Life and Mission
Storytelling and writing are essential skills for missionaries, ministry and nonprofit leaders. In fact, if you struggle to tell stories, you'll struggle to raise the funds you need. Kay Helm is a writer & editor with experience in missions and the business world. She founded Mission Writers in 2022 to help missionaries write fundraising appeals and powerful stories to share with supporters. In this podcast, she offers tips you can use today to improve your missions & nonprofit writing.
Life and Mission
Ethan Bryan - Baseball and Storytelling
Ethan Bryan is an author, musician, storyteller, and passionate fan of the Kansas City Royals. His stories are a celebration of life and the game of baseball. I talked to Ethan about his books, stories of the game, and how storytelling touches our souls. He's also got some advice for aspiring writers.
Baseball Stories
[00:01:07] America at the Seams - Ethan collected baseball stories from all 50 states for this coffee table book.
[00:05:04] "I'm convinced everyone has a baseball story even if they're not a fan of the game."
[00:07:32] The story of SungWoo Lee, a long-distance KC Royals fan from South Korea. A beautiful stadium, Twitter connections, the keys to city, an opening pitch - and the Royals win the World Series. You've got to hear this!
[00:11:37] Ethan's books
[00:14:27] The best book store in the country
How to Tell Stories
[00:17:44] How to tell stories
"When you're able to phrase it in the form of a story, you have someone else come out and say, 'I know exactly what you mean.' It opens up windows into their story as well."[00:21:24] Storytelling for nonprofits. This is something I (Kay) love to do, so there's a story here from the organization I work with. I shared it as an example of how storytelling gets us past the statistics and the list of accomplishments, and connects us to each other on a deeper human level.
[00:26:42] Telling another person's story responsibly. Ethan shares his process.
[00:28:44] "When someone reads something that I've written about them I want them to be really proud of it."
If you struggle to tell stories, you’ll struggle to raise funds.
In the Mission Writers course:
- Learn the exact stories that every ministry, missionary, and nonprofit needs to tell.
- Master the fundraising story calendar.
- Develop and practice essential storytelling skills to increase funding for your mission.
- Build your story library and your confidence.
Details at MissionWriters.org
Support the show
Mission Writers is an online course and group coaching experience where you’ll develop and practice essential storytelling skills to help increase funding for your mission. Get started now, for a year of coaching at over 60% off the regular price.