OneVerse and Storytelling

Every night my daughter and I tell stories.  We tell stories of the day and stories of make believe and stories of our family.  My stories stick with my daughter and so when I want her to remember something I make it into a story.  One night as she was going to sleep, this is the story I told:

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, in a land that was distant, yet not make-believe, was a girl named Tula. Tula, like us, lived with a mom and a dad, and she too, had a brother and a sister. But unlike us, no one in her village or family had a bible to read to her before bedtime. There was no bible written in a language in which she could understand! Can you imagine that? No one told her about Jesus. No one read her stories about David and Goliath, or Samuel choosing David to be a king. No one told her about Jesus' death on the cross. She had no way to know the stories that matter most. And without a bible, how could she know about Jesus?

One day Tula's dad had a dream - a dream about a great man who was special and dressed in white. He wanted to meet this man. In his dream, the man told him that he was the "way, truth, and the life." He told his family, including Tula, about his dream and they all wondered what it meant. So Tula’s dad asked God to send someone to tell him about "the way, the truth, and the life."

Then one day some new people came to their village. They were there to tell stories about God. And in one of their stories they told about a man named Jesus who called himself, "the way, the truth, and the life." At once Tula and her family believed in Jesus. But they still needed a bible to learn more stories they could understand and practice.

Everyone loves a good story!  While I know many Americans who think the bible is a boring book, it is by far the best book ever written.  From cover to cover, it has captivating stories of God’s love and heart for his people.  Can you imagine not getting to read or to hear the greatest story ever written?  Many people across the world are still waiting to hear God’s stories in a language they can understand.

Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?"  Acts 2:8

OneVerse is getting the Word out to people in their native tongues one verse at a time so that everyone can have access to the greatest story ever written.  One verse costs $26 to translate into a native tongue.  You can choose to give one time, pay for a verse once a month, partner with a group, or sponsor a people group language.  You don’t get to decide what verse you pay for; you simply pay for the next verse to be translated in a particular tongue.  And you can even OneVerse as a gift!

I love the program they have for families called KidsDiscover, where families learn about the art of bible storytelling, much like the story I shared above, except using a bible story.  Check out their webpage – you will be amazed and encouraged by all the true life stories of people who’ve received bibles in their native tongues.  

Being passionate about the Word of God myself, I particularly love that OneVerse is seeing to the fulfillment that all should hear the Gospel truth before Jesus comes again. 

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This post was written as an entry in a blog contest to win a ticket to the Relevant 2011 Conference.