Story Poverty to Story Stewardship: A Call to Action with Todd Miechiels S5 EP#193

Over 95% of churches will see 95% of their people take their stories to their grave.

My guest has suggested that this could be one of the greatest Miss Kingdom opportunities of our generation. Welcome to the Unconventional Ministry Podcast. I'm Dennis Weens, your host, the Senior Impact Catalyst at Sat7USA. My guest is Todd Michaels. His mission is to help more followers of Christ have the opportunity to share their personal story of how God has impacted their lives. God can use these stories for his purposes, leveraging social media and the Internet.

My guest is Todd Michaels, the founder of Story Stewardship Initiative, and you can learn more at storytellingstories.com. com. He's also founded the 315 Project. And so, Todd, we have a lot to talk about this morning. So welcome to the Unconventional Ministry podcast. And thanks for having me, man. This is the first podcast I've had the chance to talk about story stewardship. So thank you for opening the door.

You know, we talk a lot about biblical stewardship and we're helping people understand that, you know, wills, trust. A lot of people think that stewardship is giving tithe 10% to the church. But, of course, stewardship is much more than that. And as Christians, we are to manage all that God has entrusted to us, much more than just the 10% tithe. That's important. We need to understand that. We need to be tithing, but there's much more to stewardship than that.

The Bible has over 2,300 verses that talk about money. That's more than verses that talk about faith and prayer combined. So this is a really relevant topic. Stewarding all that God has given us, and that includes our story and how we came to Christ and what we're doing with that story. So thank you for being on this podcast. Let's get to my first question.

I mentioned in the beginning, 95% of churches will see 95% of their people take their stories to the grave. Unpack that for us. Well, that actually came about several years ago when and I learned that 95% of eligible blood donors won't give blood. So I asked the Lord, I said, if only 5% of eligible blood donors will give blood, how many eligible Christians would be willing to give their story? And the sense that I got from the Lord was, at least in the American church, it's a lot less than 5%.

That really hit my heart. And I think that the 95%s being generous, I would go so far as to bet that 99% of Christians at 99% of churches will go to the grave without ever having stewarded their story. That's a staggering statistic. And why do you think that statistic is so high?

95%, to me, that's amazing. Well, I learned and observed after thousands of hours in the mission field that if you step back and think about it, to invite and ask a Christian to share their story, to steward their story, to memorialize their story in a way that God could use it in times and places we could never go, namely on video or audio on the internet. You're basically asking people to slow down, talk about their faith, talk about their relationship with Jesus and do it in a public way.

And my understanding is like the greatest fears in humans is public speaking. For starters, you start mixing in a camera. It's a very, very challenging, highly disruptive invitation to the average Christian sitting in the average church.

So, you know, we're talking about story stewardship. Let's define that for our podcast listeners. How does story stewardship different than telling your testimony? That's a great question. So I see story stewardship as a personal invitation, right? Like, Lord, how can I steward my story? I could tell my story, right? I could tell it one time. I could memorialize my story so that future generations could hear it. I could memorialize and share my story through social networks,

through my email signature. And then there's also a corporate or an organizational stewardship opportunity. How do we take the testimonies that are within our midst that we're, responsible for discipling and helping people share the gospel and help them be equipped and edified and mobilized to help them steward their stories? What responsibility or opportunity do we have as the organization or as the ministry leadership?

This is really a whole new dimension to stewardship that we talk so much about, but I'm going to start talking about it as well, that help people steward their story.

So people have a fear of sharing, of being the testimony, of being videoed and sharing on social media. Let's talk about those fears and how do you help people overcome them? Well, I think the first step is to acknowledge and bring to light the fear itself, right? If a pastor or a church runs an initiative, let's get out there and share our stories. And a handful of people do, we can count that as a success. We check the box, we move on to VBS or the capital campaign.

But what we fail to recognize is that, you know, 99% of the people didn't share their story. So can we slow down and say, I wonder why they didn't. I wonder what was within them that had them somewhere between reluctant and absolutely not willing to tell their story. So I started surveying people grassroots about four years ago. What I found is that they'll tell you they don't have the time to do it, which I don't think is a really valid reason.

They tell you a lot of times that they don't know what they'd say. Other times they'll say the idea of being on camera terrifies me. Often we'll hear like, I don't want my story going public. My faith is private. What I was flabbergasted by as just a laity kind of missionary person is how quickly and candidly people answer the question. What has you hesitating with the idea of telling your story? They'll not only answer it, they'll answer what's in their heart as behind the answer.

So you're hesitant to tell your story. Why? I don't think I have a story worth telling. I'm like, my gosh, if we actually asked that question and leadership actually listened, we could use what they're telling us to help minister to them and disciple them to take steps towards being willing to tell their story. And the reality is we all have a story. Everybody in the church has a story. And it's an amazing story because of their faith journey and what God has done for them individually.

