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Tom was greeted at the Banjul International Airport in The Gambia, West Africa with friends who gave him a lesson on the drums
Welcome to GoTell Communications. The purpose of this site is to encourage and enable people to follow Jesus' third way through listening, learning and telling stories of the biblical tradition. The future of our global village depends on it.
Telling By Heart
Use this site to learn how to internalize a biblical story and tell it by heart. Why bother? Read the article on "The Case for Telling by Heart" listed under Feature Articles. Hear stories told by heart from the lectionary (Lections) or specific Gospels (Narratives). In these sections of the site you will also get background info to help you understand the story, tips for telling it effectively, and slides for digital presentations.
New at GoTell: 4/24/08
Twelve of us traveled to The Gambia in West Africa last month, all members of the Network of Biblical Storytellers. When we first arrived, none of us noticed the sign posted by the entrance of our dorm which read, “Keep your buckets full,” but it didn't take long to catch its significance in a land where it doesn't rain for nine months.
By the time we left a week later, “Keep your buckets full” was not just an essential practice for daily cleansing, but had become a beloved proverb of our spiritual experience in West Africa. In so many ways our buckets were kept more than full; they were overflowing!
It seemed a little strange to go to the land of Kunta Kinte, where griots continue ancient oral traditions, to teach about storytelling. The Bible, however, in The Gambia as in the United States, is part of a high literate culture and has not benefited from the rich oral tradition and storytelling abilities of West African peoples. It was an amazing privilege to witness the spiritual energy that was generated when the power of the biblical stories told intersected with the deep cultural experience of storytelling.
The Gambia is the smallest country in Africa. Here is a map of The Gambia, 20 miles wide and 200 miles long, along the Gambia River.
Grace and peace,
Amelia