What does it take to craft and deliver powerful Bible stories? The best way to answer that is to tell you a story about three bakers.
Once upon a time a very wealthy man held a contest for his daughter’s seventh birthday. He commissioned three bakers to bake the most spectacular cake they could create. Whichever cake his daughter preferred would earn its creator a $100,000 bonus.
The first baker was a master pastry chef. He experimented with his favorite cake recipe, tweaking the ingredients until he had crafted his most delicious creation. Once he had baked the cake, he spent hours frosting and decorating it until it looked like an absolute work of art.
Carefully the chef loaded it into the back of his delivery van just hours before the party. He jumped in the driver’s seat, turned the key and was horrified to discover his battery was dead. He lived in the country and had no phone and no way to call for help.
His cake was the most incredible dessert he would ever create, but because he didn’t have the means to deliver it, no one at the party would ever get to enjoy his finest masterpiece.
The second baker had no such problem. He was a brilliant showman and bought a brand new delivery truck just for the party. It was customized with with vibrant colors, flashing lights and a vinyl wrap emblazoned with his logo across the hood. The truck even had a loud speaker that would play a personalized hip hop version of “Happy Birthday” he had recorded by a professional jingle company just for the occasion.
When he pulled up to the party, every head turned. The guests ooed and aahed over his fancy delivery truck. Surely this was going to be something special, but when he served the cake, it collapsed on itself. Those who dared to try it thought it tasted bland. The baker had put so much effort into his delivery, that he had paid little attention to the ingredients he had used or how he had prepared them.
The final baker, as you may have guessed, avoided the excesses of the first two. She carefully crafted the finest cake she could bake in the time she had, but was also mindful to make sure her delivery truck was freshly washed, in good working order, gassed up and ready to go.
When she arrived at the party, the guests were excited to see the simple but elegant cake the baker wheeled into the dining room on a silver serving cart. The presentation was beautiful. The cake itself looked irresistible.
When the birthday girl took her first taste, the child’s face lit up with pure joy, signaling the entire room that this was the confection they had been waiting for, a treat for both the eye and the palette. It was magnificently decorated, moist but substantial and perfectly sweet.
The third chef walked away much richer that day because she had balanced the art of baking and delivery, much to the delight of everyone who enjoyed her marvelous creation.
The Moral of the Tale
In the same way, those of us who want to bring the Bible to life for kids have to focus on both content, baking the cake, and presentation, our delivery. Powerful storytelling is a combination of what we say and how we say it.
How confident are you in your content? Are your stories and lessons engaging and relevant for kids? Are they powerful and fun? If not, what’s one thing you can do to improve your content this week?
How about your presentation? Are you able to deliver your content in a way that captures a child’s attention and holds it until the very last word? If not, what can you to better utilize your voice, facial expressions or body language to make your delivery more compelling? What kind of props or visuals could you utilize to help bring your story to life?
Over the coming weeks we will cover a ton of practical tips to improve both your content (writing or adapting curriculum) and your presentation (delivering that content in a way that kids will love). With a little bit of intentionality, you will be serving up stories that your kids will find absolutely delicious.
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