We at Cru are a caring community passionate about connecting people to Christ. When those connections are made, we want to tell people all about it. What better evidence of God at work in a person’s life than to watch it change. We want to write about that change to encourage the body of Christ and help people better understand what we do and why we do it.
To tell a changed-life story, you need a person, a place, a time and conflict.
Person–He or she has to be likable, human, not too perfect, and has to want something and have a good reason, even an obstacle, that keeps him or her from it.
Place–Use your senses to describe the scenery. What does it look like, sound like or smell like? Is there anything to taste or touch?
Time–Pick a specific moment in time. You can add background to explain the importance of the moment, but stick to one moment, especially if your story is less than 600 words.
Conflict–All good stories have conflict. In fact, a story is a story only when the main character has an important problem to solve. Look for ambition and complication.
Ambition: What does the main character want more than anything else?
Complication: What keeps the main character from getting that want or accomplishing that goal.
What will the character do to make that want happen? Where is the faith-filled moment where the main character changes?
The story becomes your main character working hard to accomplish the goal or overcome the obstacle. Sometimes, the main character doesn’t get what he or she wants. Instead, they get something better. That, too, makes for a great story.
For example, it’s possible that the biggest change for the better will happen within the main character while events stay the same.