Photo: At Scott’s Bluff National Monument in Nebraska on our way to Colorado.

This summer, at Cru 15, our staff conference in Colorado, I met a dear staff couple. They came to BAM, a bloggers and authors meet-up. “We’ve been through a traumatic situation,” they said.” We think God wants us to write a book. Can you help us?” They are parents of a son who suffered a brain injury while playing football.

My friend Sus Schmitt and I hosted the gathering, providing a forum for staff authors, bloggers, readers and writer “wannabes” to talk and trade advice.

More than 160 people gathered to ask for and give advice. The buzz of conversation filled the room. Staff members connected with other staff members, talking about how to write and publish everything from books to blog posts. No structured program; only conversations.

When the couple approached me, I pointed them to Ney Bailey, one of our staff members who wrote a memoir called Faith is Not a Feeling. She sat with them, listened to their story and offered insight from her own writing and speaking experience. During their 30-minute conversation, she wrote out her best thoughts so they could take the notes with them.

Of course they thanked her for spending time with them and she thanked them for telling her their story. Later, she told me how very much it had meant to her to hear their story.

My favorite conversation? For more than a year, I had been coaching Leslie via email as she wrote monthly devotions for mothers of preschoolers. She found me at BAM. What a thrill to give her a hug and tell her how much I enjoy reading what she writes.

God has given each of us a story to live and to tell. Together, Sus and I are using our expertise to help our staff members tell their stories online and in print so that people will come to Christ.

Throughout the conference, I had 15 conversations in which I coached our staff members to become better communicators. Most of them want to write on websites or social media.

A lot of outreach and discipleship now happens in this digital realm. Through the website www.everystudent.com, for example, thousands of people have indicated decisions for Christ.

Thank you for the valuable part you play in our lives. We’re grateful for your prayers and support. God uses you to allow us to continue doing the work He has called us to do.

Please let us know how we can pray for you.

– Anne Marie –