Shaped by the Story Now Available!

by Michael Novelli   |  September 30 2008    06:13 AM

My book is finally available for purchase! Wohoo! It was a long and rewarding process to bring it to completion. You can pick up a copy online in many locations, but I would prefer you buy it from MY Amazon store 'cause I get a small cut! Click here: http://astore.amazon.com/echothestory-20/detail/0310273668/102-5802111-6312922

Radio Interview from the Northland

by Michael Novelli   |  September 26 2008    12:06 PM

I was recently interviewed about my book, Shaped by the Story, on a Duluth Radio Station, WWJC AM 850. I was on the program Northland Notebook with Ted Elm. I did not have any hunting or hockey tips for Jim, so I just talked about my book. My interview was right after William Young, author of The Shack. Big shoes to follow! I start slow, by eventually seem fairly coherent in the interview, even though I kind of hate the sound of my own voice.

If you have 25 minutes to kill, you can download a MP3 of the interview by clicking HERE.



http://www.echothestory.com/media/NorthlandNotebook.mp3

It’s Not Easy Eating Green!

by Michael Novelli   |  September 26 2008    11:03 AM

In an effort to feel better and loose weight, my wife and I began to drastically change our eating habits about 6 years ago. Our efforts increased 3 years ago before our son was born. We strongly desired for him to begin with a a pattern of healthy eating. It worked! He loves his fruit and veggies.

Over the last few years we have invested ourselves in being more educated about what we take into our bodies and how that food was prepared. My wife has read countless books and websites, and has done an amazing job helping change the way we live and eat. We desire to live holistic, healthy lives... we've grown to care deeply about how the environment and animals are treated in the preparation of our food.

It has been encouraging to see a growing movement throughout North America for people to eat locally produced organic food. When we began this journey 5 or 6 years ago it was hard to find organic food outside of a limited (and expensive) selection at small health food stores. Now, virtually every supermarket provides a selection, helping make organic food more accessible and affordable. Click here to read an article on the befits of organic food.

This has not been easy. We still have "bad days" where we eat things outside of the norm. Often when I do eat something greasy or filled with preservatives, my body expresses it's disdain in not-so-pleasant ways!

We have made a commitment to spend less in other areas in order to eat better. We eat out way less, pack lunches, and purchase more than 80% organic. We have also started trying to buy and support locally grown food. Recently we visited an amazing farm near our home called the Heritage Prairie Market, that educates children and adults how to eat better and grow their own food. Very cool.

We want to start a garden in our neighborhood this spring, as a place to connect and encourage each other toward better living. This is something we have no experience with, but are excited to experiment and learn!

Tell me about your journey to get healthy and eat better... wherever you are at!

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ION Conference in Dallas

by Michael Novelli   |  September 22 2008    07:57 PM

This past week I had the opportunity to be a part of the 7th Annual International Orality Network (ION) Conference . It was a unique gathering of missions-minded leaders from all over the globe who desire to communicate God's story through auditory and visual means. I had the chance to interact with people from 5 different continents about Bible Storying, including professional storytellers, missionaries, and professors. It was humbling, encouraging and intimidating all at the same time! I found that people were hungry to know how Storying is connecting with emerging generations who are considered to be "post-literates". In my next post I will share some of my discussion points from the workshops I led at ION and hopefully get some feedback from you! I feel very fortunate to be a part of this movement and get to see what's happening all over the globe.

Shiny New Website!

by Michael Novelli   |  September 11 2008    12:30 AM

I am so thrilled to launch the new Echo website! We are still tweaking, testing and adding features, but I couldn't wait to post it. Imago Media did a terrific job with the design work, and Floodlight Web Design did the coding. Great job guys!

It is not just a great looking site, but has many added features and videos. The most notable are the IDEAS section, containing a growing list of exercises to help your group experience storying in new and creative ways, and the RESOURCES section, filled with helpful articles and recommendations to help you with storying. Let me know what you think!!

MERGE 2009!

by Michael Novelli   |  September 09 2008    11:07 PM

We are in the process of planning a MERGE Student Event for 2009 in the Midwest. More details will be coming early this fall.  This event will be hosted in partnership between Echo, Imago Media and some other great youth ministry organizations we’ll announce soon.

Email us if you are interested in attending or helping out!