Dwayne Gandy was mesmerized that his children — ages 4, 6, 8 and 10 — were so mesmerized.
Not by technology or TV or gadgetry. But by old-fashioned storytellers. With no visual aids.
“My kids sat there for hours just totally enamored,” Gandy said.
Right there at the Lone Star Storytelling Festival in Frisco, Texas, a decade ago, Gandy began fully realizing the power and impact of well-planned and well-executed storytelling. Now he and other volunteer Christians are presenting the free, all-ages, nondenominational Amazing Bible Stories Storytelling Festival on Friday and Sept. 21 at Ceraland Park, 3989 S. County Road 525E.
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The minister at Columbus’ Lakeview Church of Christ sees a clear responsibility in an age that he believes substantially has lost a sense of storytelling’s impact and magic.
“Our generation must answer the call to pass God’s stories down to the next generation,” Gandy said.
He believes that so much that in 2014 he wrote a book, “God’s Gift of Story,” outlining the idea.
Local resident John Baughn is coordinating the festival, the first of this scale in the area, according to organizers. Previous, smaller such gatherings attracted about 200 people to locales such as Donner Park. He sees the current timing for such an event as especially good.
“There is a lot of interest in our culture today to unplug (from technology),” Baughn said.
Baughn noted that mainstream storytelling festivals seem to be on the rise nationally. He recently returned from Scotland, where the concept is so popular that he visited one of the country’s storytelling centers in Edinburgh. Plus, he looks at American culture and notes the tremendous growth of elements such as the Marvel Comics stories and its heroes.
He and Gandy see no reason that Christians cannot hone their own storytelling skills regarding the trials and triumphs of great Bible characters — Noah, Esther, Abraham, Moses, David and others — in order to spread the Gospel. They believe that, for many people, dramatic presentations can be more memorable than merely hearing someone read directly from Scripture, especially if the reader presents the text in a somewhat dry manner.
Yet, keep in mind that festival organizers’ intention is to get people back to Scripture, not away from it partly by preserving the oral tradition of storytelling that brought biblical narratives to life in the first place.
“Even the generations today who do indeed know Bible stories don’t always know how they all connect,” Gandy said.
So the festival will include presentations on a connectedness in Scripture and related topics. Plus, presentations also will cover various Bible characters and their proper historical perspective.
Baughn spoke of the Protestant Bible books written over a 1,500-year period with a common theme “of God’s relationship to man,” as Baughn put it.
“When you put it all together, it’s a big, amazing story that only God could have communicated,” Gandy said.
Vaughn mentioned that he regularly is fascinated by one element presented in Scriptural stories: the humanness and frailty of the cast of characters as they aim to follow God, and sometimes stray off course.
“God creates a picture of human beings with various weaknesses who still are allowed to be in his service,” Baughn said. “That’s what I really love about so many of these stories. We get to see all the warts.
“And to me, that contributes to the authenticity of those stories.”
Gandy agreed, and added that that idea opens the door to those hearing stories of great people sometimes with great weaknesses reminds today’s Christians “that maybe I, too, can used by God.”
The Amazing Bible Stories organization is presently training a local speakers bureau of storytellers not just for this kind of upcoming event, but for year-round community activities in which these volunteers can be used in some way.
“This isn’t about preaching or theology,” Baughn said.
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What: The nondenominational Amazing Bible Stories Storytelling Festival.
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Sept. 21.
Where: Ceraland Park and campgrounds, 3989 S. County Road 525E southeast of Columbus.
Admission: The festival is free, but there is a $2 gate fee for entry into the park.
Information: amazingbiblestories.com.
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