Storyteller: a person who invites others to enter the experience of a story. —MARK MILLER59
Long before I was involved in ministry, I was a storyteller. I received my bachelor’s degree in script and screenwriting. I was a movie junkie for many, many years. However, I could not decide what route I wanted to pursue in the industry. Part of me wanted to take a stab at film journalism. I wanted to be a movie critic like Siskel and Ebert (from back in the day). The other part of me wanted to tell stories through writing screenplays. I tried my hand at both, assuming that I was well on my way to a career in some form of entertainment media. But then the Presence and power of God rocked me. That said, my heart still burns to see revival in Hollywood and an age of creative renaissance break forth in the church.
Telling story is a powerful tool, both for good and for evil. Story stirs us up. It exposes us to possibilities that were previously off our radars. It awakens hope and, yes, even releases breakthrough faith. This is the essence of testimony.
The greatest, most powerful expression of storytelling that each of us possess is the power of our testimony. Testimony takes place as God writes His story in and through our lives.
For all Christians, testimony begins with something that we all have in common—our salvation experience. However, testimony does not end here. In many contexts, we have limited the concept of “testimony” to one’s salvation story. This should not be the case. If you have a story of God doing the miraculous and supernatural in your life, or of God using you to release His power to someone else, you have become a steward of that testimony. Remember what Jesus said: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). Jesus is saying that what you received from Him becomes yours to give away to others. One of the primary ways you “freely give” is by telling your story and sharing your testimony.
If God has moved supernaturally in your life, then congratulations—you have become a supernatural storyteller. There are so many different ways each of us can tell our stories. I read Mark Miller’s book Experiential Storytelling and it opened my eyes to the myriad of ways we can communicate the supernatural stories of God. The book reminded me of the great need for the stories of God’s awesome deeds to be shared again from the body of Christ. Not just pleasant anecdotes and jokes. We need to have a clear vision of what story is and what will happen when we share the stories of God’s miraculous invasions in our lives.
Testimony takes place as God writes His story in and through our lives.
Telling our stories ignites the spark of breakthrough faith that resides in every believer within “hearing” range (there are multiple ways one can hear our testimony). Remember, breakthrough faith is already on the inside of every believer. It is not some special faith upgrade we need to receive from a spiritual celebrity. However, it often lays dormant inside of us for far too long—in potential form—until a spark ignites it and makes it kinetic. This is what sharing our story does. It ignites the spark of faith within others to believe for what God has done for us.
I began to recognize the prophetic power of testimony as I studied the mighty moves of God throughout history. How were people able to feed on the testimonies of God’s Presence and power, thus transforming entire regions? The people who experienced the fire of revival, firsthand, told their stories. They wrote about these testimonies in publications, periodicals, and letters. People connected and dialogued with them. It was heard that God was moving! It was as simple as that. We cannot contain the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit by keeping it to ourselves—all of us are called to talk about what God is doing in our lives.
Back in the not-so-distant past of church culture, they held what were called “testimony services.” These often took place on either a Wednesday or Sunday night and would consist of an entire church service dedicated to people sharing testimonies of what God had done in their lives. Oh, that we would recognize the dire need for such an outlet in the body of Christ today! Christians are absolutely overwhelmed with teaching and information. I am not disregarding the need for teaching; I am just saying that a time needs to come where people actually start experiencing what the preacher has been teaching about.
In Mark 2:2 we see that testimony about Jesus’ works circulated and the result was that “many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door” (ESV). Preaching and teaching must be reinforced with testimony, as testimony reveals what is possible to the person who applies what is being taught from Scripture. I have to believe that in Jesus’ day, people had their own version of “testimony services.”
Story after story in the Gospels points to this reality; the results speak for themselves. As stories were shared, the miracles multiplied. People, like the four men with the paralytic friend, caught wind of what Jesus was doing, and those testimonies prophesied over them about what was possible. The stories of Jesus’ miracles and mighty works declared, loud and clear, that if He did it for that one guy or girl back then, then He can and will do it for us as well. For many of these stories were sparks that ignited bold quests and radical pursuits for an encounter with Jesus. The key was keeping testimony in front of the people as a matter of significant importance. In Bible times this was their culture. In our day, it is often a struggle.
Many times we live unexposed to the supernatural possibilities of God’s power. We live distanced from God healing people miraculously, delivering them from torment, freeing their minds, breaking addictions, restoring families, setting people free from demonic oppression, raising the dead, and the like. When we do not hear testimony of God doing these things today, it becomes easy to start believing a bunch of nonsense theology: God does not do miraculous things anymore, He only moves overseas, and the supernatural is not available to everyday believers.
Silence concerning God’s works actually fosters false doctrine about God’s supernatural power. We cannot afford to keep our stories quiet, as that is exactly what the enemy would love for us to do. The truth is that God is moving powerfully across the world, even in our nation! Undoubtedly, He is moving in your life as well. Do not keep His goodness to yourself. As you share what He is doing, your stories become sparks that ignite breakthrough faith for others to believe God for the impossible!
Testimony reveals what is possible to the person who applies what is being taught in Scripture.
