My love for stories goes back to Sunday lunches at my grandparents’ home in rural East Texas. Our large southern family would gather over delicious meals and regale one another with stories. There was always laughter. Sometimes there were tears. As a pastor, I’m thankful I grew up in a family that taught me the power of stories.
To help myself grow as a storyteller, I’ve developed the habit of listening to others who craft stories well. I often listen to other pastors, but I also listen to storytellers outside the church. In the same way that my husband watches comedians to grow in his ability to use humor in sermons, I listen to stories to learn how to communicate the gospel more effectively. If you want to hone your craft of storytelling, I suggest you start with these five podcasts.
1. The Moth – Insight into different worlds
The Moth is the mother of all storytelling podcasts. Since 1997, The Moth has hosted live storytelling events across the globe. The events feature first person stories curated around a single theme told without scripts, notes, props, or accompaniment. Storytellers work with directors to hone their stories and the result is amazing. The podcast began in 2008 and shares The Moth’s favorite stories from their live events.
The Moth provides pastors with an excellent and uncensored look into the experiences and emotions of others. The storytellers on The Moth are refreshingly candid and will provide insight into worlds pastors sometimes find difficult to engage.
2. Radiolab – A healthy exchange of ideas
Jab Abumrad and Robert Krulwich host this Peabody Award-winning program. Each episode approaches a broad scientific or philosophical issue in an accessible and engaging manner, turning topics like “Time” and “Colors” into human-interest stories. Their use of sound to illustrate stories and convey emotions is impressive.
With over 4 million downloads a month, Radiolab reminds me that people love stories when they are told well. As a pastor, it’s worth taking time to study how other storytellers capture the imaginations of their audiences.
As a pastor, it’s worth taking time to study how other storytellers capture the imaginations of their audiences.
A unique aspect of this podcast is the dialogue between the hosts, who do not always agree with one another. Would our sermons be more engaging if our views were occasionally presented in the context of a healthy exchange of ideas rather than a monologue from a single source? This podcast will boost creativity and provide illustrations for pastors to file away for later use.
3. This American Life – Stories to elicit questions
This American Life consistently ranks as the first or second most downloaded podcast on iTunes. Hosted by Ira Glasss, it has won all of the major broadcasting awards and is noted as the single most successful and longest running podcast. Each week the show explores a theme in several acts (stories). Each act weaves the stories together in a way that leave listeners eager for the next 60-minute installment. It is worth mentioning the team behind This American Life also produced the wildly successful Serial podcast. If you haven’t checked out Serial, give it a go as well.
As a communicator, it is interesting to see how the stories are pulled together in This American Life, how stories are used to elicit questions and drive home an idea. Jesus did this same thing with parables. There are over 500 episodes in the archive for This American Life, which means you can extensively study (read: binge listen) to get a feel for its unique approach to storytelling.
4. Selected Shorts – Story time for adults
Now in its 13th season, this live-recorded “story time for adults” bring short stories to the stage performed by notable actors such as BJ Novak, Stephen Colbert, and Molly Ringwald. The stories are always fiction and represent a wide range of authors from different eras. As with other storytelling podcasts, this one also utilizes a theme for each episode.
So far, the podcasts on this list primarily focus on true stories. Selected Shorts is literary–a study in how fiction engages listeners. In storytelling, I love to use true stories, but adding Selected Shorts to my list of podcasts inspires me to consider which fiction pieces engage me on an auditory level and why. It’s one thing to read a story and find it engaging; it’s something else entirely to hear a piece of fiction and be captured by it.
5. StoryCorps – Encouragement to listen
StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. Participants are invited to come in pairs with a list of questions and an idea of what they would like to talk about. Pairs are interviewed by a StoryCorps facilitator and the unscripted conversations are recorded and preserved at the American Folk Life Center in the Library of Congress. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected over 50,000 stories from more than 99,000 contributors. A small percentage of these have been edited and made available via the podcast.
StoryCorps gives people an opportunity to preserve important stories in their lives. It also does something else—it encourages people to listen. In a culture where people are inundated by media that makes connection less personal, each of these podcasts began with two people sitting down, face-to-face to listen to one another. As a pastor, it is helpful for me to remember that there is as much power in listening to someone tell their story as there is in telling my stories well.
Rachel Triska is coleader of Life in Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas.
