Biblical Storytelling (audio)

Hearing Scripture told to us offers a vastly different encounter than reading it silently to ourselves (or even hearing it read aloud). It’s an experience that blesses both hearers and tellers, and the inherently relational experience builds community and deepens intimacy. In this pathway, we have opportunities to hear stories from Scripture, learn to tell stories ourselves, and dream about ways that our churches can experience this unique encounter with God’s Word.

Hosted by Cliff Barbarick, this pathway took place in ACU’s Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building on Monday, September 16, 2019.

Sessions

The Early Christians Didn’t Read the Bible: Ancient Orality and the Composition of the Bible (Danny Yencich)

This session offers an introduction to the oral culture in which the Bible was composed. The biblical “writings” were developed in a predominantly illiterate culture. They were composed to be heard, not read, and we can benefit from experiencing them in the same way.

Go and Tell: The Power of Embodied Biblical Storytelling (Pam Faro)

Those who first experienced the Gospel of Mark would have heard the entire story proclaimed on a single occasion. Hear and see an oral performance of its final chapters – the passion story – followed by shared reflections on the storytelling experience.

Faith Comes From Hearing: Learning From Hearing One Another (Emily Sanchez, Cooper Osburn, and Matthew San Miguel)

Hear three current ACU students read the same psalm. Hearing the text in this way will provide an opportunity to discuss how different embodiments of the same passage of Scripture yield different insights into the biblical material.

These Words Shall Be on Your Heart: Learning from Internalizing (Cliff Barbarick)

In this class, we discuss the interpretive decisions required for internalizing and telling Scripture – decisions we often avoid when reading silently to ourselves. The session culminates in learning a short biblical story and telling it to one another.

Scripture From the Heart: Using Biblical Storytelling in Corporate Worship (Randy Fenter and Amy Peterson)

God’s word treasured in the heart overflows into the public worship of the church, by the church, for the church, and to the glory of God. Fenter and Peterson share how they have incorporated regular biblical storytelling into their Sunday morning worship services at Highpoint Fellowship in Cedar Park, Texas.

Speakers

CLIFF BARBARICK

Cliff Barbarick is an associate professor in the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry at Abilene Christian University. A realization that the biblical writings were composed to be heard (rather than read) has led him to alter the way he teaches these writings from the lectern or proclaims them from the pulpit. Students who take his classes can expect to internalize and tell large chunks of Scripture as a way to study closely God's word. In a recent class, for example, he and his students performed both the Gospel of Mark and 2 Corinthians from memory. His wife Tali works as a middle school counselor, and they are the proud parents of three children (14, 12, and 10 years old).

PAM FARO

Storyteller Pam Faro lives in Broomfield, Colorado, and has performed and taught since 1988, across the U.S. and overseas. Her diverse repertoire includes original retellings of multicultural folktales, bilingual cuentos, biblical storytelling, interfaith storytelling, and personal/historical narratives including the true story of her great-uncle who survived the sinking of the Titanic. A life-long Lutheran, Pam also served churches as music/choir director for 30 years. She received her B.A. in music with teacher certification from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and her Master of Divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology in Denver. An active member of the Network of Biblical Storytellers International (NBS), she has been editor of the Journal of Biblical Storytelling, teaches in the Academy for Biblical Storytelling, writes for The Biblical Storyteller magazine, and is a member of the NBS Seminar, a group composed of academics and performers developing a new paradigm for biblical scholarship called Performance Criticism. She guest-edited the “Interfaith Storytelling” issue of Storytelling Magazine in 2016. As a consultant and workshop leader, Pam uses storytelling in ministry settings and secular contexts alike.

RANDY FENTER

Randy Fenter has been in Christian ministry for over 40 years, serving as the lead minister in Raton, New Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; Midland, Texas; and Cedar Park, Texas. While serving with the Golf Course Road Church in Midland, Randy’s first wife Gail died of a brain tumor. A couple years later he met Karen, who had served in Brazil for 15 years with her late husband Eugene Goudeau. Randy and Karen met, married, moved, and started a new ministry, all in the same month. They often say, “We’re not too bright!” Now 20 years later, their five children and 13 grandchildren live within minutes of them. Randy is the co-founder of Christian Leader Coaching and of Christian Leader Renewals.

COOPER OSBURN

Cooper Osburn is a junior at ACU, pursuing a degree in biblical text. He is a member and a past intern at South Side Baptist Church in Abilene. His eventual hope is to pursue his passion for the preaching of the word of God through either pastoral ministry or missions. He loves reading, whether that is the Bible, fiction or theology. He is a member of Sub T-16 and is the youngest of three brothers. During his Biblical Interpretation class with Cliff Barbarick, he learned to love the word of God in a deeper way through the oral performance of the word. Cooper's passion is to continue to grow more deeply in his communion with the Lord, his knowledge of God’s word, and his service to the church.

AMY PETERSON

Amy Peterson serves as the director of Scripture from the Heart, a ministry of Highpoint Fellowship in Cedar Park, Texas. Scripture from the Heart is a unique weekly presentation of Scripture from a varying cast of church members of all ages, each one having memorized and studied large portions. Ten years ago, Amy began the work of memorizing bulk chapters of Scripture and presenting it dramatically as a tool to teach Bible class. Since then, Amy has memorized more than 30 chapters, including three full books. Amy is married to Eric Peterson and they have two teenagers.

MATTHEW SAN MIGUEL

Matthew San Miguel is a youth and family ministry major at ACU. He is a senior and chaplain for the Men of Trojans social club on campus. He is active in the youth ministry at Southern Hills Church of Christ. Matthew currently plans to pursue a graduate degree in theology, and he is applying to multiple schools in and out of state for this period of his life. He cares deeply about knowledge and learning as well as the importance of youth in the church body.

EMILY SANCHEZ

Emily Sanchez is a senior at ACU, where she is majoring in Christian ministry. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in worship ministry. Emily has grown up using the arts such as singing, dancing, and theater to bring glory to God’s name, and she first learned about biblical storytelling in the Biblical Interpretation class that she took her junior year. Emily is excited about storytelling as it incorporates her faith and her love of theater. She has now had the opportunity to explore the Psalms in terms of biblical storytelling with the help of Cliff Barbarick and her fellow students.

DANNY YENCICH

Danny Yencich is a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. His dissertation applies a performance approach to the emergence of the written Gospel tradition in the first century. As an adjunct instructor at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, and in ministry among area Stone-Campbell churches, Danny enjoys leading engaged learners in bridging the horizons of the biblical text and the pressing concerns of the contemporary church and world. He and his wife Naomi have one lovely toddler Zoey Grace.