All posts in Story 09

Story :: Stacy Spencer

by Tim Schraeder on 10/28/2009 in Story 09 with No comments

Stacy Spencer is the pastor of New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, which has grown to over 14,000 members in eight years. Stacy leads numerous efforts to revitalize the Memphis community, including a charter school, restaurant, beauty salon, and car wash, where young people can learn relevant skills and trades. Stacy is the author of Naked and Unashamed, a guide for Christian married couples. He and his wife Rhonda are the parents of four sons.

  • We all have a story.
  • We communicate and find out about one another through our stories.
  • People learn about us by our stories.
  • The walls of caves have stories inscribed on them.
  • We have stories of our ancestors.
  • The Hebrews had the amazing stories of their deliverance.
  • If you hear the stories of your past, you too have a story to share.
  • The Gospel is the story of Jesus Christ.
  • Preaching is a way to get the old, old story of the Gospel to a group of people who may have not heard it.
  • Preaching allows people to get into the story and experience the Gospel afresh and renew.
  • Preaching is a way to get the Story out.

5 Different Types of Preachers

1 – The Comfort Dispenser

  • Tell you everything will be alright. Minister of mercy.

2 – The Scholar

  • Wishes to be known by how smart they are.
  • They have a cemetery…er, seminary degree.
  • They use $5 words.
  • It’s not about showing people how smart you are, it’s about standing behind the cross and letting others see it.

3 – The Social Prophet

  • The one who looks at the unraveling of culture and calls it out.
  • We need people to cry out for justice, but we also need people who can help you with personal crisis.

4 – The Bible Repository

  • One who seeks to be an expert of the content.
  • Knowing the content is great but knowing the God of the content is more important.
  • People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.

5 – All of the above.

  • We all need to help people with their pain; empower and help them understand; who care for what matters; and who know how to help…
  • It’s not what you have on paper, its what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.
  • Sometimes you have to throw your manuscript out the window.
  • You don’t know where God is going to lead you.
  • Keep a sermon in your pocket and a sermon in your heart.
  • You’ve got to have your Bible in one hand and the iPhone in your other hand… you have to know the culture to know how to speak to it.
  • You have to have a hand in God’s word and a finger on the pulse of society.
  • We live in a society where everyone has a story… but are we listening to them?
  • There are sermons on Twitter, blogs, etc., but we have to listen for them.
  • Jesus drew people right in without them even knowing.
  • People don’t want to be hit on the head, they need to be invited in.

Story as Movie

  • Movies draw you in and allow you to see and hear the Spirit without realizing you’re being preached at.
  • Hollywood is trying to get saved.
  • Hollywood uses Messianic themes all throughout their stories.
  • We need to preach with a story, a narrative, where people can get in where they fit in.
  • Movies are high budget parables we can use to introduce Jesus to a generation that needs to know him.

5 Ways to Tell the Story as a Movie

1 – Why should they listen?

  • Why should they give us their time/attention?
  • When you go to a good movie, they will show you a compelling scene that will capture your attention.
  • There’s an iPhone app to let you know when to go to the bathroom in movies.
  • He recently preached a message called “Christ for Clunkers.”

2 – Introduce the text to the dilemma.

  • Preaching is showing a postmodern audience that the Bible still has relevance has today.
  • That’s what Hollywood is doing with Superman, Spiderman, etc.
  • The story still has relevance.

3 – Put them in the movie.

  • When Jesus told parables it was an open parable for the listeners to get in and be a part of what He was talking about.
  • We have to allow people to get into the story.

4 – Have a twist.

  • There’s always a twist in the movies; good person turns out to be a villain, etc.
  • There are twists and turns on the road to the cross.
  • Everything means something in the text.
  • Nothing is wasted in the text.
  • If you are going to get across the sea, you need a good staff!
  • You have to allow twists in your narrative to draw people in.

5 – Have redemption.

  • I don’t need a horror movie, I’ve got the news.
  • I need some drama that leads to redemption.
  • There needs to be hope.
  • We need to offer redemption.
  • Hope is a dangerous thing.
  • One day the movie is going to be over [ i.e. Michael Jackson’s “This is It” ].
  • One day it will be over.

Story :: Nancy Beach

by Tim Schraeder on 10/28/2009 in Story 09 with 2 Comments

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.

Story :: Chris Seay

by Tim Schraeder on 10/28/2009 in Story 09 with No comments

Chris Seay founded Ecclesia in 1999 with his wife Lisa and brother Robbie Seay in Houston, TX. This missional community houses a fair trade coffee shop, bookstore, organic food market, recording studio, art gallery, music venue, and a number of community events. Chris is the author of several books including The Gospel According to Tony Soprano, The Gospel Reloaded, Faith of My Fathers, The Last Eyewitnesses, and The Voice of Romans. He is also behind The Voice, which teaches the Bible in the narrative as the story of God.

