Clearer Understanding of the Bible

"STS has really enhanced my personal study of the Bible. Instead of reading Bible stories as they have been told 'the old way,' I find myself looking for new treasures in the stories.   
  
"When I first experienced STS, it was amazing to me how much I did not know about the "common" stories of the Bible. Even re-reading Zacchaeus showed me things that I had never thought of before, such as how he was such an amazing testimony to all who were present. Despite hearing and discussing the same story more than once, I have so far always found something new or good in the discussion.   
  
"Now, whenever anyone shares a part of the Bible, I mentally ask myself STS type questions about the text. Additionally, whenever I find myself in a difficult situation, I think of STS story principles that help me in everyday life, and I ask myself STS questions such as, "What other choices do I have? What will be the impact of my choice?"   
  
"STS has helped me to have a more clear perception of the Bible and it has also encouraged me to study my Bible in a new way. It encourages me to have a way to share the gospel with others in a way that will not be discouraging, but instead will be thought-provoking and most likely life-changing."  
[15 Year old girl] GA, USA

Not Trained Yet, but Loving STS

Last night I had the opportunity to lead a bible study in French. It was really difficult, to say the least! What I wanted to tell you, though, was that I tried to follow the STS model in doing it. I haven't gone through the training, but in talking with Stephanie and reading through a good part of the manual, I felt like I should give it a try. 

It went so amazingly well! People loved the immersion in the story. The loved digging deeper (especially the question, "what does that reveal about so and so?"). They loved talking about the options behind the choices someone made or what they said. 

All that to say, I really am looking forward to an opportunity to go through the training - whether in Europe or the US. This is such a cool way of presenting the Bible. I've even talked with the pastor at our church plant about using it as a primary teaching tool during the service since it would get people of all ages involved. Thanks for your work and your ministry with STS!

Missionary in France

Out of Babe's Mouth: Jonah by 4-year old

Daniel is lively and silly like a four-year old should be.  But as well, his family sees Daniel as having a spiritual nature that needs to be nurtured. Every evening Daniel's father reads a small portion of the Bible to him, and then father and son discuss it together.

Awhile back, Dad decided to ask Daniel to tell the story back to him, and what you see in this film is the result.  The filming was done at an Advanced STS Training. This was the first time anyone outside of the four-year-old's family had heard Daniel tell the whole story. After Daniel finished telling this story, you will hear Grandma ask Daniel a few questions about the story. Of course it is wonderful that this child is learning a complete Bible story, but one might wonder if this young child has any understanding of the meaning of the words he is saying?  You decide for yourself. 

Could other fathers and mothers and grandparents follow this example and seed into the lives of the precious little ones whom God entrusts to them?  Of course, and some are doing that. May many more see the value of investing in the very young while their clay is soft.

You may notice that this 4-year old boy tells the complete story of Jonah chapter 1 and 3 verses from chapter 2. - 20 verses!

Daniel's dad explained to us that that at first he had been reading to Daniel out of a Children's Bible. The dad said, “When I was young, the stories that had been read to me out of a Children's Bible impressed me and stuck in my mind.  But I noticed that, at times, as an adult, I was confused, as my strongest memory was the content of those shortened, simplified stories that had been read to me. Sometimes, I still have to sort out and relearn information as the words from the children's version had been imprinted on my mind when I was young."

So this dad decided he really preferred to read to Daniel out of the full Bible. He stated, "I want Daniel to learn and remember the complete story so he will not be confused when he grows up, as happened to me. I go slowly and discuss the content and high level words that Daniel does not yet know. This way I am both educating our son in vocabulary and talking with him about spiritual truth from the Bible."

***

This was one dad's decision … but perhaps the reasons for this dad's decision parallel our reasons in STS for teaching villagers and the uneducated complete, unedited Bible stories? 

One Couple Stirs a Church

I wanted to tell you how we use STS in our adult Sunday School class, and how it is impacting and blessing Chris and me as husband and wife.

Background: This church is 1/2 block down the street from our house, but it was not our home church. The 112 year old church was one of the only buildings standing after a tornado came through the center of town in 1927 and wiped out the town of Nevada.

In 2009 the Lord began stirring us to move churches. Never an easy decision, we prayed for some time about where God wanted us. Then one day we noticed that the regular church sign had been replaced by a new one indicating that this was now a satellite campus of a large Baptist church in Allen, TX.

Over the 10 years we have lived here, we watched the church parking lot go from overflowing, to barely populated, and the name of the pastor change many, many times. The congregation was now small (ages 45-80), many having attended for more than 40 years. However, that summer we sensed the Lord directing us to become involved in this church.  We felt very strongly that we were to come alongside the young staff to pray, help and encourage.

Chris had walked over to visit with the pastor several times and began to tell him about STS and how impacting this method of teaching God's Word is. Pastor Justin was very excited to hear more. As we told him about how God was leading us to come alongside of him, he tearfully exclaimed that he had been praying for that very thing, and that we were an answer to prayer for him.

We began to teach the adult Sunday School class. Prior to this, the class of about 6-7 would listen to a video lesson, and no one would say a word or discuss anything. So, the introduction of the STS method was quite a switch for them! We let them know that to achieve the greatest benefit from the lesson, we needed to “hear” their voices.

We wanted to know their thoughts, hear their answers, and we let them know that it was OK to speak up in this class to ask and discuss questions.

At first everyone opened their Bibles to the story passage and would follow along as we told the story. But we were encouraged to see their hearts that truly wanted to learn from God's Word. Gradually we encouraged them to step into a new dimension of oral learning. Many said that at their age 70+ they didn't think they could remember anything.

