“What’s keeping you up at night?” I asked 20 writers in Nashville who had assembled to learn more about taking an idea for a written story from concept to complete article.

“If I could provide some relief, would you be interested?” More than one person looked at me with eyes that said, Yes, please!

“If you can provide that same kind of relief for your audience, do you think they would be interested?” I asked.

Then, together we looked at the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John chapter 9. “Who sinned?” the disciples asked. “This man or his parents?”

The blind beggar had a problem, he couldn’t see. But it was even worse (or amplified). He’d been blind since birth, and society wanted to blame him or his parents for doing something wrong. Someone had to be held responsible.

Jesus bypassed the question and took action. His solution? He spit in the dirt and smeared mud in the blind man’s eyes. When the blind man washed the mud out of his eyes, he could see for the very first time. Jesus had transformed his life.

Of course, the neighbors had questions. The now-seeing man gave his testimony multiple times as he answered them. The religious leaders tried to logically explain this unusual turn of events. When they failed, they excommunicated the seeing man for claiming Jesus was God.

Jesus found the seeing man and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. An opportunity. “And who is he, sir,” the seeing man asked, “that I may believe in him?”

“You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and it is he who is speaking to you.” The seeing man responded by believing in Jesus.

The first letters of each of the words above in bold spell PASTOR. Together we talked about how writers could structure their content to pastor their readers. During the workshop, for writers from five Christian organizations that are part of the Evangelical Press Association, we discovered that the model works for stories with different purposes. When learning takes place, it’s a delight to everyone in the room, including me.

Thank you so much for praying for us and for your generous gifts that allow us to do the work we do. We’re so grateful. This month, please pray for wisdom for Mark as he temporarily assumes the duties of his coworker who is recovering from surgery.

Please let us know how we can pray for you, too.

— Anne Marie —