Spot Light Good News Interviews Tara Rye

Join us for five interviews with Tara Rye of Audio Scripture Ministries, a missions organization that seeks to get the Bible in audio to people around the globe with a special emphasis on unreached groups. When they listen to God’s Word in their own “heart language,” amazing things happen by the power of the Holy Spirit!

To listen tune in to KCRO AM660, Monday-Friday at 5:30 & 9:45AM & 10:15PM or go to our website, www.spotlightgoodnews.com/spotlight-storiesTara's interview.

Suga's Story Continues

Senda shared, “About six months ago my husband asked this woman if she would disciple me. God put it on my husband’s heart that we will not reach our nation if the women are not taught about how much God loves and values them. He asked this woman if she would train me in how to tell Bible stories so the women in our nation can know that God sees them and hears their cries.

My husband and I met with her and her husband regularly for them to train us in story-centric discipleship. Story-centric discipleship means to know God through His sacred stories by listening, sharing, and teaching others His sacred stories so that we can know how to be in relationship with Him. I would like to come and tell you more sacred stories so that you can listen to them, then share them, and teach them to others as well.”

The elder’s wife said, “We would love this very much. We had a Jesus follower come to our village about 15 years ago and he shared Jesus stories with us, but we haven’t had a Jesus follower in our village since then.”

Senda said, “We will try to come and visit your village four times a year. If I come, will you be willing to gather groups of women and tell them the Bible stories, too?”

We all said, “Yes! Of course!”

Senda went on to say, “In my village on Saturday nights, I gather women from five different villages. I share the sacred story with them, and we practice until each of us can tell it accurately. Sometimes, I might need to tell it five times before everyone in the group can tell it accurately. I then ask them to go back to their villages and gather a group of women to do the same thing. They will gather the women, tell the story until everyone can tell it accurately and then they go share it at their village.

Each week when we listen to the story, we will take the time to ask at least these three questions: 1. What do you learn about God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? 2. What do you learn about the people both good and bad? 3. What should you do based on what you have learned? The women love it when we ask the questions because it gives them time to discover deep truths that God reveals to them in the stories.

Without thinking, I raised my hand slightly. Senda looked at me and said, “Yes?” It just came out of my mouth, “I can’t believe you are trusting us with these sacred stories?”

Senda smiled sweetly said, “It is not me that trusts you. It is God!”

I couldn’t believe it! God trusts me with His sacred story! I determined in my heart that I would gather women to tell His sacred stories every time Senda came and shared them with us.

Just then the men walked up to the courtyard and motioned that it was time for Senda to leave us. I didn’t want her to leave. I wasn’t ready because I wanted to know more sacred stories. We quickly hugged her goodbye and then she was gone. My heart felt joy as I thought of God’s sacred stories, but I also felt sadness because we didn’t know when Senda would return, but I started thinking of who I would invite to come and hear the sacred stories.

The next week I had invited five women from my village along with my sisters to hear the stories. I did exactly what Senda said she did with her women in her village. I welcomed them and then told them I wanted to share the sacred story of Jesus, the Son of the Most High God with them. I told them the sacred story several times until they were comfortable retelling it to each other. I then asked them to go out and tell it to a group of women they would gather and to do it the way I did it. I reminded them to tell it several times and have them practice it so they can tell it well. Then encourage them to go do the same.

My sister Praga loved listening to the stories too. She shared with me that wanted to tell the stories, too. This surprised me because Praga is a practicing Hindu. But the next week when we gathered together Praga shared that she invited five friends over and she also told them the sacred story of the Most High God sending Jesus to be born as a baby to Mary. Praga shared that the women in her gathering all agreed to go and tell the sacred stories to their friends the same way.

I couldn’t wait until Senda showed up again to share more sacred stories with us.

After about six months the white van drove up with the dust cloud swirling around it. This time all of the women that heard the van drive up rushed out to greet Senda. We were so excited to share with her that we were faithful in sharing the sacred stories. We encircled our arms around her arms, and we rushed over to our courtyard so Senda could share more stories with us. As we sat down to sip our tea and catch-up Senda asked us how it has been in our village. Normally, we would chatter about the happenings of each family, but not today. I couldn’t wait!

“Oh Senda, the Most High God makes us feel so valued. We stand taller because we have been trusted with His sacred stories. We can’t wait to hear more sacred stories about the Most High God and His Son Jesus! What story will you tell us today?”

Senda looked at each woman that gathered. There must have been well over thirty women this time waiting to hear the sacred story.

Senda pulled out a little black box and pushed a button and we heard a man’s voice say, “In Matthew 1, we are told this true story…” We sat mesmerized as we listened to the man’s voice tell us the generations that led up to the birth of Jesus. After listening for a while Senda shared with us that Audio Scripture Ministries provided these solar power devices for them to bring out to our village. Senda said, “The sun can charge it up for you so you can listen. Sit it out so that this side faces the sun, and the sun will give it energy to power it up.”

