Donald Miller says that a story is about a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. He said this in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. The context for this is that he was making a movie about his life, but his actual life had to be altered so…
All posts tagged Story
Creativity for the Masses (A Conversation with Blaine Hogan)
Today’s post is an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with Blaine Hogan. Blaine is an actor, writer, and also the Creative Director at Willow Creek in Chicago. His book was instrumental in giving me the courage to write mine (more info about that at the bottom of this post). We spent time talking about developing…
Break the Comfort
In narrative structure, especially in movies, there is a component called the “inciting incident.” This is the moment when the seemingly comfortable story begins to build a conflict. Without the inciting incident, we’re far less likely to stay engaged with the story. Imagine watching William Wallace battle England in Braveheart without having first watched the…
Tell the Best Story
I noticed something the other day. It went something like this, “My name is _____ _____ and I’m a blogger/pastor/leader of 20-somethings (pick any age group you like), looking to change the world for Jesus Christ and His glory.” If I had a dime for every time I read that as a bio on someone’s…
Has Art Changed Your Life?
Last week I took a course on preaching narrative literature. One of the big areas we focused on was the power of story. The Bible has one overarching story with many great stories within it. It is a beautiful piece and it is a work of art by God that has changed the world. To…