obsessed with the TV remote. I even bought him a toy remote that sounds like you are changing the channel, but it didn’t fool him.
Now that he has started crawling, one of the greatest joys in my day is coming home, sitting on the floor, and waiting for him to crawl over to me. His smile leaks drool all over the carpet as he approaches.
Clawing up my shirt, wiping his nose on the way to a standing position, there is very little in this world greater than your kid crawling all over you in complete joy just to be with you again.
But then something happens.
His attention quickly shifts from touching my scruffy face to the TV remote on the coffee table. Like a puppy who just spotted a chew toy, my son is done with me and onto something else. This is the point I realize that I was being used…
He is not tall enough to reach the coffee table where he knows the remote lives. I sit on the ground and he has been presented the perfect launching point to get what he really wants. I am nothing more than a footstool that makes goofy noises to earn a smile.
Isn’t it frustrating when we are a stepping stone for something else? Its even more frustrating when I realize my relationship with God is often reduced to this.
The good news is that my son doesn’t know any better and I love him all the same. I think that we know better.
Lets make a deal with each other today: avoid using God to get what you want in life. More money, a less stressful job, and less homework are not what you need. Simply put, lets enjoy God for the Father that he truly is, sitting on the floor with us excited to be together again.
(this is not my kid)
I made the early drive to Blackies before sunrise to avoid the clutter of people in the water. Most times I found myself in the company of old men and girls, the mellowest of crowds, the most welcoming of sessions. As a beginner I craved this environment, the kind of environment that said my errors were a part of the process.
I love when a student “gets it.” No matter how many hours I spend preparing messages or planning for events, God seems to move most when our students serve others. This is the story of 3 of our students who had the opportunity to serve Thanksgiving Dinner to a homeless community in Costa Mesa.
All the things that you are doing in ministry are important, but are you creating space for students to be with people that look different than they do?
I was honored to speak at a friend’s church today to a room full of youth pastors from all over California. God is clearly doing some incredible things in the lives of students! Gary, the pastor from the church, has created a resource that anyone in ministry needs to download. Here is a video talking about it:
Go to the iTunes store and search for Waveuth Network and BAM…its yours.
A good story captures our emotion like nothing else. They have a way of communicating truths in a rich way that inspires us to live our lives differently. There are 4 primary components to every story: protagonist, ambition, conflict and resolution. Without each of these elements, the story won’t sit right with us.
It’s interesting how much our lives are like stories. We are the protagonist and we want something with our life. In reality if we want something lame, our story will be lame. But when we want something noble, bold, or powerful, our story will follow. Ambition is what drives our story. But good ambition will always be followed by conflict.
Every good story is filled with conflict. This is where most of the story takes places, its where we see what the protagonist is made of, its where we get inspired to overcome obstacles and never give up. We talked this weekend in junior high ministry about creating a good ambition for this school year so that each student has a great story when June comes around. We spent most of our time talking about the conflict that is guaranteed to take place. Consider it a gripping part of your story when things get tough, you feel like giving up, you are losing hope…but keep moving forward.
Your story is powerful. We each have a story that is being written by the author of life. What story is being written with your life?
(Donald Miller has some amazing material on the concept of story…you should check him out here.)
Life happens and we learn stuff. For instance: when coffee tastes bad, we add more sugar. Or when a Matthew McConaughey movie comes out, we know to skip it. But some lessons are better learned at camp. Here are a select few that I learned this year at summer camp.
We are better together. At camp we spend more time together than we do in a full year of weekend services. We eat together, play toghether, and talk together. By being together we develop the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for on John 17. It is through the connection made at camp that we begin to show the world how much God loves them.
Silence can be deafening. I tend to forget how noisy my life is until I get to camp. With cell phones, TV, Facebook, work insanity, and a growing family at home, life is loud all of the time. We gave students 20 minutes of silence in the dark one night to (ironically) listen to God. No talking, just listening. It is shocking how loud God can be when we give him the space to talk.
Our story is actually God’s story. The majority of the time we teach students about God by reading scripture (which is absolutely necessary). But we tend to neglect the power of God through our own stories. 3 volunteers shared their personal life stories at camp as if they were a current junior high student. We heard how their life was transformed by our gracious, loving, forgiving God. We heard the gospel through their life and learned that our story is actually God’s story.
Camp is an incredible place for life change and I cannot wait to share stories from the next one!
Wow, I cannot believe how fast the summer has gone. I apologize for the lack of postings during the summer months, things just got too crazy. We had VBS, Mancation, Girls Palm Springs Retreat, 4 Yo-Ho Thursdays, 2 Doheny Beach Days, and our Oakbridge Summer Camp!
And in the middle of all of that I had my first kid!
All that to say, summer is over and I am back. Looking forward to sharing some new insights with you soon!
One of the best things a ministry can do is adopt a cause together. We have been raising awareness and money for a breakfast program in a partner village in Mexico called Rojo Gomez. 200 kids show up every school day to get breakfast at the local church. Because their parents work and money is an issue, these kids would normally only get one meal a day.
We have committed to raising 3,000 meals. Currently we are at 1,000. I wanted to share a story with you about one student who understands the power of caring for others. Madison’s mom sent this to me:
“Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share my daughter’s story.
Madison told me on Friday night that she wanted to follow the plan of the week and support Rojo Gomez by raising money on Saturday. She wanted to sell lemonade. I thought to my self great, I’ve got no lemonade, no cups, no sweets or even a table for her to use! Well her father bought a cool wooden stand for $5 at a garage sale and I went shopping for the goodies. Madison, her 9 year old brother and two girlfriends decorated the stand and dragged it out to the corner. I quickly made a small batch of brownies and off they went to raise money for Rojo. Well after selling 16 quarts of lemonade and a batch of brownies, Madison raised over $100!
Boy was I surprised since it was cool and windy outside- who would want lemonade? God must having been shining down on those kids at that corner because there were so many people stopping they could hardly keep up! Anyways I am so proud of Madison and I hope the money helps those in need.”
I love when junior high students get it. I tend to forget how much God can use a couple of kids selling lemonade.
One thing rings true about Junior High students...they are awkward. And I mean that in the most honoring way. I am the Junior High Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA and this is a place with thoughts on leadership, updates from our ministry and a tribute to all things Junior High.