I wanted it so bad, but Senda gave it to the elder’s wife to be used in the village. Senda asked, “When will you gather so you all can listen to hear the Most High God’s sacred stories?”

We chose a day and agreed to gather, pray, listen, share, and then go teach it to others. Senda suggested that we listen to one chapter at a time and to play it as many times as necessary so that we can retell it accurately.

Then one of the women said, “Senda will you tell us a sacred story, too?”

Senda smiled and said, “Of course!” Senda bowed her head in prayer and then began to say, “In today’s sacred story, we will hear about how Jesus invited people to be His disciple. A disciple is someone that follows someone and does what they do. When you listen today, I want you to ponder if you are willing to be a disciple of Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. In this sacred story Jesus is called the Word.

Everything in the Bible is true. In John 1 we are told, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…”

***This is a fictional account that is based upon a composite of stories taken from a team of storytellers. The names have been changed to protect the storytellers. Every scene is based on a true story that has been told of what is happening on the field.

Go and Tell Lessons

Yesterday at camp, God blessed me so much. I had two groups, the Blue Group the first hour and the Red Group the second hour.

You never know how a lesson will go the first time you teach it. I always learn more and adjust as I go. When it was time to place the Blue Group into four groups to play the Go Tell Game. I just assigned them groups. Then I gave them their assignments. 

When I asked Blue Group 1 if they would like to stay together or split up to go tell the Bible story. They chose to stay together. So we were one big group traveling from group to group to tell the story. They did it, but it took a long time and there was ALOT of waiting for the other groups. I knew this could happen so I gave them things to discuss while waiting. 

We did not get to finish the lesson, but they left knowing we are called to be His witnesses in our city, state, with people we don't like, and the nations. I later heard that they were retelling their Bible story at crafts so they did get it.

The Red Group came in ready to go. When I divided them up, I tweaked it one way. I simply asked who in the room wants to be the storyteller? I then chose them to be Group 1. 

After giving group assignments I asked them, "Do you want to go as a group or split up?" They jumped up and down and said, "Split up!" So I let them choose where they went. They equally divided and ran to their groups to go tell the Bible story.

The Red Group was able to tell all of the groups the Bible story and even bring others along to go tell other groups. They multiplied faster and more people heard the story and more people told the story.

What an incredible visual God gave me through the two groups. When we say, "I don't want to leave my group. We want to stay together. We can't do it unless others are with us." We still get it done, but not as fast and not to all places. It means alot of people do not hear in time before they die. But, when we get it, go, and give it away in as many places as we can then more people hear and more can get the call to go. We multiply faster. 

I had no clue how God was going to use this lesson, but He sure gave me a great visual that I will now use as a model as to why we each have a responsibility to go. 

What does your church look like the Blue Group or the Red Group? Pray you and your church become a Red Group! 

The Creation Story Summary: A Simple Method for Recall.

I don't know about you, but remembering large content does not come easily to me. So, I am always looking for tricks that can assist my memory. The Creation Story has always made me struggle. When I taught I was always afraid on the day that I that I would forget the order. This method is what helped me. Truly, it is the simple things. 

I have a doctorate and I am not ashamed to say I need these types of memory cues. 

I hope it helps you!

The Creation Story in Summary

God uses the Small to Change the Nations: Modeling a Generational Timeline while Teaching the Stories of Joseph and Esther By: Dr. Tara Rye

“One person can change a generation!” My friend from India shared that his dad used to say this to him often. I have not been able to stop thinking about that short phrase. As I prepared for our trip to Gambella, Ethiopia, to minister to the Nuer people group that phrase bounced in my head, my heart, and my prayers. I realized that God was doing something in me in preparation for our teaching time. We were going to minister to the Hope for the Children Orphanage. Simon, the leader, did not set out to be the father of several hundred children, but as he saw all the children without parents because of the South Sudanese crises he began to gather the children. He told me, “We cannot change our nation if we do not give them Jesus!” So, Simon started collecting children that had nowhere else to go. He sought to change the next generation by loving the children of South Sudan. 

When Simon invited me to come and teach to the top English-speaking students, I prayed and asked God what would be the best Bible stories for us to bring. I knew the children were being taught the Bible, so what stories might have a profound impact? God put it on my heart to bring the story of Joseph and Esther because they both represented someone placed in circumstances beyond their control, yet they both chose to honor God and their people. I also knew that the Nuer language did not have the Old Testament translated yet, so I wanted to introduce them to stories in the Old Testament that they might not know yet. I love that Joseph and Esther’s life choices led to both of them being used to save their nations. God uses the small to change nations! This would be a phrase I would repeat often! It became our theme for the whole week and the one truth we wanted them to know deep in their souls. 

