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 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?
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.)
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.
What has been the most productive 45 hours of your ministry career?
For us, the answer is ALWAYS camp. We leave on Friday for Winter Camp and I could not be more excited about what God is doing in the lives of our students. I know that this will be a critical weekend in the life of every student going with us.
Here are some things to keep in mind while we are gone:
For me, this is going to be a landmark weekend. 10 years ago at this exact camp I made the decision to follow Jesus for the first time. Since then I have gone to bible college, began seminary, got married, found out my wife and I are pregnant, and now am a youth pastor! There is a “full circle” feeling that I can’t deny.
My hope for this weekend is that we would pay attention to where God is already moving in the lives of our students. I hope that we play hard, get muddy (see image below!), laugh a lot, take risks, get hurt (a little), and experience God in a unique way. Please join us in prayer while we are away!
River guides might be the most fascinating people on the planet. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to go river rafting in Montana. The river was glacier run-off from Glacier National Park and was a chilly 45 degrees. Thoughts of capsizing occupied my mind as our guide explained that the river is dangerous if you are submerged for too long or face rapids without a raft.
Not long into our voyage did we encounter a rapid large enough to flip the raft, scattering my fellow sailors into the raging river. The force of the impact caused me to flip and plunge into the water without warning. Almost as swiftly as I entered, I was plucked from the water and placed back on the raft. The river guide instantly removed me from the turmoil that would have surely swallowed me.
His instructions to me were simple: grab everyone and get them in the raft NOW.
The gathering of doom-impended people was a simple task that required no conditions. If someone was in the river, they needed to get out. I did not reach for only those I love, or those that are nice to me, or those that I thought deserved it.
Everyone facing a certain death deserves rescue. This is grace. While we do not deserve it from God, we ought to be grateful everyday that we were rescued, and we are rescued, and we will always be rescued from the river without hesitation. Because we have fallen out of the boat, we receive God’s grace.
River guides teach grace every trip down the river. If someone falls out of the boat, the rest of the raft does everything possible to get them back in.
Read Matthew 20:1-16 with this in mind…
The story of the church should be a human voice that inspires and educates. I recently read a chapter from Patagonia’s Let My People Go Surfing that created a conversation within my staff.
Patagonia is a company that prides itself on being passionate about the natural world, a love for human-powered sports, respect for adventure, and clothes that do nothing to hinder the lifestyle of it’s shoppers. They also believe that their customers are people who don’t shop for entertainment, are not looking to junk up their life, or be the target of aggressive advertising (Sadly, I find myself deeply compelled to wear their clothes so that people will think that I am deep, simple, and refusing to buy into consumerism. Their brilliant marketing has worked.). This is Patagonia’s story.
What does it mean to tell the story of the church?
Most people outside the church would describe the Church as being a judgmental group that destroys all fun in the world and creates a standard of living designed for us to fail. But we are people who believe the church is a living, breathing community bonded together by trying to follow Jesus.
The junior high world consists of trying to be cool, spending money on items that will make them look cool, and talking like people who they think are cool. How does the church fit into that lifestyle?
We inspire and educate. Following Jesus is about loving your neighbor, serving the broken, and being loved by God even though we don’t deserve it. The story of the church is one of brokenness and redemption, exile and return. Junior high students need to find their story and how it is fully connected and intertwined with God’s story. That is the church.
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.
