Story :: Nancy Beach

Nancy Beach is executive vice-president of the Arts for the Willow Creek Association and a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. A champion for the arts and artists in the church, she is the author of An Hour on Sunday: Creating Moments of Transformation and Wonder and Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading As a Woman in the Church.

  • There’s wonder in the four magic words: Once upon a time…
  • We treasure a good story.
  • Can you make a difference for God as a storyteller or an artist?
  • We steward the most powerful story ever told.
  • Our stories are rooted in redemption and God’s amazing grace
  • The Gospel is bad news before it is Good News.
  • The news of Gospel is that extraordinary things happen…
  • The stories we tell from the pulpit or through the arts need to be rooted in tragedy and comedy.
  • We need to share stories of pain pain alongside transformation, renewal and God’s grace.
  • Only 10% of the Bible is in a thought-organized format.
  • The rest contains love stories, drama, history, and parables.
  • Jesus spoke openly about the stark reality of the absence of God’s presence and the transforming power of His presence.
  • Are we being truthful as we steward the Gospel?
  • We have swung too far in one direction or the other.
  • We either live in tragedy too deeply that we fail to offer the light of hope.
  • Or, we jump too quickly to the light, impatient on the gap between God’s timing.
  • When we fail to speak truthfully, our offerings of grace come across as naïve, out of touch, premature, or not as nearly as wonderful.
  • All of us, have a childlike response ot the whimsical words “once upon a time.”
  • There’s never been an age that hasn’t produced fairy tales.
  • “The mark of a good fairly tale is that turn, catch of the breath… “
  • There’s a child lurking inside all of us.
  • We persist in our hope that fairy tales still can come true.
  • These days, we figure out how to responsibly tell stories of God’s grace.
  • We wrestle how to be truthful with the darkness while sharing God’s grace.
  • Use our imagination for illustration.
  • The best way to see God is in the faces and stories of others.
  • Stories restore people’s faith in God.
  • The best stories awaken our faith in God.
  • They remind us that we are not alone.
  • They remind us our stories intersect.
  • They remind us of God’s amazing grace.
  • Tell your tories as truthfully and beautifully as you possibly can for Christ.
  • We are stewards of God’s Story.


Tim Schraeder is passionately committed to helping churches effectively communicate the timeless message of the Gospel in a way that’s relevant to our ever-changing culture. He presently serves as the co-director of the Center for Church Communication and is the creator and general editor of Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication, a field guide for church communication leaders. Tim lives in Chicago where he can be found in any neighborhood coffee shop that has free wifi. Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe via Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Sign Up for My Newsletter
  • FreedbyJC

    What happened to your John Ortberg Session????

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/timschraeder timschraeder

      I wasn't in the auditorium for that session unfortunately :(