Generational Timeline 

Because knowing your family’s tribe and history are important to the Nuer, I wanted to help them see God’s generational timeline for them through the Bible and how each person plays an important role in God’s big plan. We started off by creating a human generational timeline for the Bible. We invited a boy and a girl to come forward to represent Adam and Eve while sharing that God created all things. He created the first man and woman in His image. God had a plan for the man and woman, but they disobeyed God and, in the process, brought shame and separation from God for all of mankind. But God had a plan to restore mankind to Him. God would provide a way through their descendants to save the nations through His Son. 

In the process of time, God chose Abraham, a descendant of Adam and Eve. At this point, we invited one boy to stand beside Adam and Eve to represent Abraham. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars of the universe and the sand of the sea. Through Abraham God would save the nations. Abraham was to go and tell the nations what God had done for him. The LORD blessed Abraham to be a blessing. 

Abraham had a son named Isaac, and the promise continued through him. We then invited someone to stand as Isaac. Then we shared that Isaac had a son named Jacob. Now, Jacob had twelve sons. God promised Jacob that he would give him the land of Canaan and make his family great and blessed him with many good things. Jacob in turn blessed his sons. We then invited someone to stand as Jacob and then gathered twelve people to stand as Jacob’s twelve sons. 

Once Jacob’s twelve sons were settled upfront, we pulled one boy out to represent Judah. We shared that Judah was blessed by his father Jacob. Jacob told Judah that the royal line would come through him and that the nations would come to obedience through his descendants. It will be through Judah’s descendants that Jesus, the Savior of all nations, would be born. It was very important that the descendants of Judah were kept safe. We then pulled one boy forward to be Joseph. 

Next, we explained that we would be telling the story of Joseph during the week. He will save his brothers and forgive them even though they sold him into slavery. What man did for evil, Joseph recognized that God used for good. God used Joseph to protect the descendants of Judah so that we would eventually have Jesus, the Messiah. God used the small to save His nation. 

We then explained that many descendants were born and as time passed, the people of God ended in exile in Persia. It is in Persia that we will meet Esther and Mordecai. We then invited a girl and a boy forward to stand for Esther and Mordecai. We explained that God used Esther as a young, orphaned, unmarried girl in exile to become the queen of Persia. The king of Persia oversaw 127 territories that spanned from India to Ethiopia. We wanted them to see how Esther was the queen for their nation and that for such time as was needed, she was willing to sacrifice herself for the people of God. God used the small to save her nation. 

We then explained that in the process of time, God saw fit to send His one and only Son, Jesus, to come to earth. At this point, we brought up one boy to represent Jesus. We explained that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God and man. Jesus preached, taught, healed, and cast out demons while pointing to the father’s will. Jesus willingly died on the cross for the things that all of mankind did and will do that bring shame and dishonor to God. Anyone who believes in Jesus is promised eternal life. Jesus gave the command to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He entrusted His followers to bring the message that God loves the whole world and sent His Son for them. God will use the small to change nations. Jesus entrusted His command to go make disciples to anyone who seeks to follow Him and be His disciple. 

I then invited the team upfront. I had shared previously that each of them was someone that I had the privilege of training, and now I am teaching alongside them. As much as possible, I gave them the key role as teachers. 

We split the stories equally, so it was a shared teaching time. My prayer was that they would see the generational teaching being modeled. We then shared that in the process of time, we learned the story of God and how He so loved the world that He sent His Son. We obeyed Jesus’ command to go make disciples of all nations and that is how we ended up in Gambella. God uses the small to change the nations! 

I then shared that God has a plan for you! If He can use us, then He can use you! God wants to use you though you may feel small to change the nations!

Big God Story Summary

In order to make sure that the listeners knew the Big God Story, we had Alice come forward and tell the Big God Story in Summary. She shared a less than three-minute basic summary of what God did for the nations through Jesus. The generational timeline allowed them to see and hear where each person fell in God’s timeline, but we also wanted to make sure that they knew what God had accomplished through Jesus. 

The Big God Story Summary was told to emphasize Jesus’ role in the timeline. We did not want to miss out on sharing about Jesus since we would spend the week telling stories of Joseph and Esther. Below is the Big God Story Summary. 

The Most High GOD created the heavens and the earth and every living creature in the earth, in the sea, and in the sky said, “It is good!” 

Then the Most High God created man in His image and placed him in the garden and told him to care for the garden. 

He could eat from anything in the garden, but not from the tree of knowledge, good, and evil. 

But man ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and it caused him to be ashamed. His shame separated him from God, and he hid from God. 

God loved man, so He made the first blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and sewed clothes for man from the animal. 

God then gave man commandments to live by, but the man did not obey those commandments and his disobedience hurt his relationship with God. 

The Most High God had a plan. He so loved the world that He sent His Son Jesus so that all who believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. 

Jesus walked on this earth as the Son of God teaching, preaching, healing, and casting out demons. 

