by Michael Novelli | November 04 2008 01:11 PM
I had a great week at Youth Specialties' NYWC in Pittsburgh. The highlight of the week for me was the workshop I got to lead with Mark Novelli (my brother) and Kelly Dolan. My part was focused on Bible Storying, while they brought context to how communication and learning have changed in our culture. I also got to meet with old and new friends. It was so encouraging!
If you were able to attend this workshop, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought!
As promised, here is a link to download the handout from the workshop (requires login):
Pittsburgh Workshop
by Michael Novelli | October 30 2008 07:41 AM
I am in Pittsburgh for Youth Specialties'
National Youth Workers Convention. On Saturday I will be leading a session for youth leaders called
Shaped by the Story that will be an interactive workshop exploring Bible storying and interactive learning. Kelly Dolan and my brother Mark Novelli from
Imago Media will be helping me facilitate this time.
It should be fun!
by Michael Novelli | October 23 2008 03:24 PM
I was searching iTunes for kid's podcasts for a trip we just took, and I found this audio story of Joseph.
To download it,
CLICK HERE.
The podcast is called
"Storynory." It contains many childrens stories with moral lessons that are really well narrated. Another reason I like it is my love for British accents!
You can also read the scripts for the stories on the website:
http://storynory.com/2008/10/05/joseph-and-his-coat-of-many-colours/
by Michael Novelli | October 21 2008 11:03 AM
Just posted 3 more narratives. I hope I caught all the typos!
Enjoy.
by Michael Novelli | October 13 2008 10:55 AM
My friend Jen Howver are celebrating the release of our new books with a party!
Imago Media is hosting this party for us this
Thursday, October 16th from 7-9pm at their office in Elgin, Illinois,
73 S. Riverside Drive.
This promises to be a fun evening with good food and great books! If you would like to drop by please RSVP now by
emailing michele.
Learn more about my book
here, and learn more about Jen and her book,
Secret Survivors, by clicking
here.
by Michael Novelli | October 01 2008 07:24 PM
I came across a great website called
Nerdbots.
Description from the website:
“Oddly obsessed with all things robot, married couple Nicholas and Angela from Kansas City, Missouri, decided on a whim one day to do nothing other than to build one themselves.
After piecing together parts found at their favorite antique and thrift stores, they created their first robot friend. Since that first day, Nicholas and Angela have added many fabulously geeky robots to their beloved robotic collection.”
What a concept… taking something considered to be junk, mixing it together, and restoring into something creative, fun and valuable. This is what we should be doing in our communities… and in our lives.
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
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
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!
(Subscribe if you like what you're reading!)
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.
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!!
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!
by Michael Novelli | August 18 2008 11:15 PM
It’d be nice if the Bible read like a novel from cover to cover. But it’s not a novel. It’s a series of books that have been grouped together—and many of them are out of chronological order.
In technological terminology, a mashup is a Web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool. The Bible is like this—a mashup of different writings from different authors inspired to tell the unified Story of God and his love for people.
In a recent talk, author Scot McKnight suggested we look at the Bible as a “Wikistory,” in which there is “ongoing reworking of the biblical story by new authors who each tell the story in their own way.” McKnight continued, “None [of the books of the Bible] is exhaustive, comprehensive or absolute...they are different stories of THE Story. We don’t have to harmonize them or try to reconcile them. They’re just doing their own versions of the Story, and each has a place in the larger picture.”
Let’s face it—the Bible is often difficult to read and to teach. We’ve got our work cut out for us if we wish to give our students a sense of its overarching story. That’s why storying is the best way I’ve found to give people, young and old alike, a Bible overview with context to all future Bible learning.
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Shaped by the Story)
