Stories that share actual events in the lives of people I call "experiences." Experiences are more than the sum of the things that happen to a person. Individual experiences are combined to form a collective "experience" (sum)--the knowledge or skill someone has gained through an event or series of events in their lives.

Experience is a very powerful tool in the communications arsenal for ministry. In fact, other than God's Word, it may be essentially the most powerful. Unlike theology, doctrine, beliefs--experience cannot be argued. It just happened. Rather, experience must be "dealt with." This listener must ask, "Why did this happen and how? Is this real? Could this happen to me?"

Oprah, Dr. Phil and every other talk show host knows what you are reading about right now. It's why a housewife from Idaho can be a more engaging guest than the world's most renowned Ph.D. Knowledge is interesting, but experience is captivating! How do you capture the essence of experience and use it as a strength in ministry that points people to Christ? By capturing three key answers:

What was life like before? Any experience begins with the "before." Experience is often about action or change. Something that happened to you, or in you. Something you walked through and came out the other side different somehow. Share first what it was like before the experience.

Concentrate on circumstances, emotions, relationships and environment present before something occurs. These elements give the context of the exprrience, and make it possible for an audience to process exactly what happened and identify with the person who had the experience.

What did God do? The most important part of any experience in ministry is what God did. Did He speak, teach, influence, involve, bring about circumstances or change something? Did He call for action or obedience? Unlike experience that may be gained "in the world," in ministry we are centrally concerned not with what an individual did, but with the role that God played as Author, Creator, Sustainer, Authority and Soveriegn Ruler.

Often we use the phrase like, "a move of God," or "God moved" to define an experience with a spiritual context. Experience is "God-centric" in that we focus not on what "decision" we might have made, but how God influenced it or directed it. This God-centered thinking is foreign to many people, as we tend to think of being in charge of "our own world." We'd rather concentrate on what happened to us, what we did, what we changed or adjusted. An experience will never be as powerful if we put the control in our own hands, limiting the role of the Lord in the story. It's false to think that God is not in charge--if we really believe He is, our experiences will bear out His true authoritative role in our lives.

What is different now? The conclusion of any experience is that element that was learned. What was added to the person's "experience-base" in terms of knowledge or happenings in their life? If nothing is different, it wasn't an experience. We are not spectators in our own lives. "I saw this happen" is not an experience. "Let me tell you what happened to me" is.

Often when interviewing younger children and teens who make decisions for Christ, I ask, "What is different now that you are a Christ-follower?" Sometimes the answer I get is, "Not a lot, really." Well, that begs the question, "Are you really a Christ follower? Do you understand what that means?" If so, then something is going to be different.

Experience is what we draw on as life progresses to make decisions, influence others and direct our lives. It's what parents want to pass on to their children. It's what employers want in their prospective employees. It's the intangible value of a person's years.

If we really value experience on the earthly level, how much more does experience speak for us on the spiritual level? The longer we subject our lives to God's leading, the more He teaches us as He molds us more to His character. This is more than knowledge gained--it's understanding gained, and something we should capture and readily share with those around us.

About the Author. Eugene Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications and technologies. More...