Man killed Jesus and hung Him on the cross. Jesus died and rose on the third day. 

Now everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. 

Before leaving this earth, Jesus commanded us to go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. I will be with you always! (Rye, p. 6) 

One villager came up to me later in the week and said that they really appreciated us sharing the Big God Story Summary. It helped him to see the generational timeline for Jesus. I found it interesting how different aspects of what we did impacted different people. This villager was so impacted by the Big God Story that he came back and took notes while other stories were told. He was just someone passing by on his way to do chores, but he stopped to listen. He made sure to stop by the next day because he was so captivated by the stories.

Story Summary 

Now that we know God’s generational timeline for Joseph and Esther and how God has us moving toward Jesus, our team would teach the entire story of Joseph and Esther using various storytelling methods. We would introduce the story with a short summary of the story. The story summaries typically take about twenty minutes. They cover the key scenes with simple phrases. This provides the overview of the story so the group can know the whole context of the story before we dive into the week of learning. 

Grant presented the story of Joseph in summary as the crowd kept growing. As villagers would pass by us while we taught under the big tree, they would stop their journey and stay to listen. Our group that was supposed to be fifty students from Hope for the Children Orphanage ended up being a huge crowd from the village and almost all of the students at the orphanage. The big tree outside the compound not only provided us with shade from the sun but also placed us on the path that villagers traveled as they completed their daily chores.

One teacher, Peter, came up to me after Grant taught the Joseph story in summary and said, “Thank you for sharing the generational outline. I now see how Joseph fits in God’s story. This is very good! We will be using this in the future. We have taught about Joseph, but not like this.” 

On Monday and Tuesday, we only focused on Joseph. We told Esther on Wednesday and Thursday. The Esther summary was told by Emily. We were very excited about Esther because when we asked if anyone knew the story of Esther, no one raised a hand. Emily had a surprise element to her story summary. She prepared a short song that introduced the characters before she told her story summary. She used the same motions that we created for the story in motion, but only introduced Esther, the king, Mordecai, and Haman. The children loved it, but I am certain some of the teachers loved it more!

Emily’s song 

My name is Esther. My husband is the king. My uncle’s name is Mordecai and Haman wants the Jews to die! 

(You can access Emily's Story Song at this link.) 

As I woke up in the mornings while in Gambella, I would be singing Emily’s catchy tune. As a teacher, it was my gift on the trip. It illustrated how Emily owned her story and took seriously the call we give to our listeners to go and create their own thing related to the story. She took it to the next level and owned it. This is when generational teaching blesses those who have given the investment to another! As we traveled home, this story song was a fun way to show family and friends what we did in Gambella. One night as Emily led her story song, even the fathers in the room stood and joined in the motion and song!

Emily’s song prepared the listener well for her story summary. The sound of the crowd moving and chatting never seemed to cease. There always seemed to be a hum of movement and chatter, but, when Emily stood and started telling the story of Esther the silence that fell was palpable. We never once had to ask them to listen or be quiet. The power of story silenced them as they were gripped with the true tale of a young orphan girl becoming queen. A few women listened with huge smiles on their faces as the story unfolded.

Story Outline in Motion

After the story summary was told, we introduced the story through a basic outline that used motions to help us remember key scenes in the storyline. These were shared with a sing-song sound while using hand motions that communicate an idea. 

Because I knew movement was important to the storytellers in Nuer, I wanted to incorporate something that would provide easy story recall as well as provide a fun activity for the children. I created a basic outline and motions to tell the story, but the story in motion came alive when we as a team sat down and went through the motions together. The team took what I created and made it better. It is in these moments that teachers realize that what we teach is often done much better by the ones we have the opportunity to pour into. Grant, Alice, and Emily reminded me that I could stand back and reap what they sow because of how God has gifted each of them. 

For the story in motion times, we would ask the listeners to stand up so that they could engage their whole body in the movements. This was intended to help awaken those who might have become too comfortable or to quiet those that were too noisy. Movement will also awaken both sides of the brain. By using both words and movement, we are more likely to recall what we are hearing. 

It was our goal to have the story in motion before story time and after storytime to help create a basic story outline that would chunk the story for recall. For the most part, we were able to follow this rhythm, but there were a few times that time did not allow us to tell it at the end of the training. If they could remember the basic outline, it was easier to recall the bigger story. 

As the week unfolded, it was fun to watch the children both young and old unconsciously do the motion as the fuller story was told. They recognized immediately when the motion connected to the storyline. This story connection will remain long after we leave and enable them to tell it well.

You can access the Joseph story in motion at Joseph Story in Motion .

You can access the Esther story in motion at Esther Story in Motion 

Story Told in Sections 

The Joseph story spans from Genesis 37 to 50. It is the longest narrative of any one character in the Bible. It deals with family drama, favoritism, jealousy, revenge, slavery, power, influence, favor, and blessing. It has plot twists and role reversals found in dreams that come alive. It shows how one man adjusts to cross-cultural situations. 

