The first Bible Story Ninja I ever met was a woman named Mrs. Kiefer. Mrs. Kiefer wore horn-rimmed glasses and pill box hats. Every month or so she would come to our public elementary school and tell us a story. We loved Mrs. Kiefer because she got us out of class. But more than that, we loved her because she mesmerized us.
The entire elementary school gathered to hear her speak. She would set down her little tote bag on a table in the front of the biggest room in the school and begin to weave her spell.
Usually the stories would begin with a kid just like one of us, a kid with a problem. Sometimes the kid would do the right thing. Other times, not so much. Either way, somehow the kid’s story would lead to a Bible story.
By the time she got to the application, she would have us eating out of the palm of her hand.
She didn’t have a stage. She didn’t have special lighting. She didn’t have sound effects. She didn’t even have a microphone. She just had a love for God, a love for kids and crazy skills like you wouldn’t believe.
See, she was a Bible Story Ninja, a master storyteller who knew how to bring the Bible to life in a way that kids couldn’t resist.
Eventually, some atheist dad made a big deal about separating church and state, and the school kicked her out. But it was too late. Too many of us had already been infected by Mrs. Kiefer’s dangerously contagious stories.
And some of us would spend the rest of our lives training to become just like her.
What I love about Mrs. Kiefer is that with so little at her disposal she wove such captivating tales. You could have dropped this woman into any Children’s Ministry on the planet and I’m convinced she would have been just as effective.
Thinking about Mrs. Kiefer reminds me that any of us with enough passion for God’s word and God’s kids can become Bible Story Ninjas. The skills can be taught. The drive to learn them?
That’s up to you.
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