(Photo courtesy of Keys For Kids)
USA (MNN) – Who doesn’t love a great story? Throughout the Gospels, Jesus used simple stories to illustrate moral or spiritual lessons.
Teachers always use stories to illustrate key points in a lesson. It makes sense that a ministry like Keys For Kids would develop a whole ministry around mentoring kids in their faith. Up until a couple of years ago, a subscription magazine mainly handled that.
The spark of an idea
Then one day, at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, someone asked Greg Yoder, the executive director of Keys For Kids, if they also had their devotional stories in audio form.
The more Yoder considered the request, the more he realized the untapped potential.
“There’s a lot of people who aren’t from Christian homes (who) don’t understand theological truth very well. But when you present it in a good story, even the adults get it, and the adults are able to apply it to their lives.”
As Yoder explored the possibilities, he realized, “80% of the world are oral learners. When you think that, they’re probably not going to read a devotional or read a track, they’re going to listen to something. They’re going to listen to the Storyteller units.”
From that sprang the Keys For Kids’ Storyteller program. “They’re solar powered mp3 players that have a full Bible on it, if there’s one available in audio, and then Keys For Kids’ stories in audio.”
It started with getting the Keys For Kids content translated into Spanish and loaded onto the units. But it didn’t stop there, Yoder says. “We’re very excited to share with you that we have in our hands, the Albanian, the Arabic, the Greek, and the Macedonian. And they’re ready for use.”
Igniting a passion for Christ
Yoder loves having an answer for the folks who contact him with requests like, “‘We need a resource for our children’s program in Honduras,’ or ‘…on our mission trip to Guatemala’, or ‘We’re going to be taking a trip to the Middle East, and we’d like to have some resources to take with us.'”
(Photo courtesy Keys For Kids)
Storyteller units are compact, so the units, which are smaller than a cell phone, will fit into a suitcase. What’s more, they’re ideal for developing nations or situations like refugee camps.
“What’s amazing too about these things is they also have an SD card so you could play any of your favorite music if you wanted to. It also has a light function, so if you’re going into Third World countries, and people need lights, well, it’s got one built-in. And the other part: it’s solar powered. It never needs to be plugged into the wall.”
When you consider that 70-percent of the people who come to Christ did so between their fourth and 14th birthday, this is an idea whose time has come.
Yoder explains that the Storyteller program hits Keys For Kids’ sweet spot. “There are 1.3 billion kids around the world who don’t know Jesus. The only thing that’s preventing them from hearing about Jesus is having someone tell them. We have a Storyteller to be able to do that, and so we’re looking for people to fund these things.”
Kindle an inspiring hope
At $40 per unit, it may seem pricey, but the dividends are enormous. He says, “Storyteller group leaders lead these groups. (They’re) teaching these kids, helping them (to) understand what they’re hearing, asking questions, and then leading them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
If a Return On Investment is your thing, “Each unit, once they’re placed, will probably reach about 150 kids. When you’re actually purchasing one, they’re about 40 bucks. They’re reaching about 150 kids a year, so they do have some really amazing reach.”
Why aren’t hundreds of thousands of Storytellers out there? Yoder responds, “The only thing preventing us from getting to kids and sharing the Gospel message, which changes hearts and lives, is funding. If you can be in prayer for us, pray that the wellspring of giving would come and help us to fund these things.”
Headline photo courtesy Keys For Kids.