In contrast, Esther is told in 9 chapters and shows us what it is like to live in exile as a foreigner, an orphan, and being commanded to do things simply because of her womanhood and beauty. It also has plot twists that bring about justice with finality and celebration. In order to tell the stories over several days, I broke them into smaller sections. 

My goal was to try to keep them under four minutes, but I wanted to stay true to how the story scenes unfold. I divided the stories up and each of us told our story section. If you see two names, then that section had two storytellers. If there are three names, it had three storytellers.

Here is our basic outline: 

Joseph 

Joseph was sold into slavery (Genesis 37) Tara & Alice 

God was with Joseph (Genesis 39-41) Emily, Grant, and Alice 

Joseph’s Secret (Genesis 44-45) Alice and Emily 

God’s Promises (Genesis 46-50) Grant, Tara, and Alice 

Esther 

A Plot to Destroy (Esther 3:1-13-4) Emily and Grant 

Honor is Esteemed (Esther 5-7) Tara, Alice, and Emily 

A Nation Saved (Esther 8-9) Grant and Tara 

For each section, the storytellers would stand and tell the whole section at one time. This allowed for the flow of a natural story conversation, and it followed the scenes for that section. We would not do an introduction; we would simply start telling our story. The first person would start off by saying something like this is a true story in the Bible and then start telling. The last storyteller would say, May God honor the telling of His word! This allowed a clear beginning and ending for the sacred story of God.

QAR (Question, Answer, Response) 

After each story section, we then began a process of asking questions about what the listeners discovered from the story. Each storyteller would stand and ask basic observational questions related to the story. At the beginning of the week, the group did not engage much. But as the week progressed and they discovered the rhythm of listening and sharing, they started answering more quickly and more excitedly. We discovered that we did not have to ask anyone to retell the story because someone always seemed to retell it naturally. When a question was asked, they would often summarize the story as part of their answer. We would faithfully encourage them to go and tell the story to someone else!

Using art for story recall 

In order to help me recall the story of Joseph and the story of Esther, I created storyboards using stick figures. As I prayed about Esther, it was on my heart to provide a storyboard that could be replicated with bead art. I created a storyboard using geometric shapes to help me recall the story. I wanted to put the storyboard on scarves to hand out to the children. This way they could use them for headbands and then take them off to share with someone. Because I knew that art was not a typical learning tool used to recall stories in Nuer, I did not use it as part of our main teaching. However, at the end of the week when they knew the story of Joseph and Esther, I pulled out the art and retold the story using the storyboard to reinforce what they already learned. This is best used in smaller groups so that everyone can see the storyboard and follow along. It was quite a task to try to use with a large crowd. 

On the day before I was to share the storyboards one of the teachers, Peter shared with me that he loves using art. I showed him the storyboards, and he was very excited. I gave him the challenge to create art to tell Bible stories. I also had a young villager named Prisca approach me and say that every day as she passed by while doing her chores, she loved hearing the stories. She wanted to come by in the afternoon to learn more. To my surprise, she showed up that afternoon. She said, “I am sad that you will not be telling more stories this afternoon.” We were doing fun activities in the afternoon while Pads4Pupils taught women’s hygiene. I asked Prisca, “Would you like for me to share them with you now?” She said, “Yes!” So, I took out the scarves and started telling her the story of Esther. A small group of young men and a few boys gathered behind us as I used the story scarf to tell the story. I told her both the story of Esther and Joseph. I gave the scarves to Prisca and asked her to go home and share it with her family. She did! She shared with her mom, sisters, and aunts. Her mom and one sister came to greet me the next day. 

The next day Prisca and several family members showed up for our morning teaching time when I presented the story scarves and told the stories using the art. We had our team and a few teachers stationed around the crowd holding the story scarf pointing to the symbol as I told the story. For the most part, the group was able to track along with me and see how the story unfolded using the art. I left behind 70 scarves for both the story of Joseph and Esther for the teachers to distribute as they felt necessary. In order to help the teachers, recall what each symbol stands for I left behind a printout of what each symbol means for each row. 

The storyboard is unique in that it starts at the bottom of the page and moves up. This was to be symbolic of how God uses the small to change the nations! He lifts us up and moves us up when we are willing to seek Him and walk in obedience to Him. God used Prisca to show us that He can use art in their area to help them with story recall and encourage others to want to come and hear more. This affirmed the importance of using as many methods as possible.

When our team left the area and was staying at a guest house, I pulled out a story scarf to give to the house manager and assistant. I did not intend to tell the whole story but was showing them how to use the story scarf with the women they serve. The house manager sat down so he could listen to the whole story. So, a moment when I thought I would be just handing out a gift with a short explanation ended up being the whole telling of Esther using the scarf. Once the story started, he did not want to leave until he heard it all. 

