Donald Miller's Blog, page 90

How to Become Everything God Made You to Be

When I was a kid I would go out into the yard and capture caterpillars and put them in a glass jar and take them back into my room. I would then watch over the next few days, as those caterpillars spun a cocoon and then turn into beautiful butterflies.

I would then take that glass jar back outside, now filled with butterflies and release them into the sky. Some flew straight up, some flew to the left, some to the right. But you know what never happened? Not once did any of those butterflies ever fly back into my jar.

They knew instinctively they were meant to be free.

*Photo Credit: b1gw1ght, Creative Commons

The scriptures say that it is for freedom that we have been set free and that as our lives intersect with God, he liberates us from the traps of … self criticism, toxic behaviors, living as a victim … all that stuff that puts us right back in our own glass jar.

Second chance living says it’s time to fly and to be free and become everything God made you to be.

How to Become Everything God Made You to Be is a post from: Storyline Blog

What I Learned From Harry Truman

I recently watched the American Experience documentary about Harry Truman. I learned a lot, not only about the former President but about what it means to make yourself available when influence is needed. I learned, mostly, this is not a short journey. It’s a long journey, and it takes consistency and integrity.

My favorite line from the doc was this:

Slowly, Truman began to prove himself.

This line came in the portion of the documentary describing Truman’s behavior in the Senate.

Photo Credit: Wystan, Creative Commons

Truman’s election to the Senate was suspect. He had ties to the mob, though they were loose. He had been given aide but resented that aide and wanted to break away from it. Once in the Senate, he quietly worked to represent his state and over time began to understand how the power structure worked. He then slowly gained power by offering something positive for the average American rather than trying to look attractive to get votes.

Ultimately this paid off, though Truman could never have reasoned it would. He ended up being elected as Vice President (in an age when the President and Vice President were elected separately) and after FDR passed, took the Presidency.

What I learned from the doc about Truman was this: Slowly learn your job. Don’t seek instant fame or power. Slowly become useful for the common good. Don’t worry about fame or glory. Just be incredibly useful.

I’ll apply that to my work. I hope the same lesson helps in yours.

Let’s not be people who seek instant fame or glory. Let’s be people who help people just a little bit over a long period of time.

• • •

Is there an example of you or someone in your life who has chosen to slowly help people over instant fame or power? Let us know in the comments below.

What I Learned From Harry Truman is a post from: Storyline Blog

Sunday Morning Sermon: What Does It Mean to Be Truly Human?

Jefferson Bethke is a friend of Storyline and just released some new material.

We hope you have a wonderful Sunday — full of true community.

Sunday Morning Sermon: What Does It Mean to Be Truly Human? is a post from: Storyline Blog

Saturday Morning Cereal: The Best Viral Videos We Found This Week

Last week, “A Ticket to Visit Mum” won hands down. How about this week? Vote for your favorite below int the comments.

Saturday Morning Cereal: The Best Viral Videos We Found This Week is a post from: Storyline Blog

Does God Hate Nice Stuff?

I went to a conference recently that was held in a beautiful church building — one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen, and the whole weekend you could hear people murmuring in awe over it — over the high ceilings and the beautiful woodworking and giant sliding glass doors that opened to a small pond outside.

We gushed over the coffee shop in the lobby that made good coffee (which, if you’ve been to church lately, you know is a huge accomplishment), and the beautiful, heavy furniture gathered where people could relax and talk.

It seemed everything in the building was a work of art.

Photo Credit: seier+seier, Creative Commons

But despite the oohs and ahhs and compliments about furniture and coffee and giant ceiling fans, you could almost feel the questions and judgement lurking beneath the surface. Not judgement in a mean way, just this sort of silent worry there might be something wrong with our awe of this place, or our enjoyment of it.

How much did all of this cost? I caught myself thinking. Was it wasteful? How many starving children could we feed with that money?

Here’s the catch. I think God wants us to enjoy nice stuff.

This is hard, because on the one hand, I get the impression God doesn’t want us to be extravagant or wasteful. A few years ago, I was really inspired by the story of the Rich Young Ruler from the Gospels, a story where Jesus suggests a young man sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor in order to experience the Kingdom of Heaven. Since then, I’ve tried to live more simply — giving away more than feels comfortable, committing to change my buying habits and getting out of debt.

I can’t even explain the freedom and joy I experienced by giving up my physical stuff and releasing myself from the pressure to perform with my possessions. It is heaven. No wonder this is the advice Jesus gave.