Miracles have become a missing link in much of Western church culture today. This is not because God made a sovereign withdrawal of His power from the earth, but rather because the church has remained silent when it comes to the testimony of God’s supernatural interventions. They are frequent, rest assured. They are both simple and spectacular. Sadly, we have become overly skeptical or just plain silent.
In Mark 2:1-2 we note that the crowd gathered to see and hear Jesus because of what they heard about Him. This says that we need to gather and assemble around the testimony once again. This was undeniably the church culture in the Book of Acts. They were committed to testifying of what the Holy Spirit was doing in their midst, and, as a result, entire regions and cities were touched by God’s power.
To experience a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, we need to return to the foundations of our faith. For too long the central focus of our meetings has been delivering Bible-based principles via sermons. While we cannot neglect the truth that comes from the time-tested precepts of Scripture, we must start building a culture around the present-day works of God. The miracles in our midst. The acts of God in our cities, regions, churches, and nations. Could it be that cities are not being transformed by the supernatural power of God because churches are not sharing their stories?
In the present-day church era, people have exchanged powerful testimony for weak principles. People are not usually invited to church to hear about the person who was healed of cancer, or the marriage that was restored, or the demon-possessed individual who was liberated. And yet this was a major draw in the Gospels. People were powerfully transformed and discipled as a result of hearing stories of the miracles that Jesus performed. We must remember that the Bible is more testimony-driven than principle-based. Biblical principles were often birthed out of supernatural encounters people had with God.
There is a significant pattern for us to observe in testimony and how sharing it impacts our relationship with God and the expression of our faith. Bill Johnson writes concerning this, “When we forget about the miracles, we talk about them less. And if our expectations of the miraculous decline, miracles eventually disappear from our lives altogether.”60
The Bible is more testimony-driven than principle-based. Biblical principles were often birthed out of supernatural encounters people had with God.
God loves giving us illustrated sermons. As I studied about testimony in my class, God decided to illustrate the lesson through a real-life situation. During this season, something remarkable was brewing in Mobile, Alabama. On July 23, 2010, the last day of Church of His Presence’s “Open the Heavens” conference, God did exactly what they were asking for. Revival broke out, the glory of God invaded that conference hall, and powerful miracles started to become normative in their gatherings. Deaf ears and blind eyes were opening. People were getting saved and rededicating their lives to Jesus Christ. There was joy and reverence, holiness, and power.
And one of the most notable miracles to take place was the supernatural healing of a paralyzed woman named Delia Knox. She had been in a wheelchair since Christmas Day 1987, when she got in a near-fatal car accident resulting from a drunk driver. She received prayer at the revival—not in some flamboyant, “let’s pull her up out of the wheelchair” way, but in a very honoring and Jesus-exalting manner. The result was that she was completely healed of her paralyzed condition!
Not long after her healing, she came up on stage and testified to what God has done in her life—before a live audience and to thousands watching around the world through Internet streaming and television.61 Her testimony released hope and healing to more people than we will ever know this side of Heaven. Most importantly, her story reminds us of why we need to intentionally pursue building a culture of testimony in our churches today. Declaring testimony ignites the spark that releases and sustains the consuming fire of breakthrough faith.
Simply reading the Bible does not awaken faith; it is awakened when we are exposed to the Bible in the flesh. When people share testimony of what God has done or what He is doing, it takes what we read about in Scripture and displays it in 3-D. The Bible was never meant to be read like a textbook or history book; it is alive and active (see Heb. 4:12).
The more a generation mistakenly believes that Christianity is all about sitting in a room, reading a book, doing a devotional, or listening to a preacher, the more detached they will become from authentic New Testament faith. This is because they are being exposed to a counterfeit version of Christianity. Are the elements I listed above part of our Christian experience? Yes, but when these few elements are presented as “the entire Christian package,” we are being introduced to a subpar version of what Jesus died for and what He sent the Holy Spirit to give us. By sharing testimony, we let a generation know that there is more to Christianity than what some would lead them to believe, and that there is more to the Bible than just sitting around and reading a book.
One way we can experience the life of Scripture is when we hear people share what the Word has actually produced in their lives! The Bible cannot just be the “good book.” It cannot just be information we store up in our brains only to regurgitate on a test, in a Bible study, or through preaching a sermon. Our inheritance as believers is a Word that produces life. Review yet again what Jesus said about His words—they are spirit and they are life (see John 6:63). And recall the apostle Paul, whose preaching was not delivered with brilliant oration or flowery eloquence, but with supernatural power (see 1 Cor. 2:4-5). This is the expression of Christianity we have been destined to bring to this world!
In the next and final chapter about testimony, we will get really practical. How do we make sharing testimony a lifestyle rather than an occasional two-minute video break during a Sunday service?
Our inheritance as believers is a Word that produces life.
By sharing our stories of God’s supernatural works—no matter how big or small—our testimonies release sparks that ignite breakthrough faith to believe God for the miraculous. We cannot afford to keep silent about what Jesus has done in our lives. In fact, someone else’s breakthrough might be on the other side of us stepping out and sharing our story!
Experiential Storytelling by Mark Miller
Release the Power of Jesus by Bill Johnson