The story scarf is a tool that can be used to draw someone into the story, and it is fun because you can give it to them so they can use it to retell as well! Another example of how, God uses that which is small to change the nations! 

On Thursday afternoon as I was about to crawl into the bajaj to leave when a young boy walked up to me and did the motions for “God has a plan for you” as he spoke in Nuer and then he hugged me! I knew in that moment that God had used that which was small to change one, and it only takes one to change a generation! Because God uses that which is small to change nations! 

 And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:18)

The story summary, story outline in motion, and the stories we told can be found in a workbook I created called Joseph and Esther (Rye. 2022).

Heaven’s Hospitality for Women

One day as I drove to a speaking engagement to a women's event in South Dakota I was praying about International Women's Day. It was heavy on my heart that the women of the world are not taught their value in Jesus. God began to place on my heart all of the stories that helped me realize my value. These stories are the very stories that helped me to discover my identity in Christ and that I am worthy of honor and respect. I could not wait to go home and compile the list of what God gave me that helped me to discover Heaven's Hospitality toward me! God gave this to me when I was writing and teaching Heaven's Hospitality so I called it Heaven’s Hospitality for Women. Jesus’ conversations with women reveal that He knew women had the capability to comprehend the gospel, discuss theology, be a witness, make disciples, provide financial assistance, and assist in ministry without being a seductress. Jesus allowed women to be actively involved in kingdom building. Jesus’ interactions with women transcended culturally defined roles. 1. Jesus honored His mother’s request to turn water to wine at the wedding of Cana (John 2:11). 2. Jesus initiates conversations with foreign women (John 4:9). 3. Jesus did not gloss over the sin but confronted the sin of the women He interacted (John 4:16-18). 4. Jesus allowed women to be actively involved in kingdom building (John 4:21-24; 39-42). 5. Jesus trusted a woman’s testimony to lead an entire village (John 4:21-24; 39-42). 6. Jesus revealed His identity to a woman (John 4:26). 7. Jesus healed women: Peter’s mother-in-law and Woman with blood flow (Luke 4:38-41; 8:44; Luke 13:16). 8. Jesus spoke to women in public and showed He was tender hearted toward their suffering (Luke 7:11-17). 9. Jesus welcomes worship from a sinful woman (Luke 7:38; Matthew 26:13). 10. Jesus forgave/forgives women (Luke 7:48). 11. Jesus gave dignity when man sought shame and when the law demanded judgment (Luke 7:36-50). 12. Jesus trusted women to be persons of faith (Luke 7:50). 13. Jesus allowed women to travel with Him for ministry (Luke 8:1-3). 14. Jesus allowed women to minister to Him financially (Luke 8:1-3). 15. Jesus confronted sin with mercy (John 8:11). 16. Jesus used affectionate familial terms when talking to women… daughter (Luke 8:48). 17. Jesus showed compassion to women and did not view women as unclean (John 8:43-48). 18. Jesus settled disputes with a kingdom view (Luke 10:41). 19. Jesus commends sacrifice of widowed woman (Luke 21:2). 20. Jesus noticed the outcast and socially invisible woman (Luke 21:2). 21. Jesus took care of His mother (John 19:26). 22. Jesus used women as eye-witnesses (Mark 16:11; John 20:11-18; Matthew 28:1-10). 23. Jesus parables about women to teach truth (Matthew 25, Luke 15; 18). 24. Jesus had theological discussions with the Samaritan Woman on Living Water, Martha on the Resurrection of Life, and Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness after Jesus rose from the grave. I do not feel this list is exhaustive. I realize that I need to make a list for the Old Testament too! My favorite Bible story to use in the Old Testament is the Widow's Oil in 1 Kings 4:1-7. We also need to consider the Ten Commandments, the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Spiritual Gifts. These are commands and gifts that are given with the intent that both men and women fulfill them. If I may encourage the freedom that is modeled and commanded to be lived out among us. Live in Heaven’s hospitality and be a blessing as you are blessed.

Jesus' Birth Inspires Generosity

Listen here: Jesus' Birth Inspires Generosity

As I listened to the Christmas story of the wise men visiting Jesus, I was again struck by the generosity of their gifts.

It wasn't just that they brought gold, frankenscence and myrrh. These are meaningful and prophetic gifts even if they did not know it.

They left their country, traveled long distance by foot or most likely on a camel. 

They sacrificed the time to travel there. One speculation is if these wise men were from Babylon in the east (about 1,677 miles or 2,700 kilometers) it would have taken them four to five months traveling a little less than 19 miles or 30 kilometers a day. 

They sacrificed time with family and work. Can you imagine an astronomer wakes his wife up and says, "Hey babe, there is a baby that has been born in Bethlehem, but will be moved to Egypt and I am going to go do a baby visit. I will be back in a year or maybe even a little more!"