On the other hand, I just can’t bring myself to believe God hates nice things.

• • •

A few years into my experiment with living with less stuff, I got a call to live-blog for a conference in Maui. The pay wasn’t great, but all my expenses would be paid, and well, it was Maui, so I agreed. And when I arrived at the resort where the conference was taking place, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Never in my life had I experienced such luxury. I would laugh to myself each morning when I woke and walked across the resort to the tower where breakfast and coffee were served.

How was I here? How had this happened? And, if God didn’t want me to have nice stuff, how come this also felt like heaven?

I’m hesitant to believe God doesn’t want us to have nice things for a few reasons:

Nice stuff is relative. Where is the line between nice and not nice? When does something move from nice to extravagant? To me, refusing to allow myself to enjoy nice things (or even extravagant things, whatever that means to me) prevents me from fully experiencing the extravagant love and blessings of God.
Worship is about giving our best to God, and being afraid God hates nice stuff prevents me from giving my best to him. It makes me hesitate to spend money or time on nice ingredients or materials or things I worry are “frivolous.” But have you ever listened to amazing music, or eaten sublime food, or sat on a well-crafted couch and felt like you were connecting with the divine? I have.
Are resources limited? I believe there are physical resources in our physical reality that are limited. But I also believe God is infinite. And in God’s reality (the Kingdom of Heaven), resources aren’t limited. So if God is calling us to participate in his reality right now, is it possible he could be inviting us to live in such a way that resources are not limited like we think they are — both by giving and enjoying good gifts?
Guilt is not productive. Some of us have nicer stuff than others. That is an earthly reality. But feeling guilty for having nice stuff won’t make you more generous with your stuff. It will actually make you deny and hide your reality, closing your heart to others rather than opening it, which is the opposite of generosity.

My favorite passage of scripture surrounding our stuff comes from Matthew 6. In this passage, Jesus reminds us to “store up treasures in heaven” rather than on earth, where they can be stolen or destroyed. My whole life I assumed this meant that there was a line drawn between physical stuff and spiritual stuff. That physical stuff (like houses and cars and church buildings) were right now. And heavenly things would come someday.

I thought the Bible was being very clear which ones I should have and not have, what I should enjoy and what I should reject.

But now I’m not so sure that’s true.

• • •

Lately, I’ve been wondering if “storing up my treasures in heaven” is actually about investing my earthly treasures into creating realities of heaven right here and right now. In other words, using my time, energy and resources — whatever that looks like for me, within my limits — to create spaces and experiences where people feel loved and cared for, where they find healing and become whole, where everyone is invited and everyone belongs, regardless what they have or don’t have.

That feels like heaven to me. Does it to you?

So does God want us to build and enjoy elaborate church buildings? Does he care if we drive luxury cars? I’m not totally sure. I think it depends on a lot of details and circumstances I don’t know or understand. But I am sure He doesn’t hate nice stuff.

And I know He isn’t mad when I enjoy it.

Does God Hate Nice Stuff? is a post from: Storyline Blog

How to Create a Community of Your Own

I spent much of my twenties trying to find a community I could plug into. I did this through book clubs, outdoor activities and church groups. And to be honest, it was terrific. I have had more great experiences with various communities than I can count.

Still, when I got older, I discovered something even more fun. I discovered we could create all new communities. I discovered I could plant a community the way a farmer plants a garden and watch it flourish and enjoy what the garden yields.

The way to do this is to plant seeds, weed out toxic plants and celebrate the harvest.

Now, I don’t look for anybody to create a community for me at all. And I recommend if you’d like to have a great community, you do the same.

Here’s how it looks:

PLANT SEEDS

Simply introduce like-minded people. When I meet people who remind me of one of my other friends, I quickly set up a lunch or dinner to introduce them. If they’re both married, I set up a triple date. This usually works amazingly well. Because I’m an introvert, the folks I’ve invited to the meal usually have an amazing conversation and I get to listen and just chime in with occasional comments. Also, occasionally I’ll simply get all my writer friends together for a discussion about a book, a new piece of software or, well, any excuse to get together and talk. I’ll do the same with my friends who run non-profits or my friends in the political arena. It’s fantastic. We usually talk shop for a little while and then just let the evening crumble into laughter. Depending on how much wine is served.

The idea here, though, is to not force anything. Those who connect are going to connect and those who don’t won’t. There’s really no way to force anything.

