During a recent trip to India, South Asia Nazarene Bible College professors joined in on the training after they heard the students talking about it.
"Several told us they wished they had learned this sooner, even for some pastoral training classes that were just recently completed," Ray said. "They wish now that they could have used this model."
The college would like to develop strategies for implementing this in the Course of Study, and other opportunities are opening up for broader training in India and nearby countries.
"Nepal would be an ideal place where we could use the classes in story form, just to begin with," said Simon Jothi, SANBC principal. "This will especially help the people who are very auditory learners, people in some part of the villages who don't have library access. Presented to them in a story form, it stays with them for their life. I asked him [Ray Neu] to look at some of our courses and see how he can put the storytelling in the courses."
Ray also introduced Tell THE Story to VBS Ministries, an organization that trains others to reach children. The goal is to train the staff, who will in turn train others across India and various other denominations. VBS Ministries reaches 1.5 million children annually.
Upcoming introductory training session:
2015
April 25 New Vision Church of the Nazarene Raymore, MO
May 27-29 ONU PALCON – Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL
June 30-July 1 TNU PALCON – Trevecca Nazarene University Nashville, TN
August 11-13 AUC PALCON – Ambrose University College Calgary, Alberta
August 21-22 Rockford First Church of the Nazarene Rockford, IL
August 28-29 SW Ohio District – Higher Ground Conference Center West Harrison, IN
October 10-11 Mesoamerica Region – Nazarene Seminary Guatemala City, Guatemala
October 16-17 Riverside Arlington Avenue Church of the Nazarene Riverside, CA
Certified Story Teller Trainings:
2015
March 25-27 12th Congress of Educators/FADES – Nazarene Seminary Pilar, Argentina
April 30-May 2 Maine District, Augusta First Church of the Nazarene Augusta, ME
May 12-14 Global Ministry Center Lenexa, KS
July 21-23 Mount Vernon Nazarene University Mount Vernon, OH
2016
January 12-14 Lake Placid Camp and Conference Center Lake Placid, FL
For more information, visit nazarene.org/tellthestory, contact 913-577-2800 or tellthestory@nazarene.org for further training information.
--SDMI