It also would have required a huge caravan to carry what they would need for the journey and for anyone traveling with them. 

The birth of Jesus inspired uncommon generosity and sacrifice.

The birth of Jesus also inspired unimaginable evil. Herod the Great, king of Judea ordered a decree that all two-year-olds and under in or around Bethlehem to be killed when he heard that the King of the Jews was born. This is referred to as the Massacre of the Innocents. 

Herod sacrificed others because of his desire for power. Some hearts have moved so close to evil that they no longer are affected by the beauty and gift of a child or the gift of God. 

Jesus draws out the passion that is held in the heart. His name alone can cause great joy and inspire unimaginable generosity or cause the evil within to be revealed and unleashed on unsuspecting innocents.

What is revealed in your heart when you hear that God so loved the world that He gave His only so that all who believe in Him will not perish? 

I hope it is a yes and you allow the generosity of God to begin teaching you how to be just like Him... generous in all your ways! 

Treasure These Things

Listen here: The Angels Tell the Shepherd's about Jesus

Have you ever noticed how a baby can reduce the the toughest guy to the most gentle of man? I love this! Everyone loves a little baby! 

This irony should not surprise us especially when we discover that God chose shepherds to be the first to welcome the Lamb of God, Messiah! 

If anyone was rough and lowly in culture it was a shepherd. Yet, God chose them to see His Son and tell the people the Savior has arrived. 

If anyone could understand the importance of a first born sacrifice, it would be a shepherd. They were the ones that cared for the mother and delivered the little lamb. They had to inspect it to make sure it was without blemish and then walk it to the temple for it to be sacrificed. Shepherds got it! 

And they were amazed! They ran and told everyone.

While Mary treasured these things in her heart. Little Hinley (5 years old, Anneliese Kliewer) summed it up beautifully, "Mary locked these things in her heart." When he heard the story he understood that Mary was not going to forget the beauty of her little babe being born and the rugged shepherds coming to welcome Him. Or that they declared that a host of angels sang over them as they watched their flock that night. Because an angel told both her and Joseph about Jesus. Jesus would be the Son of God and Savior of the world. 

Have you welcomed the beautiful baby Jesus into your rugged ole' heart? 

I have! Shalom y'all!

Knowing the Names of God Builds Enable Obedience and Obedience Builds Hope

Listen here: An Angel Tells Joseph the Baby is Jesus

How do you respond when someone says, "Obey or Obedience!"  Does it cause you to want to fight or listen?  What if I told you that often obedience builds hope? 

In today's advent story, we will discover that Joseph's obedience gave him hope to do the right thing. 

This week as I reflected on the Christmas stories to teach them I wrote out every name given to Jesus through the Christmas stories. Here are some I noted.  They are from the three angel visits to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherd's stories.

Jesus

Son of the Most High

King David's descendant 

King of Israel

Holy

Son of God

The LORD Saves

Emmanuel

God with us

Messiah

Savior

The Lord

Knowing the names of God help us to understand His character and that builds hope. It also helps us to obey when things just don't make sense or seem hard. 

I love how God made sure Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds were given the character traits and names that would help them walk in obedience to fulfill His will in their lives. Our lives are changed because of it.

Where do you struggle with obedience? What character trait of God do you call upon to help you walk in obedience?  How did it give you hope? 

Blessings come when we obey! Joseph got to become the earthly father of the heavenly king because of his obedience and we now live in hope because of his gift.

Father, please use this story to build hope today. Here is to knowing the character of God and walking in obedience. Thank you for hope! 

Shalom y'all!

How do I know I am not missing the one truth God wants me to know?

Sometimes we can be doing all the right things and miss the one truth that is the most important. Other times we can be in the right truth and not necessarily doing all the right things! 

How do we know when we are missing something that will make a huge difference in our lives and those around us? 

In today's Heaven's Hospitality story we will discover what two different men had to know in order for them to move forward in heaven's hospitality. What did God do to help each man gain the knowledge he needed? How did God speak to Cornelius? How did God speak to Peter? 

The one thing that really stood out to me was the fact that both men were doing life as they normally would do it and it was in their routine that God showed up and gave them a vision.

God made a way for each man to know what he needed to know so that he could serve Him better. If we trust God to reveal to us His plan in our lives he will meet us in our ordinary routine as we seek to draw near to Him and live out our lives. He loves to make ordinary moments into extraordinary. This is one of His many gifts He loves to pour upon us. 

We will also discover that heaven's hospitality is offered to all people everywhere, but not everyone knows that it has been offered to them.Do you see that with God there are no favorites! He loves all people everywhere! Every nation! Every tribe! Every tongue! There is none that are greater than any other. We all have blood and we all have skin. We may look different and have different customs, but the reality is we are all created in His image and He welcomes all! 