WEED OUT TOXINS

Unfortunately, the trouble with some communities is they’re open to everybody. I know that sounds beautiful and amazing but some people are, quite simply, bad for communities. They may be manipulative, controlling or just in a stage where they’re acting as predators. I protect my communities by no longer inviting these folks. It sounds like I’m talking about a large percentage of the population, but right now I can only think of one time I had to do this. Most everybody I invite to something is pretty great. Still, if you create a community, always know every field has to be protected or it gets ruined.

CELEBRATE THE HARVEST

Celebration is HUGE when it comes to creating a community. Whether it’s birthdays, anniversaries, significant career advancements or babies being born, bring all your people together to celebrate each other.

Those three, simple things are all it takes to create a community.

• • •

How long does it take? If you’re starting from scratch, it can take a year or even two before a community begins to click and feed each other. Of course, planting a field, watering it, protecting it and letting it produce a harvest takes a while. Nothing we love and appreciate happens immediately.

Hungry for a community? Why not start one?

How to Create a Community of Your Own is a post from: Storyline Blog

How Do You Get Rejected by eHarmony? Start By Telling the Truth

Seven years ago I decided I needed to get over my ex. It had been five months since we broke up, and he managed to meet someone the following week. So I did something I swore I would never do. I tried internet dating.

Back then, internet dating felt like a realm reserved for the desperate. Mail-order brides, ex-nuns with facial hair, obese IT nerds who live alternate lives online as robo-cut Japanese animé heroes.

But today we do so much over the internet: banking, shopping, heck these days I prefer email to talking on the phone. So, I caved. Why not just try internet dating? At least I’ll be able to see who’s out there.

Or not.

I started by taking the eHarmony personality profile which matches you to, as they put it: a highly select group with whom you share things like character, intellect, passion … and up to 24 other dimensions. Dimensions being a new way to market the human character. And eHarmony has discovered 24 of ‘em!

So I took the test. There were hundreds of questions. Some were hard to answer. Like, I had to choose between:

A. I like spending week nights alone OR

B. I’m attracted to black men.

What if I’d like to spend a week night alone with a black man?

So, 45 minutes and 100s of questions later, identified my 24-dimensional personality. And they rejected me. eHarmony REJECTED ME! Come on, I didn’t get even ONE of the 24 dimensions right?

That’s because you’re unique, a friend comforted me. As if being 41 and still single didn’t tell me that already?

My roommate said eHarmony rejected a percentage to weed out “crazy people.” I wondered how she knew this.

Alright, so maybe it was the way I answered some of the questions:

Like, do you go through mood swings?

I’m a woman. We do that every month.

Or, Does life sometimes seem meaningless?

Yeah, I’m over thirty.

Even if you’re not going through a heart-wrenching breakup … which I was … If you’re honest, you’d be a liar NOT to answer yes. A liar or incredibly shallow. Now, whenever I see those perky couples on eHarmony ads? I think to myself, they’re shallow. Shallow liars.

• • •

Then I tried this internet dating site another friend told me about, called Christian Café. Who emailed me? Men in drag, magician outfits, a guy who looked like Santa Claus on a bender. Then a woman instant-messaged me because she was going through a crisis and needed a “Christian sister” to talk to. She begged to talk to me on the phone. I gave her my work number. My office gave her my cell number. I still get calls from Iowa. I just don’t answer them.

I tried Match.com. Lots of interesting, successful, men with mojo. But none of them shared my religious faith. I already tried dating men outside my faith. At best, the guy says, “that’s great for you.” And doing the spiritual life alone got really lonely. So, I knew I needed a man with my faith. But all the church boys had NO mojo WHATSOEVER. I was screwed. Finally I got matched with this Christian man who owned a vending machine company. Five seconds into our first phone call, puts his 8-year-old son on the line. “Hi I’m Skippy, do you like iguanas?” I had to hold a conversation with the kid for seven minutes.

Then I got an email from some church boy who worked in film. He seemed fun, but in our first phone call, he talked about his friends like I already knew them.

Film: Charlie’s having a hard time because Thelma just died.

Me: Who’s Thelma?

Film: Charlie’s Mom.

Me: Who’s Charlie?

Film: My college roommate. He worked at the White Castle on I-85? Hey, can I read you my screenplay?

I let my membership to match.com expire.

• • •

Several month later, Christian Café sent me ten free days to try to get me to come back. In those ten free days I saw the same guys on line. Not only the men from months before, I recognized men I’d seen them at every singles group in Southern California for the last 15 years. Men with handles like ShiningArmor, Heart4JesusNYou, MisterRight. I know Mister Right. He went to my church in the 1980s. I never got more than four words out of him. And there he is, Mister Right. He’s been on Christian Café for 2 years. How sad is that, to flip back every few months and see that no one wants Mister Right?

