Something like a story…
I’ve been serving in youth ministry since 2010. I’ve heard stories with the wildest details, told by teenagers who were just sharing about their average Tuesday. I have heard stories of successes and disappointments. For over a decade, I have been listening to stories and I have loved them. When talking to a teenager you may have noticed that some of them are great story tellers and others have some work to do, but all of them have a story!
I believe that you have a story too! I would love to hear your story, regardless of how important you think it is or how well you think you can tell it. I want to hear your story because it is part of God’s great story.
From the time I was 3 years old, I wanted to have an active role in God’s story telling. My desire grew as I sat at summer camp listening to the speaker tell stories of missionaries, it grew stronger in middle school as my youth pastor shared his story about catching an alligator in a trash bin. I started to pray that I would someday be a good story teller too.
When I was in high school, my youth pastor sat with us around the camp fire. As we sat there, he pretended that he was the apostle Peter and told a story from the gospel of Mark. It sparked something in me. I didn’t just want to be a good story teller. I wanted to tell God’s story. I wanted to teach the Bible.
I’m grateful that I have been teaching the Bible since then. I earned my degree in Biblical Studies so that I would know the story in more detail before sharing it. Then, I got my Masters Degree in Christian Ministry to help me with my delivery of the information.
Like many others in youth ministry, I quickly learned that resources for teaching the Bible to teens are sparse and outdated. At that point, I was encouraged to write my own and I have at times.
I was also encouraged by a college professor to write Bible stories from a different perspective. As I shared these stories with students I realized that it can be a unique and helpful teaching tool. It caused them to ask questions, it caused them to feel like they were part of the story, it sparked awesome conversations, and it helped them want to read the Bible for themselves.
Ultimately, I want students (and everyone else for that matter) to know God’s story so that they can understand that they are part of something awesome too!
