Reviews

Bible StoryFire is an appealing new resource for U. S. churches and Christians who want to learn how to do Bible storying. The individual lessons are concise, clear, practical, and wise. Bible StoryFire plus instruction in cross-cultural communication would be excellent preparation for people going on mission trips.

Grant Lovejoy, Director of Orality Strategies, IMB

Bible Storyfire is sure to create some bright flames around the world. Simple, but certainly not simplistic, Storyfire makes accurate Bible story reproduction possible in multiple venues whether locally or globally.

Tom Steffen, Emeritus professor of intercultural Studies – COOK School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University

If you are training storytellers or using biblical storytelling for small group Bible studies, or for outreach and evangelism among low literacy communities, you should take a look at this excellent and helpful web page that was just posted. It gives various models and options to choose from that will give you new techniques to broaden your own practice.

Paul F. Koehler, D.Min. President, King’s Commission Ministries, Inc. Author of Telling God’s Stories with Power

Regina and her team have put together a comprehensive teaching guide that will empower anyone to be able to become an effective Bible Story Teller. Bible StoryFire is well thought out, well presented and well rounded. It is a ‘deep well’ of very helpful information. The format of short audios makes Bible StoryFire a great tool for first-time learners as well as those who simply want to review something they need a refresher on.

Ray Neu, The Story Doctor

I like the total package that should really help newbies to get started and especially to both see and hear models. We get lots of requests for resources and how-to information and models mainly for small group church use. This is growing as more and more outreach to younger people and postmoderns shun preaching and lecturing but love that which is participative and which more likely to produce life change and engage emotions than the traditional study group lessons and lectures.

. . . These are organized nicely to progressively lead to learning the Bible stories and competency in telling them and the post-story discussions. Interestingly I get many questions from potential groups asking what to talk about after telling the stories. I think the truly participative inductive approach is still new to many potential group leaders who somehow feel they must be prepared to “teach” from the stories rather than trusting the Holy Spirit to guide a discussion so that all the group members can get on board or find a place in the stories or something to take how with them to ponder and apply to their lives.

I loved the Lead Through video. This is similar to what New Tribes Trevor McIlwain is said to have done with the Palaweno people after they had already learned the stories. It was fun participation for the listeners and it helped to make the stories “sticky” for them to remember. . .

. . . Bible StoryFire is unique in that it has the Printed Sessions as well as the AV resources.

J.O. Terry, Bible Storying Consultant/Trainer-International Mission Board, SBC (retired)

EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT!! I really liked it . . . I like the explanation format upfront; it is very clear and would be good for those new to Bible Storying or those who have never heard. I was quite interested in the approach in the section led by Jose in “Evangelism & Church Planting”. The only part that I think might be off-putting to “ newbies” is the re=telling in unison with everyone speaking at once. We always do the re-telling out loud, but with only 5-6 participants in their own circle; each tells the story through and can receive help/fill-in by others, but not usually corrected as they tell – just later the groups can express whatever they might have missed or added. In a large training session, there will still be some noise overflow from the group next to you, but it is only one person at a time.

I especially loved the way Section 6 on “Discussion” was handled. A lot of good, practical examples. Guess I was pleased we use many of these, but I appreciated the insight on avoiding the “whys” with the alternative questions you could ask. The “application” section was the strongest I have seen and commend you on this.

Overall, I think it is going to be a great help and hope to be able to use it in our training and exposure sessions we use on orality and Bible Storying. I also appreciated the way the use of Bible Storying can be used, i.e. to study the Bible for personal growth and application.

Rick Brecklebaum, US Coordinator, International Orality Network

Wow – thank you so much – I have had folks participate in my Royal Family Kids’ Camp here in Boise that have attended the face to face and share how powerful this training is for working with children in foster care. I am going to encourage all of my staff to consider going through this program. . . . I am going to pass this along to Royal Family Kids, Inc and encourage them to pass it along to all 200 of their camps not only here in the US but in other parts of the world.

Tom Turco, Director Royal Family Kids Camp Boise Idaho

Regina, this is a really great tool you have developed. Very comprehensive. Teresa and I are in India now, but I got started on the printed leader’s guide before leaving. It’s good. I was writing some comments as I read. Will try to remember to send them to you later. I wish something like that had been available when we were starting out 15 years ago. I will continue to recommend it.

Paul F. Koehler, D.Min. President, King’s Commission Ministries, Inc. Author of Telling God’s Stories with Power

I endorse and recommend this well organized and presented training manual. The manual has a number of outstanding features. It is organized into three major parts: First is an overview of training that is reproducible that focuses on facilitating learning and developing accuracy.

. . . Normally I would have expected this kind of training manual to focus mainly on large group oral Bible studies. This has been the Bible storytelling traditionally encountered in most mission situations. Then the manual moves on to explore the small group Bible study that is rapidly evolving here in the U.S. among both larger established churches and now younger small churches seeking to reach out to communities with a relational study approach that encourages fellowship as well.

There is the additional focus on learning the Bible stories well and telling them accurately. This honors the sanctity of the Bible and guards against misunderstanding that leads to error in belief diminishing the authority of Scripture.

As a former missionary, I liked the focus on evangelism and church planting. Both are important for the mission field as well as unchurched areas in the U.S. It reminds us that learning God’s Word is task-oriented and not simply a “Bible study.”

. . . I really liked the dual presentation of both method and model. As a Bible storytelling consultant, I receive many requests asking how to begin and conduct a Bible storytelling group. The very next question asked is “How to do it?” that usually means, “Do you have a model to show me?” The manual has a number of excellent typical models for both large groups and small groups. The manual itself is implemented by several excellent DVDs that accompany the manual sections and then provide illustrative video models of both large and small group sessions.

Several other features I like are the suggested hand and body signals that assist group learning and help to remind trainees about accuracy and presentation. While these are introduced primarily for the training sessions, the signals provide visual enforcement and encourage participation which undergirds all group activities.

The suggested time for each group activity helps to put to rest questions about how long for new group leaders to apportion the group activities. The Discussion Questions at the back of the manual are spot on target from my own personal experience. And the final feature that I think many new to Bible storytelling will appreciate is the list of both Old and New Testament stories along with their scripture references. The Life of Jesus story list, parables, and teachings will be most helpful in discipling groups.

The manual is printed on heavy paper and edge-bound so that the manual lays flat when opened for easy reference. I could not find any key concept that was omitted. While the manual may at first appear to be overkill for those already experienced in leading Bible storytelling groups or in training storytellers, it is a valuable and complete resource for new trainers to provide all the key resources for a successful training session. And for this long time Bible storyteller and trainer it was a good refresher to work through the exercises and watch the demonstration videos.

J.O.Terry, Bible Storying Consultant/Trainer – International Mission Board, SBC (retired)