  • People love to fight over the Bible.
  • Many of the examples we’ve been given have been combative.
  • We need to come a place where love the Bible not as an object that informs us, but something that points us to a loving relationship with a loving God.
  • Words only point us someplace.
  • We’re called to tell the creation story, instead we fight over how long a day is.
  • Creation is one of the most beautiful stories ever told.
  • There’s 2 accounts of creation in Genesis… God speaking and God stepping in.
  • In John there’s another account.
  • The logos is the forming point of all creation.
  • It’s like fire… moving, active, forceful, beautiful.
  • The Word is active.
  • John’s account of creating centers around Jesus.
  • We fight over what a day is or if there were dinosaurs,
  • All things that exist are in Christ.
  • God is the cosmic force that has created all things… let us tell you the story.
  • We need to reach the narrative of Scripture, not just the propositions of it.
  • We are shaped and made by other people’s stories in our lives.
  • Too often we read the Scripture like it’s someone else’s story that we can get some good information out of it.
  • We oftentimes read it actively so we can learn how to argue with people.
  • The Bible is not your sword to pick up and hit people with – it’s meant to do surgery on our hearts.
  • It reveals our need for a rescuer.
  • It’s not meant to inform our ideas.
  • The way we teach history is very broken.
  • We are totally, completely focused don the proposition.
  • We gear our learning around propositions.
  • We forget them.
  • We miss the story.
  • Propositions will not save you.
  • Check out the book Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
  • You can’t tell a story.
  • You need to tell a story that invites people into inquiry.
  • Explore tensions in the story so students will want to research and investigate.
  • Jesus told stories that humbled people.
  • We summarize Jesus’ stories in to three propositions.
  • Jesus tells a beautiful story that invites us into it.
  • We need not propositionalize everything.
  • The logos is what we are called to engage.
  • We thrive together on mission; we wither in anger, dissent and institutionalism.
  • Matthew 11 – Jesus tells us to take His yoke.
  • There’s a yoke that’s been created for us.
  • We’re not tired for doing the right things; we’re get tired by doing the wrong things.
  • There’s life and vitality found when you are doing things with Jesus at the center of them.
  • Jesus needs to be at the center.
  • Every social concern is an opportunity for God to be about His business of restoring what is broken.
  • We need to engage, not just write checks.
  • We are called to engage in restorative work.
  • There is life in doing God’s work.
  • As we put a yoke on us, something comes alive within us.
  • There is no one more inclusive than Jesus.
  • We must call sin, sin.
  • We like the BIG sins… but we can’t point out a sin and say you have to get it together before you can come.
  • We can only deal with sin and restoration in the place of community.
  • Until we bring the whole Gospel to the whole world we’ve missed something significant and beautiful.

Story :: Dave Gibbons

by Tim Schraeder on 10/28/2009 in Story 09 with No comments

Dave Gibbons leads the Newsong Global Alliance, which catalyzes new churches all over the world. He serves on the Board of World Vision and is the Chief Vision Officer of Xealot, an organization that develops leaders of movements. Dave is the author of The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for Third Culture Leaders. He has been married to his wife Rebecca for 25 years and is the father of four children.

  • We have a deep desire to connect.
  • Not only in relationships, but with a person and a dialogue.
  • A true, meaningful conversation where you know and are known.
  • We need to know the connecting points.
  • The conversation starters are different for each generation.
  • We need our new nomenclatures.
  • We tend to only communicate with one language.
  • We need to communicate from a platform of pain.
  • There’s a great emphasis on strength and size in culture.
  • Like flexing our might will deter people from fighting with us.
  • We’ve defined successful churches by size and budgets.
  • The way we spend our money is in hiring professional staff and building.
  • What would happen if we turned that around?
  • What if our budget was focused on helping with the needs in our community?
  • Would it make a difference?
  • What if our capital campaigns were done as a city church for the city?
  • What numbers define your success?
  • Our metrics are skewed.
  • What are the real numbers.
  • What are the success metrics in your community?
  • What if they were descending, not ascending?
  • Less people in need; fewer orphans; etc.
  • We’re so consumer focused we’ve become barbarians in how we treat the marginalized in our communities.
  • The church has the potential to eradicate poverty and to care for orphans and widows.
  • The Eastern people view the way we treat the elderly as being barbarian.
  • Our communication gets skewed.
  • We put up good stories all the time.
  • Most of the time what we say or share about ourselves is positive.
  • Isaiah 6How many times have you head this message in the context of reaching out and loving your neighbor?
  • The story doesn’t end at verse 8.
  • God gives Isaiah a message to preach to the people that’s tough.
  • A stump will become a seed and it will grow.
  • When there are personal revelations of your weakness reveal the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • If you don’t talk about the pain, we’ve got some problems.
  • Superficiality will continue to propagate in our contexts.
  • The holy seed can be planted and the Holy Spirit can begin to work.
  • There’s liberation in our weaknesses – the Holy Spirit is able to do His work in our lives.
  • As we are honest with our pain, while offering the hope we have, the holy seed is planted in people’s hearts that can make a true difference in our cities.
  • It’s not when you speak a story, but when you’re at a private level listening to a story.
  • We often use assessments to get people engaged in volunteering/assimilation.
  • We use them to tell people where they can serve in our church.
  • We don’t have everything people need to grow.
  • We need to be listening to meta-narratives of person’s story, they are key in understanding who they are.
  • Assessments are merely windows.
  • Use tools to get to the real story.
  • You want to see the strengths, but you want to know people’s timelines [ key people, person and places in their life. ]
  • People’s pain guide them – it leads them to where they want to focus.
  • If you focus on their strengths, you’ll just reach the same people.
  • Spiritual formation is a scared journey.
  • We’re not listening to people’s stories and intersecting the Holy Spirit’s voice with it.
  • In listening to other people’s stories we can better understand ours.
  • We “don’t have time” to listen; but if we do, we can help people find healing.
  • It’s not one-sized-fits-all… people are complex.

1 – Let’s re assess our assessment process.

2 – Include a person’s story, intersected with the Holy Spirit’s voice and create a customized path for people to follow that our connected to your resources.

  • What if we developed a theology of suffering?
  • We often focus on what makes people feel uncomfortable, what if we focused on what makes them uncomfortable?
  • It’s not a choice.
  • Do you think Jesus felt like going to the cross?
  • God allows us to go through times where we are at a stump to produce a holy seed.
  • We can feel cut off, dried up or not seeing any fruit, but remember God is producing a divine seed.
  • Be real with pain.
  • Confess sin.
  • Listen to people’s stories.
  • The revelation of your brokenness will release the power of the Holy Spirit in your midst.
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