So I encourage churches, if you're listening to this podcast, start thinking about your people and amazing stories that are sitting in the pew that have never been told. Yeah, and Todd, you have some resources on stewardingstories.com. And we were talking before we started recording that there's a survey, a two-minute survey that people can take. It sounds very interesting. Talk to us a little bit about that survey and give the website and how can people be involved.

Yeah, the survey is really meant, it's almost like a little two-minute contemplative retreat. It invites the participant to slow down and answer a couple of questions they've probably never been asked before. Would you be willing to tell your story if given the opportunity and why or why not? And how does your heart feel about it? And what do you think, if anything, is holding you back?

So we found it to be a very fruitful two minutes that people can use to just get one step closer to God and maybe take a step towards someday telling their story. What we've also found is that it's an incredible resource for leaders that they want to survey their flock, whether it be a sunday school class or a men's ministry i really want to encourage folks, Your people will share what's on their heart if you simply ask them.

But what I've found is that very rarely are we taking the time and the space to uncover these stories. And the survey is just a really quick, easy way to do something. And then we also have the book that I wrote, which is just a total flavor of love. It's called From Story Poverty to Story Stewardship, and I'm just giving that book away to anyone that wants it. And so both of those resources, the book and the survey, are available at stewardingstories.com. I downloaded it, Story Poverty.

And hearing you talk, I didn't realize the level of poverty, story poverty, in the local church. And now thinking about story stewardship, and you think about biblical stewardship, we're to manage all that God has given us. He's given us a story. And we are to manage that in a way that aligns with the owner's value, the owner being God. We're to manage that, steward that in a way that honors God. So very, very important.

Talk to us about that book. What's the story behind the book? It's really a sacred invitation. I actually kind of asked the Lord, Lord, how would this come out as an epistle to the church? because I very much feel like a reluctant messenger. I'm literally saying to the local church, hey, church, wake up, man. We're in story of poverty. We have an obligation, responsibility, opportunity to steward stories. And I'm like, who the heck am I to say this to the church? And he's just like.

Don't worry about that. Are you going to say what I'm giving you to say or not? I'm like, yes, Lord, I will. So the book's very short. It's 24 pages. And it's really an invitation. It's not a roadmap. It's not a blueprint. It's not a how-to book. It's an invitation for us to slow down. Seek God's heart as to maybe what his thoughts and plans are for us to take the testimonies of our people and the technology he's given us to advance the gospel.

So I encourage you to get on the website, stewardingstories.com, and there's a two-minute survey you can take that'll help you define your story and the elements that go into your story. And then you can download the book for free just with an email address. It's a PDF, and that will expand your understanding of what the reality is, is story poverty. And we want to move people to story stewardship in the local church. And so I encourage you, if you're listening, forward this on to your friends.

Ask your friends about their story. Hear their stories. But forward this on to your friends, and they can send it to their friends. Contact your church and talk to your church about stories as well.

So, Todd, this is fascinating to learn about story poverty and moving towards story stewardship. And thanks for having me, Dennis. And when we first met, like one of the greatest questions I have with a very limited worldview lens is I've seen and know the story poverty in America. I'm wondering what it, how less story poverty, how much more fertile and rich is the Middle East? Are some of these emerging Middle Eastern countries that they won't be in story

poverty? Like God's doing a great work and a move. And if we provide the means and the resources for them to share and steward their stories, there will be no shortage of stories. Can you speak to your hope for that? Or can you share any questions? Yeah, we're a broadcaster in the Middle East. Our studios are based in the Middle East. Our staff, they live in the Middle East and North Africa.

And we're allowing viewers of our satellite programs, our digital, our social media to talk back to audience relations to tell their stories. And they're just amazing stories. And, of course, we have to be careful of security issues, but we change names and stuff, but they're amazing stories. So if you go to SAT7, S-A-T, number seven, USA.org, slash stories, and we're putting a lot of our stories there. Of course, we're telling a lot of the stories on our Facebook and Instagram.

And so across different languages, different continents, we have social media platforms that are telling the stories. And then we've got a global app, sat7plus.org, and it's available in the app stores, and you can get all the content streaming off the satellites on any browser globally now. And a lot of the stories are told there as well.

And so it's an amazing opportunity, and there's just really no limit now to the distribution of content and the distribution of people's personal stories of faith because of digital and social media platforms. So we're doing a lot to share people's stories across the Middle East and North Africa.

So I encourage you to talk to your church and, first of all, share your story with your friends, but also talk to your church about what they're doing to help alleviate story poverty in the church and bring story stewardship to the front and make it aware to people. So, Todd, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me, Dennis. God bless. Until next time, I'm Dennis Weans. Stay bold, stay creative, and keep advancing the gospel in unconventional ways.

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