This workshop explores how to use the universal language of storytelling to share the Everlasting Gospel with streaming-native audiences without compromise.

Hartland Fall Convocation 2025: Engage Clarity Mode

<p>This workshop explores how to use the universal language of storytelling to share the Everlasting Gospel with streaming-native audiences without compromise.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Rico Hill

Story-Driven Evangelism: How to Reach a Netflix Audience (Without Compromise)

In the Bible, Jesus teaches some very important lessons.

And yesterday in our afternoon session where we talked about how Jesus takes the simple things.

They're simple to our minds, but in heaven, they are impactful, they are powerful, they are significant.

And you know, when Jesus came the first time, When He came the first time, a lamb was just too simple.

But the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, it tells us that He will take the weak things to confound the...

Oh, I need to hear from you this morning.

He'll take the weak things to confound the strong or the mighty.

He'll take the foolish things to confound the wise.

So we understand that when God wants to demonstrate Himself and His power, He'll use the base things of earth.

That's why when Jesus came, He would often talk to people in such a way, using parables.

The Bible tells us when he spoke he never spoke in anything but parables.

And the 1 I, the parable, well, I love all the parables, but 1 of the ones that I think is most impactful is the parable of the sower who sows a seed.

And he was speaking to an audience who understood about seed sowing, agriculture, right?

He's talking about how to reach a Netflix audience, but he's showing a strawberry, and he's got a kiwi in his hands.

So, so Jesus presents this, this message to people who were quite agrarian.

They were farmers, and they understood exactly what he was talking about.

So it was Simple enough that they understood it, but it was deep enough that the disciples knew that there was more to the story.

And they came to him and they said, what did you mean when you talked about the sower and the seed and the harvest and all these things?

And then Jesus began to break down to them that which he did not share with those who were a part of the audience.

Now, in that audience of farmers, there may have been people who didn't believe at all.

In the gospel, But they certainly believed in farming and seed sowing.

In that audience, there may have been some people who were angry at God.

There may have been people who, you know, have been of other faith orientations.

Maybe there were some Samaritans in that audience.

And so Jesus was giving a very ubiquitous story.

He was giving a story that would reach them all.

I love his ability to communicate in such a way that as He was talking about seeds.

He was planting them Can we do any better than that we cannot But we can learn from that lesson.

So the disciples come to Him and they want to know, what were you really saying?

He says, well, the sower is the Son of Man, talking about Himself.

He said the reapers are the and the 1 who comes again is the evil 1 and the harvest is the end of the world.

So he was talking about deeper things but using something so simple to plant in the hearts of the people something that they could understand but then they would go off listen they'd go off and be tilling the ground working the harvest or working in the garden and the Holy Spirit would begin to water that seed.

And then they may stop right in their tracks and say, wait a minute, he was saying something more.

The average strawberry, the average strawberry, anybody like strawberries?

There are an average of 200 seeds on a strawberry.

I'm gonna say something that might be a little radical a little bit radical So what I'm talking about today with you is I'm going to talk to you about How we now must be much more creative in our evangelism but we have to do it in the way that Jesus did it.

And I'm using this illustration to help us understand where I'm going with this.

Now, the example was not set when Jesus gave that parable.

The example of how the gospel and evangelism works was set and established in the Garden of Eden when God first gave the first meal.

Okay, so I Don't believe that Adam and Eve's menu or their food source was really fruit.

I believe the fruit was merely a delivery system for the seeds.

Because I'm kinda switching hats back and forth because I'm a health evangelist, but I'm also a television producer.

And I'm going to combine them today, or at least lay the foundation to help us to understand where I'm going.

Now, I believe that because when you consider the menu that God gave, it was fruits, nuts, grains, and seeds.

And He says, behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed.

I have given you every herb yielding seed.

Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, but the herb wasn't a part of the diet.

So then we have to refocus our attention and say, why does he mention herbs when he's giving the diet?

Because it's not what it is, it's what it does.

And see, this lesson became very clear to me when I began to live here in Maryland and I began to do my own little bit of farming and learning how to garden and I noticed something.

I noticed something that I had some evangelists who lived on my property.

Yeah, yeah, because see wild black raspberries grow all around my property.

And from 1 year to the next, I'll notice that in an area where they weren't growing before, they're now growing.

And I'm like, how did they get over here now, this year?

Well, it turns out the deer don't like the seeds that are in the black raspberries.

They do like the sweetness of them though, and they eat them, and then they become evangelists, and they drop the seeds.

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Story-Driven Evangelism: How to Reach a Netflix Audience (Without Compromise)

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