I took the eHarmony profile again. And, I got rejected, again. This time I asked my roommate how she knew they rejected people they thought were “crazy.”

Roommate: They rejected me. They said some of my answers were contradictory.

Susan: That’s not because you’re crazy, that’s because you’re an artist.

Roommate: Well, to eHarmony, crazy and artist are the same thing.

Susan: Fine. I’d rather be crazy and interesting, than sane and dull.

Roommate: I’d rather be crazy and interesting. And married.

• • •

Several months later, I tried match.com again. I saw this one guy’s profile, said he was 43, a Christian and worked in the arts. We emailed. He was hot to meet me, but kept having to go out of the country on business. He seemed cool, but some of his pictures looked a little narcissistic. I saw him at a distance at this wealthy church on Mulholland Drive. A friend dragged me there, I swear. But there he was, the guy from the profile. He kept flipping his hair and checking out the high school aged ‘babes.’ He never emailed me back. Maybe he’d seen me at a distance too, and decided I was too old, since I was out of high school.

Christian Café kept stalking me, luring me in with ten free days, then five. Then four. Every time, I saw the same men. Two years later, Mister Right was still up for grabs.

Third time I took the eHarmony profile, I passed. But had just had an endoscopy and was drugged on Percoset. I got matched with Percoset addicts. I let that expire.

Christian Café sent me three free days. While online some “Christian brother” in Arkansas instant messaged me, “if you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?”

I tried eHarmony again. This time I lied, and said I always thought life was full of meaning. I got matched with nice Christian mojo-free men who worked in the Air Force or computer sales. Men who were never brave enough to admit that, sometimes life sucks and doesn’t make sense.

A 45-year old Indian physics professor named Sanjee wanted to fast track me. That means, skip the multiple choice questions and go right to the dowry requirements. I said no, I wanted to go through the multiple choice first. He didn’t have his picture posted, but all his must haves/can’t stands were about beauty: must have a woman who is considered very attractive. Must have a woman who is in excellent physical shape. Can’t stand a woman who is overweight. Can’t stand a woman who is not extremely attractive. Finally we got to the open questions, but before he could ask me about the size of my dowry, I asked him why it was so important that his partner be so attractive but he didn’t have his picture posted. So, he posted his picture. It was a long shot of a man sitting on top of a Coleman cooler in a weedy back yard. He looked about 60. He stared off in a strange direction, like a Civil War daguerreotype. Maybe he was legally blind.

The others I got matched with looked into the camera but had creepy vacant eyes, like the church had stolen their spontaneity. So, that was it for me and eHarmony. I figured this kind of matching works for people in the fly-over states who chose their jobs because a college counselor told them they’d like it. People whose answers will always be the same at any given moment. Not us crazy artist types who see life as full of contradictions. And anyway, I couldn’t look for a mate like I was shopping for a car: at the end of the day you’re supposed to pick one. No thanks, I’d rather walk than drive the wrong car.

• • •

Right before Christmas, Christian Café offered me two free days. Nothing like making the holidays even more depressing than trying to find a guy on a Christian website that guarantees men with no ‘nads. It found a profile of a guy who was a writer. On a lark I emailed him, gave him my real email address. In the two days I was online for free, never heard from him. But I did get an email from this other cute guy. But he was 26. My last boyfriend taught me never to date someone so young I could have been his babysitter.

About a week or so later, Writer Guy emailed me at my real email address. Over the next four days we emailed each other back and forth a lot. He was my kind of spiritual, he was smart, and mature. He’d even worked as a journalist for Christian magazines.

Susan: How was it working for Christians?

Writer Guy: Think “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I’d like to have most of it erased.

Ooh, he was funny too.

Susan: So are you not into church at all?

Writer Guy: I don’t often recognize God there. But I do find Him in simple things, with people who get what love and grace are all about.

I’d never heard my own thoughts articulated so well. When he said it, I was sure I was hearing an echo of something I hadn’t yet said.

Writer: Susan. I’d like to meet you.

Wow. A guy who actually asks you out.

Susan: I’m free after Friday.

Writer Guy: Shit, I leave for Seattle on Thursday, for two weeks.

He said “shit.” I was smitten.

In those two weeks, my lizard brain emerged from its sleep and spoke: Susan, this is The One. He’s The One. And I knew it was true.

