Are You Living a Good Story? How Comfort, Anxiety and the American Dream Can Keep Us From Living a Compelling Life -- with Author, Storyteller, and Communications Pastor, Scott McClellan

In the Summer of 2008 I was sitting in my inlaw's home office working on their computer. My wife, 1 year old daughter and I had just moved from Los Angeles to Dallas to live a more compelling story, but we knew very few people except for some family we had in the DFW area. So there I was online looking for some way to connect with people in Dallas. At the time I was pretty involved in the online intersection of faith and technology, and so it was with great interest that I saw that a brand new conference was taking place in Dallas a couple of weeks after our move. The conference was the ECHO Conference, and it was there that I met so many great people...many who have come to be some of my closest friends today. One of those great people was Scott McClellan, who at the time was a part of the organization who was putting on the conference. To this day, I look back at that conference as really helping me get connected in a new city.

The ECHO Conference may no longer exist, but my relationships from them exist. And Scott has been one of my close friends who I have learned a great deal from. Scott is currently the Communications Pastor at Irving Bible Church in Irving, TX. Scott and his wife Annie have been a part of this church community for about 14 years, and have been instrumental in the leadership of the Tapestry Adoption and Foster Care Ministry at the church. Over the last 9 to 10 years I have been really interested in the concept of story as a framework for living a compelling life, and Scott is someone who has taught me a lot about this concept. I have not only learned from him through our many conversations, but he and his wife have modeled this concept in their personal lives through their adoption process and the participation in the lives of those around them who seek out their wisdom in the area of adoption. Scott chronicles much of this journey in his book, Tell Me a Story: Finding God (and Ourselves) Through Narrative.

In this episode we explore:

• the concept of story and how it can be a framework for your life.
• the influence of Donald Miller's work in our lives.
• what makes for a compelling life story.
• the struggle to live a compelling story and how comfort, anxiety, and the American dream can often keep us stuck.
• how discontent and anxiety can be a great catalyst for growth in our lives.
• Scott and Annie's story of adoption.
• etcetra

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Resources and Links Mentioned in the Episode

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Donald Miller

Donald Miller's sermon Story at Mars Hill in Michigan

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Blood Water Mission and Jena Lee Nardella

Tapestry

Tell Me a Story: Finding God (and Ourselves) Through Narrative