Which one do you more identify with Cornelius or Peter? Or do you not identify with either and feel like you are in the crowd? Would you consider asking God to reveal Himself to you and show you that He also welcomes you? 

 Shalom y'all!

How to use Symbols to Recall a Bible story

Watch video here:

How do you use Symbols to Recall Bible Stories?

I was recently asked, “How do you use symbols to recall a Bible story?” Some Bible stories are more difficult to recall than others because of abstract ideas, lists, or repetitive dialogue and non-narrative passages are not as easy to internalize because they do not follow the natural narrative flow. This is when it is a good idea to use symbols to help with recall. 

We will use John 3 as our practice story. Did you notice that I chose to divide it into five storylines? 

Notice how I kept the symbols simple and consistent because this helps with recall. Symbols are not meant to be masterpieces that draw the masses to your art, but simple story prompts to help you internalize the passage. It is not intended to be what you will use when you go and tell your story. It is personal to you. Your symbols will not carry the same meaning for someone else. 

For example, in order to remember that Nicodemus is a pharisee I put him in a triangle pointing downward to illustrate that he was a religious leader focused on man’s rules. 

I put a moon over his symbol to remind me that Nicodemus approached Jesus late at night. 

On top of the triangle, you will notice that I have person bowing before another to show that Nicodemus saw Jesus as his teacher and was seeking to learn from Him. 

I kept Jesus’ symbol simple. A stick figure with a halo. 

In order to depict being born again took a lot of thought. I chose to use the theta, the symbol for God because it looked like an egg which is a symbol for birth. The incomplete line on the inside represented that unless someone is born of the Spirit they are not born again. And then I used the cloud to represent the kingdom of God. 

The question mark inside the born-again symbol represented Nicodemus asking, “How can someone be born again?” 

The use of the born-again symbol and a water droplet remind me that we must be born of water and spirit. I drew the wind bigger because there was more information about the Spirit and that it is like the wind that blows wherever it pleases. 

The question mark over the wind/spirit symbol is Nicodemus asking, “How can this be?” 

While the question mark over the symbol of Nicodemus represented Jesus asking, “How is it possible that you as a religious leader do not already know this?” 

The next division in the storyline I noticed it is only Jesus speaking, so I put each of the symbols in a speech bubble. The one with the eyes represents that the Jews speak from what they have seen and know.

For me using the no symbol with the quotations and ellipses was the perfect way to represent that the religious leaders did not accept their testimony. 

And then to show that people were not believing what Jesus said about earthly things, I used a tree. For me a tree is one of God’s beautiful examples of earthly things He created. 

The cloud symbol represented that they would not believe Jesus if He spoke of heavenly things. 

The little man running up the stairs with the no symbol over him represented that no person has ever gone to heaven except the Son of Man. Jesus standing at the top of the stairs with a cloud represented that He is the only one who has been in heaven. 

Some symbols are easy to chose because they are widely used already like the snake on the shepherd staff for Moses, the figure on the cross for Jesus, or the ichthus for believe. 

Jesus on the cross with the trinity symbol signifies that anyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life. I had a harder time picking this one. I really like how the trinity symbol is created with three believe symbols. 

Creating the John 3:16 verse was fun for me. I layered the images. The world filled with a heart shows that God loves the world. I added Jesus on the cross to symbolize the One and only Son. Again, the trinity symbol represents eternal life provided for all who believe in Jesus. 

The theta symbol with the arrow pointing at Jesus on the cross illustrates that God sent Jesus to the world. The no symbol over the world is the reminder that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world. 

On the next image adding the trinity symbol and removing the no symbol over the world illustrates that God sent Jesus to provide eternal life. 

By now you can see why I chose to use divisions and symbols to help me with the recall. 

Did you notice all the different ways eternal life is repeated? The ichthus symbol and trinity symbol remind us again that the one who believes in Jesus will have eternal life. 

Likewise, the ichthus and trinity symbol covered with the no symbol illustrate that those who do not believe in God’s one and only Son are already condemned by their unbelief. 

In the last storyline, I used a light bulb to convey light. The light bulb over the world shows us that the Light of the world came to earth. I like it when a symbol is easy to choose like a light bulb. It is always best to keep your symbols simple. 

While man’s love for evil is represented by a heart surrounding an evil face. This shows that man chose darkness instead of the light. 

While the choice to not love the light is a light bulb scratched out. I use this to help me remember that those that hate the light fear their evil deeds will be exposed. 

While those that love the truth go into the light so what they do can be seen. Their good deeds are represented by a heart inside a light bulb. 

And you can find the story of John 3 in a link below. 

John 3 Nicodemus Visits Jesus

Let me know if you use symbols to help you with Bible story recall! 

Using symbols to recall Bible stories is a great way to help you be in the Word, be with Jesus and be transformed.

Shalom ya’ll.