But then I met him. He was SO NOT The One. He was smaller and skinner and nervous. He wore clogs and had longish wild hair, which he kept running his fingers through. He slouched down into the café sofa as he talked. I admit I liked what he was talking about. He my attention for two hours.

The next time he asked me out, he was less guarded, more fun. He seemed taller, sexier. The third date, I noticed the earring in his ear looked good against his “not so wild hair.” It turned out he liked Monty Python and Emma Thompson. He had watched the Dylan documentary five times. And he let it slip out that he owned a vinyl copy of the Beatles Bootleg Christmas album. I started to recognize the smart, funny, mature guy I’d met in emails. It was like watching someone’s face emerge in a Polaroid. I started to feel all squishy inside. Butterflies under my belt buckle. If he continued to “show up” he might end up being, you know, The One. But I once thought that about my last two boyfriends. And BOY was I wrong on both counts.

I saw Writer Guy for several months, and he got smarter, funnier, sexier, and more like Jesus every day. He was also full of contradictions. But they passed him on eHarmony the first go. They have way more women on eHarmony than men. Maybe they lower the bar for the guys.

Eight months later, Writer Guy and I got married. My lizard brain was right. He was “The One!” When my friends ask how we met, I tell them: on a website I wouldn’t recommend to any crazy, creative woman I cared about. Except that she might just meet Mister Right.

• • •

In early 2009, I was asked to speak on a TV morning show about my experiences on eHarmony. The official eHarmony psychologist was also a guest on the show. When I told him I’d been rejected three times, he asked if I was a complex thinker. He asked if I saw gray areas, contradictions and nuances in life.

Of course I did. Creative artists probably see too much nuance and complexity.

He told me that was why I got rejected. eHarmony’s core belief is that people get along if they think alike. They match people based on statistical probability that they’ll think or act alike in any given situation. If you see contradictions in life, you’re not going to get matched.

So people, if eHarmony rejects you, chances are you are complex, artistic, flexible and interesting. Or schizophrenic.

Talk amongst yourself.

How Do You Get Rejected by eHarmony? Start By Telling the Truth is a post from: Storyline Blog

Why “Grit” Is The Real Key To Success (Talent Is Overrated)

Each summer, about twelve hundred young American men and women arrive at the United States Military Academy at West Point to begin four years of study. But before any of them sees a classroom, they go through seven weeks of Cadet Basic Training. By the time the summer ends, 1 in 20 of these talented, dedicated young adults will drop out.

A group of researchers wanted to understand why some students continued on the road toward military mastery and the others got off at the first exit. Was it physical strength and athleticism? Intellect? Leadership ability? Well-roundedness?

None of the above.

The best predictor of success, the researchers found, was the cadets’ ratings on a non-cognitive, non-physical trait knows as “Grit.”

In her excellent TED Talk on this very research, Angela Duckworth describes Grit as,

“…perseverance and passion for long term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in and day out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years.”

*Photo by The U.S. Army, Creative Commons

Grit is that special force that gets you down in the dirt. Grit is toil. Grit is the slow burn, over time, that nearly kills you, and yet, it’s the best indicator for success. So much so, that researchers found in every field, Grit was just as important as talent.

How about that?!

For college students, it was grittiness, rather than IQ or standardized test scores that was the most accurate predictor of college grades.

Grit is inspiring.

Because Grit is such a powerful indicator for success, it becomes the life-blood of some of the world’s greatest stories.

Grit is the homeless teen in Georgia who becomes valedictorian. Grit is the impoverished kids in Paraguay who perform with recycled orchestra instruments from landfills. Grit is Rocky Balboa, the Mighty Ducks, and JK Rowling when Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before being published.

Grit is practical.

If you didn’t know, I’m a massive soccer fan. Soccer is an acquired taste like beer or coffee – or baseball. While it can be thrilling and dramatic, there are times where, and I hate to admit it, it can be kind of boring. The thing I’ve learned as I’ve really begun to study the game is a key difference between good teams and great teams.

Good teams win when they play well. Great teams “grind out wins” when they’re playing poorly. It’s not pretty, there are few fireworks, but they defend well, they keep the ball, and they toil their way to a 1-0 or 2-1 victory. This is the short-term sports version of Grit. It’s not inspiring, but it works.

Grit is the key.

While talent is helpful, Grit is the X factor to long-term success. If you don’t have it, you need to find it. If you already have it, don’t waste it on something stupid.