But now, after 8 months of STS, things have changed. We definitely have a designated Bible monitor who checks our told story for accuracy and content. But now, everyone else is fully engaged in learning the story orally and amazingly these seniors are able to repeat it with 85% + accuracy...and even remember it the next week!  

Before, as I said, many of our class members were convinced that they could no longer memorize the Bible ... that they were too old. But these class members have found that they not only can retell a story, they have been surprised to learn that they have just repeated 10-12 verses!!

Over and over we are told how much these members enjoy the class. Our class has more than doubled in size, and almost everyone talks and shares. After telling the "Jonah Runs" story, James came up afterward. He told me, “I have heard that story since I was a young boy, but up till now I've never applied it personally.”

One of our sweet widows (75+) told us that she often struggles to stay awake in church ... but she never falls asleep in SS.  It’s her favorite part of church. She is bright, alert, and actively involved in the discussion.

William and Brandie joined our church recently, and have come with their 4 young children. (Hooray, we're growing!!) William told me. I love this method of study. He said “I have attended Sunday School for years, in many churches. But most of the time it seemed like a race to look up as many verses as possible. And in the end, no one could answer the question, ‘What did you learn today?’ 

“But in this class,” he said, “I love the way we only stay in the story and don't jump all over the Bible. We take time to slowly go through the story and discover so many rich truths and lessons. I can easily remember what I learn, and can't wait to come to class each week.”

For over two months we have been teaching in Exodus, following Moses and Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Brandie shared with the class, “Now, after studying using STS, I am studying Exodus on my own, and it has so much more meaning. I can understand it.” She excitedly told us, “You have to stay and teach the whole Bible this way.”

Pastor Justin repeatedly tells us that he is constantly hearing from members how much they enjoy the class, and how much they are learning new and deeper truths from stories they have known for decades.

While at a pastors’ meeting at the main campus with the senior pastor and another pastor from a second satellite church, the pastor of the satellite church was saying how he wished he could find something that would ignite his adult Sunday School class. Pastor Justin said, ”Well, let me tell you about what's happening in Nevada.” He then proceeded to share with them how STS was impacting our church, and how excited members are to come to class. As a result of other inquiries, we are now praying about having an STS workshop at the main campus.

Teaching this way at church has impacted us as husband and wife. Chris and I co-lead our Sunday School class. We use the “tag-team” approach. Chris tells the story, does the retell and lead through. I then will ask the questions to discover spiritual observations and applications.

Preparing during the week has brought us closer together as we study together each morning before going to work. On Monday we select the next story, looking at how it might link to last week's lesson if doing a connect series of stories. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we learn the story, and look for the treasures. We have had so many blessed mornings together discovering truth and sharing as the Lord teaches us.

Thursday & Friday Chris works to perfect the story delivery, and together we come up with questions for the treasures found during the week. Saturday morning we put all the elements together, and finally Sunday morning before church we do a full run-through of the story, and hit the main questions we are going to ask in discussion.

I can't begin to tell you what a marvelous blessing and gift from God it has been to prepare and teach together. Many times we have to stop and spend time in prayer as God opens our hearts to his Word and changes us before we can lead others. We stand in amazement to watch the Holy Spirit touch lives by revealing God's truth from stories most of our members have heard for 60+ years. STS has brought the Bible back to life for everyone and they receive it with joy and expectation.

Our primary prayer now is for multiplication … being able to train others who will go out and use STS with their families, co-workers and neighbors. We are excited about the openness of the pastoral staff to hold a workshop, and Justin's desire to have his staff trained in STS and offer the workshop to others.

JoAn & Chris  TX, USA

Could God's Word Change a Marriage

Tom sat in the back of the STS (Simply The Story) training and shared very little. This big guy seemed shy. He watched and listened carefully. Eventually when we divided into smaller groups, Tom started sharing how he was being touched by the Word of God during the discussions. 

Later, Tom shared how he was in the process of getting a divorce. My heart broke because no one gets married and says, "I can't wait to get a divorce."  People marry to stay together forever. 

As a manager in a company, Tom certainly stayed busy, and yet he found time to learn more Bible stories and help with Simply The Story. We again, crossed paths about a year later, and he mentioned how wonderful it was to use the same questions we ask in STS to sort through problems at work.  Tom was literally helping people in his department fix their own problems by asking good questions. 

In this video you will here how Tom was diagnosed with cancer in late 2014. Thanks to the Lord and His Word changing two hearts, you will also hear of an even greater healing.

I've Never Seen Such Interest in Discipleship

Four people who learned STS in USA spent two wild weeks in Thailand running from one place to the next to train in cities and villages. Larry Dinkins who spent 20 years as a missionary in Thailand and 3 Thai leaders made up the team.

Larry wrote, "When we shared in a church in Bangkok, a 22 year old engineering student named “Juey” asked where I was teaching next. I told him we’d be in Phayao (12 hour bus ride away). Juey said, “I don’t care where it is, I want to tag along with you and learn this method!”

“Juey finished a final exam, got on a night bus and met me at Phayao. He slept in the same room with me for three nights and I had him do stories for the Bible College students as well as at a orphanage.

“I know storytelling is powerful, because in my 20 years in Thailand I never had anyone show such interest in being discipled in one of my teaching methods.

"Amazingly I got a similar reaction at Dallas Theological Seminary. After my workshop on orality some students asked if they could have an extra session to learn more of how it is done.

“I was also told that two DTS students decided to change their majors after my orality workshop which I gave last year at the seminary. This kind of response has encouraged me to start a class here at the US Center for World Missions as well."
Larry CA, USA

Discipleship in Retirement Homes

Pat, who ministers in retirement homes, reported, "We did four weeks in the book of Jonah. Even those with Alzheimer's remembered the stories each week and participated in the discussion. They all love this way of learning Bible."