Getting Your Story Straight is a summary I’ve written of the story of the Bible.  It’s designed for you to hand to a person far from God (or point him to it online below), ask him to read it, and then follow up later with a conversation about it.   This summary is based on the conviction that people today need a chance to hear the whole story of Scripture.  Many have such little knowledge of the Biblethat they have a difficult time putting into perspective the smaller pieces, even the story of Jesus.  Getting Your Story Straight gives them a chance to hear the flow of the entire Bible and thus helps them make sense of the various pieces of the Bible.  It also helps them see that the Bible really has one seamless plotline. 

Getting Your Story Straight  is oriented around 4 ideas: “Where We Are,” “Where We Were,” “Where We’re Going,” and “How We’re Going.”

• “Where We Are” discusses the present chaos, brokenness, and challenge of life in the 21^st century.  It points out our broken relationship with others, with nature, with God, and with the future.
• “Where We Were” demonstrates that things were not always this way.  God originally created a world that was whole and complete.  This section also demonstrates how human choices resulted in that transformation of the where-we-were-world of Genesis to the where-we-are-world of today. 
• The section entitled “Where We’re Going” highlights God’s work to return us to the world he originally created.  It focuses on God’s vision for what life can be with God back in charge.
• “How We’re Going” shows how God is bringing about his desired future through a person who comes with a message about that future and a people who strive to model that future.  It further reveals that God is acting as our partner—one with the means to achieve his future.  This section climaxes with the story of Jesus as the one who finally and fully brings God’s future into the present. 

“Getting Your Story Straight” ends with an explanation of how to make God’s story your story.

Click below for the online PDF.

“Echoing the Story: Living the Art of Listening”

My friend Brady Bryce has written a wonderful book which unfolds the drama and narrative of the Bible in a compelling and understandable way.  He’s what inspired “The Story We Find Ourselves In” below.  Check out Brady’s book here.

“The Story We Find Ourselves In”

This series of spiritual conversations leads you and a friend from Genesis through Revelation, seeing the whole big picture and “big story” of God.  Click on the images below for a PDF of the conversations and a guide for using them:

“The Main Thing”

This is a series of topical Bible studies I and others have used for several years to share an overview of the story of Jesus and its significance for our lives.  Click on the image below to see/print a PDF of the series:  

 
 

James Choung summarizes Scripture with his “Big Story.”  James uses four circles written on a napkin to describe the Story and show why that Story matters today.

1. Christianity Today interview with Choung in which he describes his summary and its importance.
2. Part 1 and Part 2 of a video (3 minutes  each) in which Choung presents his summary of the “Big Story” on paper and then answers questions people might ask.
3. Here is James’ summary in book form (True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In) and booklet form (Based on a True Story).

 “Reverse the Curse”

John Mark Hicks summarizes the Story using a “curse” theme in 8 brief articles.

Reverse the Curse 1

Reverse the Curse 2: The Beginning

Reverse the Curse 3: Israel

Reverse the Curse 4: The Ministry of Jesus (Matthew)

Reverse the Curse 5: The Ministry of Jesus (Luke)

Reverse the Curse 6: The Early Church (Acts)

Reverse the Curse 7: The Early Church (Paul)

Reverse the Curse 8: Consummation (Revelation)

 “Theodrama in Five Acts”

John Mark Hicks provides this 5-part summary of Scripture in one article. 

 “Present”

John Mark Hicks summarizes the Story of Scripture as presence in this article. 

 “The Sycamore Series”

This spiritual conversation tool is developed by the great folks at Let’s Start Talking and published by Leafwood Press.  Each booklet is designed to help you share a portion of the story of Jesus with an irreligious friend in a 1 on 1 or small group setting.