Stories have undeniable power. Psychology Today has an entire section of its website dedicated to “The Power of Stories,” which articulates a truth steadily saturating culture: “Telling stories is the best way to teach, persuade, and even understand ourselves.” Click over to Apple’s iPad page and you’ll read: “What will your verse be? See how people are using iPad in their unique ways to add to the world’s story.”
Stories can challenge, inspire, or convict. The challenge faced by leaders, pastors, speakers, and teachers face is finding the right story to tell.
So what makes a good story?
Leo Tolstoy helps narrow the search with his observation: “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” Good stories are strongly relatable, realistic, and relevant. They are also concise and clever, if they are going to be memorable.
Yikes, finding good stories is far from easy! No wonder the joy when a new story finds you.
The story that found me, and now you, is The Little Engine That Could Not, by Kevin Kirkland (Frog Street Press, 2014). A friend who works for the publisher mentioned it to me; as a recovering children’s ministry director, I still have a soft spot in my heart for kid stories. Often they communicate truth in concise and clever ways. While it can be risky to use a children’s story with adult audiences—a story that everyone already knows, or can easily guess, the ending to rarely challenges, inspires, or convicts—adding a new twist to a story that people think they know can be extremely effective. Such an approach appears in the Gospels, especially Jesus’ words in Matthew 5: “You’ve heard it said … But I tell you … “
Back to the book. You know the story of the little locomotive who wants to accomplish something mighty—after struggling up a steep grade carrying a heavy load, fueled by determination, the trip down the backside of the mountain features a feeling of newfound self-confidence. This is the story of The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, a classic from the early 1900s, known for the refrain, “I think I can, I think I can, I—think—I—can.”
This new spin on the classic story asks, What if you can’t?
“The words I can’t, in my household, on the football field, or even in school, were unacceptable,” said The Little Engine That Could Not author Kevin Kirkland. “But the truth remains that without saying ‘I can’t,’ a person can never have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The original story provides a tremendous example of willpower and a can-do attitude, and I want those character qualities for me and my kids, in appropriate measure. But the new story takes those ideas further and demonstrates how we need help doing what we ultimately cannot.
And there it is: the hook that any leader, pastor, speaker, or teacher looks for in a good story. All told in a manner simple enough for kids to grasp while profound enough for adults to embrace.
Oh, the undeniable power of a story. But not just any story.
David Staal, senior editor for Building Church Leaders and a mentor to a first grader, serves as the president of Kids Hope USA, a national non-profit organization that partners local churches with elementary schools to provide mentors for at-risk students. David is the author of Lessons Kids Need to Learn (Zondervan, 2012) and Words Kids Need to Hear (Zondervan, 2008). He lives in Grand Haven, MI, with his wife Becky, son Scott, and daughter Erin.
