Introduction

Introduction:

First, allow me to tell you a little about myself so you understand who I am as the writer of this blog.  My name is Anthony and I am follower of Jesus Christ.  I have an amazing wife, Jennifer, who loves and supports me in every possible way.  The biggest thing that makes me fall in love with her over and over again is that she loves Jesus more than she does me.  She also loves football.  Did I not get the most perfect wife ever?!  I have two wonderful daughters, Natalie and Brynn, who bring joy and laughter to my life everyday.  I am a pastor and have been one for many years doing just about everything from youth ministry to adult ministry.  Las Vegas, NV holds claim to my hometown and Milligan College in Tennessee gave me my education.

When I was kid I was always fascinated by stories.  Stories my mom would read to me at bedtime.  Stories my dad would try to make up when I was sick to make me feel better.  Stories my grandfather would tell about when he was in the Air Force.  But more than anything I was enamored by Bible stories.

I was never much of a reader (and here I am writing a book - figure that one out), but I loved listening to and learning about the stories in the Bible.  Stories of Noah, Samson, Gideon, David, Job, and my personal favorite, Jonah (you will read why later).  However, being the curious kid I was, I always had certain questions about some of these stories.  Questions that whoever was telling the story never seemed to answer.  Questions left to your imagination because the scriptures don't refer to it.  Questions that arose because I was being told one thing and then reading something else in the Bible.

Sometimes as storytellers, teachers and preachers we leave certain facts out or add tiny little nuances to make the story easier to understand or digest.  I like to call if fluff.  Is that wrong?  Doesn't the Bible warn us in the book of Revelation that nothing should be added or taken away from the scriptures?  Are we committing a spiritual crime by telling some of the Biblical stories with fluff?  The answer is no.  There is nothing wrong with telling a Bible story in such a way that makes it easier for your audience to understand.  Where it starts to become shady is when we use the fluff in such a way it completely changes what God wants us to learn.  At that point the fluff factor is just way to high.

So why write this blog?  Well, an honest question deserves an honest answer.  One, I hope when I am done writing this it becomes a published book.  Not so I can make money, but so it can hopefully become a useful tool.  A tool that can be used in small groups, family bible studies or personal devotions.  Two, every single thing in the Bible can be used to learn something.  I want people to learn what God has in those stories, even the ones we don' know very well.  Three, I want to tell the stories they way they are told in scripture.  Now I am a pastor who has told stories in the past with the fluff, but I have learned over my many years how to tell the stories without the fluff and still make it easy to understand.  I will be honest again and tell you sometimes people get pretty shocked to find out a certain part of a story that has been told to them a certain way for so long might be a little different when read directly from scripture.  I have even had people feel like they have been lied to.  You have not been lied to, I promise.  You have simply been told in a way that makes the story easy to preach and understand in order to better take in what God is teaching us.  I want to tell the stories without the fluff.

If I were to look back as the moment the idea for a book like this first came to me, it would have to be back when I was still a youth pastor.  We were having our normal Wednesday evening youth group time, but this night had a little twist.  The week before we had just finished a series so I decided to take a week off and just hangout this night and see what my students knew about the Bible and the stories it held.  (Sneaky way to help determine what I was going to teach on next.)  I had a blast from the past evening and played old school bible baseball!  I know, I know, you can barely contain your excitement and wish you were a part of my rocking youth group!  Anyway, as the night went on I had a girl come up for her turn at bat.  I knew this girl didn’t know much and as I suspected she chose a single (easy question).  I gave her what I thought was one of the easiest questions I could think of on the spot because I knew she wouldn’t get the question on the card correct.  This young lady needed a boost of confidence and I was trying to give it to her.  I figured we all knew the Christmas story as told to us over the years, so I asked her to name one of the three gifts Jesus received from the wise men.  As I waited for her answer I said over and over in my mind, “Please say gold.  Please say gold.”  She took a minute, cracked a nervous smile and said…”sheep”.  The other students in the room immediately busted out in laughter.  I was heartbroken for this young lady.  I quieted the room and informed her of the right answer and moved on, but at that moment my mind started spinning.  I decided I was going to begin to teach these students in a way they learned what was in the Bible while at the same time being able to apply it to their lives and live like Jesus.

My teaching and preaching style changed from the typical three points and a poem approach to a more story telling and conversational approach.  And several years later when I became a small groups pastor, combining these stories and using a conversational small group format to allow discussion and group learning just made sense.

As you read through these posts, I want you to feel like you are being told a story and we are having a conversation.  I will not just copy and paste scripture; you can pull out your Bible if you want to read it that way.  I am going to tell you the stories in a conversational format.  I will inject my humor here and there (which if you don't find funny won't hurt my feelings) as well as my personal thoughts to make it more conversational than preachy.  The scripture I am pulling the story from will be listed at the beginning so you know where to find it and can read it out of the Bible if you want.  And jut so you know, I will be using the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB).  I have my reasons as to why the HCSB, trust me.  At the end of every story, I will include discussion questions that hopefully will get you thinking about what this story means for you and is trying to teach you.

I hope this blog (and eventually book) clarifies any questions you may have had about certain stories you grew up being told.  I hope it brings a clearer understanding of what did and didn't happen.  I hope you learn some new stories you may have never heard before and be re-amazed by the ones you have always known.  I hope you enjoy what you read...without the fluff.