He can’t let this news become public, so he arranges for the death of her husband in order to cover up his adultery. And then- he only asks for forgiveness once the Authority catches him. And that Authority uses a storyteller to convict the powerful man.

This is a story that is Earthy. Direct. “Talk Show” fodder.

But I bet you have heard this story of King David and Bathsheba told as Ethereal. Whispered. Other Worldly. How can it be? It is a story of deceit, adultery and, ultimately, forgiveness. It is one that should be told with all the human drama it contains.

Work hard to create real-life stories from your sacred texts.

I have a one-man performance entitled “Voices from the Noise” that takes many familiar Bible stories and re-sets them, some dramatically and some humorously, into stories where modern audiences can find themselves. These stories contain emotions that sometimes have been washed out of the telling of Bible stories. Who decreed that the Bible was a nice assembling of nice stories that must only be told in nice ways? We especially fail our teenage members of our churches when we choose “nice” over “genuine.”

How do you begin to make Bible stories “real” for your own telling repertoire?

1. Choose one story that most interests you- for whatever reason. You can only tell that which you are interested in. Which Bible stories capture your attention?

2. Change the names of the characters while you are learning the story. Perhaps it might be easier to dig out the real drama of a story if the names were Chris and Steve, instead of Cain and Able. You could try Jack, Cindy and her husband Tom instead of King David, Bathsheba and Uriah. Sometimes the names of Bible characters carry so much emotional substance that you may need to think of these stories outside of the original context.

3. Write down the story as if you were preparing it for a newspaper report. Better yet, pretend you are writing it for the fourth grade reading level of the supermarket tabloids. State the story in its most simplistic form.

4. Be a psychologist. What are the real human emotions that the characters are feeling? It does no dishonor to the Bible to view these people without the veneer of reverence. King David let himself be controlled by his own lust. Cain was overtaken by his own insecurities. The people of Babel were scattered by their disobedience. What are your characters really feeling and how does that effect their actions?

5. Like all forms of creativity- let this story sit in your brain for a while. After you have done your homework above, give yourself time to reflect, consciously and unconsciously, about the depth of the story and characters.

6. Start to assemble your story. Perhaps you will use parts of your “tabloid” writing- or rather start telling to yourself in an extemporaneous manner. What feels right about the words you assign to your story? Is anything excessive? Are you still using that Sunday-school teacher voice? Are you trying to tell things only for the shock value?

7. As you progress in your story building, begin to share parts with friends and family. What do they hear? What do they like- what’s challenging for them? What makes them uncomfortable- and why? Should you add more detail or subtract?

It is always interesting that after performance of “Voices from the Noise” or other presentations, that church-going people will say to me “Where did you get those stories? They were great!” Teens will say, “I never knew THAT story was in the Bible!”

Go dust off your copy of the Scriptures and begin a fresh approach to the familiar stories today. Maybe you will open up a new world for someone…even if that person is you.

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©2002 By Sean Buvala. Sean is an award-winning storyteller working througout the United States and Canada since 1986. He is the director of Storyteller.net and the creater and presenter for Sacred Storytelling Workshop.

I’ve been using storytelling for teens since I was called to youth ministry back in 1985. Faced with a group of really unruly kids, I learned quickly the power of using storytelling to ignite the imaginations of adolescents. As a ministry tool, I have learned that I don’t need to have piles of tools and gimmicks. I just need the two tools most often chosen by the Master that I follow: storytelling and pizza. Okay, maybe he didn’t choose pizza, but he sure spent a lot of time eating with disciples and friends.

Here are 5 getting-started tips for being a sacred storyteller with teenagers.

1. Don’t announce your intentions. A sure way to get anyone over the age of 10 to close their minds is to announce that “it is story time.” Just begin your stories. Avoid saying “once upon a time.” In monologues, don’t have your characters introduce themselves. Let the story identify the character. We tend in ministry to follow the homiletic rule of “first, tell them what you are going to tell them” rule. Stop following this rule that might have been great for a 1950′s congregation. It is a poor preaching technique and it is a killer for your storytelling with teens.

2. Practice your storytelling. Tell your stories to yourself. Watch videos of your telling. You can not rehearse storytelling by just reading the story over and over again. The stories of the bible require your attention and your dedication in order to be a good biblical storyteller. After years of coordinating drama in church, I could tell you the disasters I have seen when folks think that “God will make us good” is enough. Teens are sophisticated consumers of presentations. Although you might believe that your message transcends “consuming,” or even find that idea offensive, your listening audience will have a hard time changing their hearing habits.

3. Start simple. As you begin, work on telling the simple parables or short stories of the bible or your sacred texts. Don’t take on an entire book or chapter, just work with short stories. You want your youth ministry programs to be memorable for their impact. Be brief to start. The old vaudeville truism of “leave ‘em wanting more” applies here.

4. Use your natural voice. Your natural voice is your gift. The “story lady” voice will close the ears of your teens. And, gentlemen, our sisters in ministry are not the only ones who use the “story lady” voice. That sing-song, guess-what-comes-next affectation has no place in telling for teens.

5. Re-image bible stories. In many of our congregations, large numbers of teens have heard the same stories, told the same way, for more than a dozen years. Think about ways to refresh and rephrase the stories. Remove the shellac that keeps the bible-story people stiff, predictable and uninteresting. For teens, bible stories are not dead and do not need to be brought to life, but in most churches, they sure could use some new breath.

I’ve learned that storytelling is a sure method of preaching and teaching to impact young people with The Message. Use these five tips to get started in effectively reaching teens in your youth ministry.

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Sean Buvala is a veteran of decades of youth ministry from within a Christian faith system. He is an in-demand teacher and leader for retreats, workshops, worship and other events for sacred storytelling. When he’s not working in that arena, he teaches and trains storytelling techniques to corporate and private coaching clients. Follow him at Twitter @storyteller