Paul Harvey brought news of the world to his listeners, casting his line out with a bit of his tale. Then with an effective pause, he’d reel them in. He’d say, “stay tuned for the rest of the story.” Sharing over 3000 incredible stories, made Harvey one of the most listened to radio personalities ever. Radio audiences eagerly awaited the opportunity to hear the “rest of the story.”
As a Christian writer, your goal is to tell God’s story in whatever form you choose with passion and skill. After all, you have a story to tell that should always leave people hanging on to every word, excited to hear what comes next. You’ve got stories of intrigue and betrayal. Stories of love and romance. You’ve got miracles and angels. It hardly gets better than that with all the biblical material at your disposal. Beyond that, you have your own experience to add to the tale and bring it to life. You’ve got an amazing job in front of you.
That being said, how you tell your tale will make all the difference. You can set the scene, describe the battle and name the players, but if you don’t sweep your readers into the story, leave them wondering what’s going to happen, or cause them to question reality as they know it, you may have missed the opportunity. The only way you can get past the initial tale is if you take a deep breath, stir their interest and leave them clamoring to hear the rest of the story. How do you do that?
You may do it in a number of ways, but here are a couple of techniques. You ask provocative questions. Zig Ziglar used to ask his audience a question like this. “How many of you believe that there is one thing you can do today that will change your life in a negative way tomorrow?” Usually, some hands would go up. His next question was similar. “How many of you believe there is one thing you can do today that will change your life for the better tomorrow?” Fewer hands would go up. Most people imagine they can make things worse for themselves, but few people understand they can also make things better. When you include Jesus in your question, you can help people discover how to make life better for themselves.
Another approach might be the way you position your story, how you create the title, or focus the main idea. A great title will always intrigue readers to want to know more. You can awe them with facts that they wouldn’t believe possible. You can charm them with an amusing tale of woe that has a surprise ending. Whatever you do, you want them to be prepared to hold on, to look deeper, to desire one thing…to hear the rest of the story.
You’ve got incredible tales to share with people who do not even know the basic biblical stories you’ve long taken for granted. Introduce them to the greatest story ever told, through the greatest book you’ve ever written. It will be a win for everybody.