Tell me the stories

My latest project is a book of stories and examples from around the world, of the movement of God.

I’m writing about those places where the Word is going out in the power of the Holy Spirit, through ordinary people, and the fruit is disciples and churches to the glory of God, among unreached people groups and in unreached places.

I’ve been on a search that has taken me to faraway places — Ethiopia, war-torn Lebanon, the prisons of Texas, sunny California, Communist Laos, Islamic Iran, and Indonesia — looking for stories, searching for the signs of God’s activity.

Some people look for the data. Eventually, I get around to the data, but I’m listening for stories. That’s what the Gospel writers and the book of Acts give us — real people, real stories. You can touch and see the movement of God, or it’s not there. The shepherd who leaves the 99 and brings back one. The son who returns to his father. The woman who weeps tears of loving gratitude. The thief who cries out from a cross for mercy. The soldier who watches Jesus die.

I drove in India for ten days, and everywhere I went, I met people who had a story to tell — forgiveness of sins, healing of bodies, the outbreak of peace. Dad was a lazy drunkard, look at him now — a Godly man who serves his family.

I’ve walked into death row and heard the praises of God sung by murderers, saved by the grace of God. I’ve met the widow whose husband was murdered by government agents. For twenty years, she has continued his work of winning disciples and planting churches in unreached places.

Tell me the stories, and I’ll tell you if it’s a movement of God.