FAQ: What is The Story?

The Story is the Port City for the Learner Island on the NCC Discipleship Map. It is one of my favorite things that I do at NCC. I love the Bible, and I love helping others fall in love with the Word of God. My primary goal for The Story is to drive people head-first into the Word with a new passion and excitement.

The Story is typically offered during our "May Term" series, and it is offered in a lecture format. It appeals to folks who might have a more intellectual bent in their approach to discipleship, and it is a good first step for people who might be interested in small groups but a little intimidated about going to the home of a person they've never met. The Story is a smaller setting than Sunday morning, but not as intimate as a home-based small group.

Here's how it works:

We spend the first night Exploring the Backlot-- talking about where the Bible came from, who wrote it, how it's structured, where the events took place, and other background information. Everyone learns cool words like "plenary inspiration" and they find out where places like Goshen and Corinth are located. They get a great packet of maps (that's one of my favorite parts!)

The second week is Act One: Exploring the Story of the Old Testament. We start with God creating and the Holy Spirit hovering, move through the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, the patriarchs, the exodus, the judges, the kingdom, the divided kingdom, the exile and return. We talk about stuff like who Obadiah was, what his book is about, and where he fits into the story.

The last week is Act Two: Exploring the Story of the New Testament. We talk about the Life of Christ as recorded in the four Gospels and then learn about the spread of the Church in the book of Acts. Then, we put all of the epistles into context of the story.

It's a lot of fun, and my ultimate prayer is that people would want to go deeper in their study of God's word.

A resource for this is available for this particular course. It includes 5 audio CDs and 1 resource CD containing lecture handouts and maps. It costs $10 and can be ordered by emailing me.