Despite the advancements in neuroscience and biotechnology, Grit is remarkably hard to nail down. Some say you have to experience great adversity to get it. Others just seem to be born with it. At this point in time, there is no formula for how to harness and cultivate Grit.

I believe the science comes up short on Grit because it is intensely personal and subjective.

Grit is something deep within you. It’s the soul of your work that only you can access.

This brings us to today – to you and your work and your deepest purpose. How can you develop Grit? How have you already done so?

*Inspired and borrowed in parts from Drive – by Daniel Pink.

Why “Grit” Is The Real Key To Success (Talent Is Overrated) is a post from: Storyline Blog

How to Tell Your Story in 30 Seconds

I’m working on a new process and having a blast. It’ll be the follow up to Storyline and will release next year.

It’s called Story Brand and it’s about getting an entire team on the same page as they talk about the brand they represent.

In writing the material, though, I’ve been thinking about how important it is for each of us to be able to tell our stories.

I don’t think there’s a better way to connect with people than to tell your story efficiently, say if you’re sitting next to somebody on a plane. It’s the fastest way to give people a relatively accurate view of who you are. It’s hard for us to connect unless we can tell our stories.

Of course, nobody can tell their entire story in 30 seconds, or, for that matter, even in a full-length memoir. Our lives are too complex and fascinating to be reduced with accuracy. But in even as little as 30 seconds, we can give people a pretty good idea of who we are.

Being able to explain who we are is critical if we want to connect in life and in business.

Mostly, when I ask people’s stories, they give me a list of random facts, like they’re married and have kids and work for such and such a bank. But random facts aren’t stories. Stories are facts organized in such a way they are compelling as a whole.

So, here’s the thirty-second version of how I’d introduce myself on a plane. Of course, I’d do it more naturally than in a written paragraph, but likely it would sound something like this:

“My name is Donald Miller and I’ve written several memoirs. I noticed after writing a couple I got to skip a lot of the early stages of getting to know people because, essentially, they already knew so much of my story. I then got asked to help brands effectively tell their stories so they could better connect with potential clients. So I developed a system and I teach it as often as I can.”

That, of course, is more of a business pitch, but it’s also what I’m really doing with my life and what I’m really interested in. If I’m sitting next to somebody on a plane or if I meet them at a party, I can count on some follow up questions that will make the conversation more interesting and engaging. If I were to have talked about my family or the fact I’m a writer, I’d get a lot of questions about publishing that, to be honest, aren’t very interesting to me.

Anyway, the 30-second version of a person’s story is critical, and mastering it is a building block for the longer form.

One of the keys is this:

Start with a problem and explain how your life is about creating a solution to that problem.

*Photo by evoo73, Creative Commons

Stories have to have conflict to be interesting, and so in 30 seconds a person should be able to talk about a problem that exists in the world that they are trying to fix. Imagine sitting next to a pastor on a plane who, instead of saying he was a pastor, said something like this:

“When I was younger I had a lot of questions about God and so I went to seminary. Since then, I’ve had tons of people ask me who they thought God was and whether or not we could know Him and so I’ve been studying that question my whole life.”

My guess is that answer would turn into a safe, interesting conversation, where explaining you’re a pastor would probably get you follow up questions like “how much do you charge to do a wedding?”

So how do you tell your story in 30 seconds? Well there’s a lot to it, but in my opinion, the main thing to remember is to explain a problem that exists in the world that you’re trying to solve with your life. I promise, people will be much more interested in you when you really tell them your story rather than offer them a list of facts.

• • •

Storyline will soon release a process called Story Brand in which we help brands create a Brand Script allowing them to talk about their brand in a compelling way. Once an organization has a Brand Script, everybody on the team will know how to talk about the brand in casual conversations, speeches, websites and advertising. Clients can create their Brand Script through an online course, a live 2-day workshop, or onsite with one of our consultants.

*If you’d like to learn to speak clearly about your brand, sign up on our email list. We’ll let you know the second it’s available.

How to Tell Your Story in 30 Seconds is a post from: Storyline Blog

Sunday Morning Sermon: How We Really Change the World, For Better or For Worse

This video was a powerful reminder that each of us learn more from watching each other than we do from hearing sermons, reading self-help books or even sitting down to “teach” each other how to live.

This video impacted me on multiple levels and it’s about a lot more than parenting. It’s about community and how God has designed us to learn. Sobering:

Sunday Morning Sermon: How We Really Change the World, For Better or For Worse is a post from: Storyline Blog