Stories... we've all grown up with them. Those of us with children have read or told hundreds of them. In previous posts I've told you how much I love to watch movies and get drawn in to the story of the movie. Can the Church learn anything from Hollywood and today's best story-tellers about telling stories?
Christianity has the greatest story ever told (if I can borrow from an epic movie from the '60's) but our problem is that we don't know how to tell it in a compelling way. In a recent post on Phil Cooke's blog, Phil asked if we could learn anything from Hollywood. I believe he did this in response to a press release sent out just after the conclusion of this year's NRB convention. The writer asked if it was necessary to ask a Disney executive how to tell the greatest story? My answer to that is, "YES!!"
If it gets to the point that we cannot learn from others, especially those who have honed the craft to excellence, we need to stop ask for forgiveness for not being humble. My friends, we don't have it together - we have not arrived. Not only have Christians taken ideas and technologies to forward the Gospel, but we have improved on those areas and presented the Gospel in compelling ways. Now it's time to do the same with Story-Telling. People are desiring to hear a compelling story that will give them a reason to believe, a reason to accept the gift of Salvation.
I hope to continue this discussion by looking at a generation that doesn't see Christianity as something to accept and make a part of their lives. The Millennial Generation is a generation that demands creativity and compelling stories.
