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That's not to say that life after death isn't important. But it's not the whole story. It's the final chapter, but there are still many chapters to be lived out.

Tools are pragmatic things, so here is a pragmatic question: Has this tool worked?

We have been field-testing it for several years, and the answer is yes, it has. We have had people come to follow Jesus through this. One of my favorite stories comes from another student, who had met a self-proclaimed atheist. After sharing the diagram, the atheist said, "I knew God would be like that." And they met together to study the Scriptures after that. A skeptic became a seeker.

In partnership with InterVarsity, World Vision, and La Jolla Presbyterian Church, we were able to put up massive tents on our eight San Diego campuses to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic and how spirituality fits into the picture. We presented the Big Story at the end. If we had come with a more traditional approach, it would've felt like a bait and switch, but instead, the Big Story felt very much in line with the global concerns we were exploring.

Equally important, this tool has a message that Christians are proud to share. We see Christians who don't fit the stereotype of an evangelist and haven't really shown any previous interest in sharing this story, share this message immediately with their friends and even strangers after being trained. For them it finally feels like good news, so they share it.

Ultimately, I don't think I'm saying anything new here. If it were new, I'd be a heretic. This diagram has come out of my love for Scripture and the desire to share the whole story that I've found in it. It's the same old gospel truth, the one we embraced when we first started walking with Jesus. None of us fully grasped the whole truth when we started our spiritual journeys, and if we're honest, we still don't. But each day, we see something more fully and more clearly. And we'll find that it's the same gospel that's been in these pages of Scripture for a long, long time.

James Choung's website, Tell It Slant, has more about True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In, including video demonstrations of Choung’s presentation of the four circles.

Previous Christian Vision Project themes were culture in 2006 and mission in 2007. 2008 articles include:

When God Disturbs the Peace | Our gospel may be small because we fail to believe that God animates many social movements. (May 30, 2008)

The Poverty of Love | The desert fathers and mothers would know instantly why our gospel is too small. (April 30, 2008)

An Open-Handed Gospel | We have to decide whether we have a stingy or a generous God. (April 3, 2008)

The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel | Reviving forgotten chapters in the story of redemption. (February 29, 2008)

Singing in the Chains | To be saved means more than we might think. (January 31, 2008)

The Lima Bean Gospel | The Good News is so much bigger than we make it out to be. (January 8, 2008)

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July 2008, Vol. 52, No. 7