This past weekend I spent a Friday and Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Arnold, Missouri, a great church near St Louis. This church hosted training for The Story (www.viewthestory.com). If you are not familiar with it, The Story simply explains the gospel for believers and unbelievers from the perspective of the whole Bible. To use Christopher Wright’s phrase, it “unlocks the Bible’s grand narrative” rather than telling the most minimalistic gospel presentation. Moving along the biblical plotline of Creation-Fall-Rescue-Restoration, The Story not only helps believers to share the good news in a more conversational way, it also shows believers how the gospel relates to all of life and all reality.
I also piloted a revised version of the training material in six sessions designed for a weekend format like this or for a six-week study in addition to the ten-week study now available at www.thestorytraining.com. And, since I am a teacher, I gave them homework for the week following. I am still getting emails telling of how God is using The Story in the lives of these Christ followers.
This particular group ranged from Millennials who hunger for truth and to know how to share the gospel with their peers to senior adults who have loved Jesus longer than I have been alive. It was gratifying to see so many from all ages embrace the training. Bob Caldwell, my long time friend who leads the missions efforts at the church and through a ministry called Global Impact, had this to say:
“The Story training is a Re-finding of the gospel from beginning to end. I wish you could have seen the look in the eyes of our room full of Christ followers as they sat at the end of the chairs listening as if they were getting an infusion of blood that was critically needed in anemic bodies, bodies that knew something was missing but did not realize the devastating death bed experience we share together. I pray every believer will experience The Story training so those who don’t yet know Christ can experience The Story as well.”
I appreciate Bob’s enthusiasm! He was a director of evangelism for the Missouri Baptist Convention for years so he has seen his share of evangelism programs come and go. His enthusiasm for something much more robust that helps believers relate the gospel to culture was palatable.
A man at the event named Duane Pitchford described how he saw the gospel from a new perspective:
“I had never thought of the Bible as God’s Story with a story line, plot, climax, conclusion. I shared this with my men’s Bible class Sunday morning as we are studying the book of Luke at this time. We discussed just how Luke fits into God’s Story.”
A gentlemen named Les Rye from another tradition (most were Baptists) enjoyed the training. He wrote:
“Sure enjoyed The Story training at FBC Arnold this past weekend. I just finished ordering a PDF download of the Participant’s Guide and will be promoting The Story to some folks in my current church. The material has certainly changed me and better equipped me and I’m anxious to put it to work. Every video clip was superb. Needless to say, I walked away Saturday afternoon a proponent of The Story and better able to share the Gospel in a manner that serves God, his Kingdom, and the hearer well.”
It gratifies me to hear adults see, some for the first time, the great story of the Mission of God in Scripture rather than viewing the Bible as a loose collection of stories with Jesus somehow being the main theme. But what really thrills me is to hear of students getting it. Jason Walters, a student pastor from another church and a good friend from my years speaking at Super Summer, said this:
“The Story is a natural way to share the Gospel, a way to engage in a gospel conversation and not a gospel presentation. We desperately need to rediscover the gospel and The Story is a great tool to help us understand the central place it needs to take in our lives, moving us from ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ to the gospel.”
Jason emailed me on Monday to explain how his students quickly grasped the plotline of Scripture and began to see it in other areas of life. I will let you read what he said:
“I’ve got to tell you a story. I was bowling with some youth Saturday afternoon and I practiced The Story with some junior high girls. We talked about movies and the gospel and they picked up that the Lion King shows the gospel. The rightful king is overthrown, his son loses his throne because of a deceitful liar, the liar ruins the kingdom through his evil rule, the true king returns and makes things right. I was amazed that they picked all that up on their own, 7th and 8th grade girls. I told them to use the Lion King to share the gospel with their friends.”
Imagine the Disney Empire producing a major film that demonstrates the general plotline of Scripture. And, imagine middle schoolers can use that to show the reason we love movies like the Lion King is they touch us at the point of life where we have a yearning for rescue, for a deliverer. The true Rescuer however is not the offspring of Mufasa, but the Messiah come from God.
I am for helping students see the evil in the culture and avoiding it. But I am also for helping them see how the world around us, almost in spite of itself, keeps picturing a yearning for the very thing our hearts crave. The reason we love movies, the reason we want to get better at things, to win, and to have a happy ending—all these grow out of the truth we see in The Story of the gospel. What a great message to share with each other and with those who don’t yet know the author and finisher of our faith.
