donald miller - a better storyteller

fascinating article about the power of story in sharing the gospel.




i agree with his idea that people are over rules and formulas. i'm not sure if i agree to the extent that the main role of a christian is to be a better storyteller, but it does sound like a right step.


and maybe this is nitpicky, but...

A 40-something woman approaches Miller with two plastic grocery bags filled with copies of his books. "I've already bought Blue Like Jazz 13 times," she gushes. "But I gotta have all these to give to people. I'm a Jesus girl, but I also like to go out and do tequila shots with my friends. This is a book I can give to those friends."

and this following observation:

Miller's words are a mirror for his fans, and they love what they see—so could his popularity be read as (yet another) indication of our culture's deep narcissism? It's a fair critique in an age when people document the minutiae of their lives in written and visual media—blogs, YouTube, cell-phone pictures sent at every passing moment. Such self-expression is not testimony; it's not a profession of anything but self. It is public without being communal.

The danger for Miller is that fans would see themselves in his writing, be comforted that those selves are as they should be, and believe that there is no conflict between loving Jesus and, say, doing tequila shots with your friends.

is this not alarmist?
i've always shied away from extremes.
but i dont see how this is immediately, unquestionably sinful... done casually.
(is it that it's so hard to do this casually?)