Ah-Ha Moment Under Oak Tree

By April 2005, TGSP completed its 100th language version of God's Story. That August, TGSP began using MegaVoice solar-powered audio players. In September 2005, the newly appointed TGSP East Africa Director and Dorothy sat underneath an oak tree at Miller's home talking about oral strategies and the importance of story.

Our director told Dorothy about a group of church planters in Kenya who had been trained three days a week for a year by a world mission organization.  He said, "I traveled with Eric, who was the East Africa Director of the organization that trained the church planters.  We went to the villages to see how much the church planters had gained after a year's training. We found that they were no further along than when they had started."

Miller blurted, "Western-minded, literacy-based material!"

He said, "That's right."

"Enough."  Instantly, God told Miller what to do. "We will put recorded Bible stories on the players with God's Story."

Clearly, if people needed to learn from stories, recorded Bible stories were needed for those who had no Bible translated in their language or who could not read.

The plan came together. After discovering that very few recorded stories were available, TGSP realized that if they wanted recorded Bible stories, they would have to do their own recordings. The plan germinated as Dorothy set out to get stories recorded and to sort out what this new idea would include.

TGSP planned to record Bible stories and format them on MegaVoice solar-powered audio players. At that time they were still thinking of the needs of the non-literate.

They first ran a few tests using eight of their leaders with whom they had partnered on languages of God's Story. Before asking them to record stories, it seemed wise to make certain that pure stories would be recorded. The leaders were assigned a short Bible story to learn and then were asked to tell the story to Miller on the phone. "Remember now," she reminded them, "just tell one story. Do not add anything and do not leave out anything."

Eight of eight failed the test. They told only the high points of the story, they added information from other Bible stories, they embellished and they preached.

She recalled saying to one of those leaders, "I asked you to tell only the story."

The leader responded, "I did, mum. I told the story." This evangelist leader has two doctorates, so he told the Bible story in the style in which he had been taught. He preached, left out, and added other Scripture!  So Miller told him the pure story. Afterwards he exclaimed, "Oh! You mean simply the story!"

Ah-Ha Moment In India

After seeing the need to teach leaders how to record just the story, a trip was planned. In September 2006, a TGSP team went on the road to train their network of nationals how to record accurate and interesting stories for STS. Armed at first with two written pages of how to tell a story and ask questions, that team struck out to five countries and led 20 trainings.

Very soon, a turning point occurred.

The traveling team taught educated Christian leaders in multiple countries the definition of a pure Bible story and how to record stories. They spent some time showing ways these leaders could show non-literates how to discover and teach treasures from the stories. Soon the two pages of "how to learn and teach by using questions" grew to fourteen pages. 

In the minds of the TGSP leaders, this storytelling training would be for the non-illiterates. But an amazing discovery took place.

A question from the founder of Bible schools and a seminary in Kashmir stunned Miller.  Dr Phillips asked, "Can we use this now?  We want our staff to study and teach this way."

"No one they met knew how to use oral methods to learn deeply from the Bible"

The team quickly saw that, although educated theologically, virtually no one they met knew how to use oral methods to learn deeply from the Bible nor how to train others by using oral methods.

All these national leaders had been trained by Western-influenced methods - methods which not only depended on literacy, but which also took stories apart by using analytical and topical systems.

Those Western/literate methods did not give these oral learners "fishing poles"; they gave fish. Sadly, these fish - the outlines, definitions and analytical ways to transmit Scripture - were barely understood by those students, nor was the information transferable to those in their villages whom they wished to reach.

And beyond that, even the highly educated began asking for this training - for themselves!

Dorothy, and the TGSP leadership, finally realized then that everyone could benefit by incorporating and using the skills of discovery and discussion in their Christian pursuits and ministries. Simply The Story was born!

Simply The Story (known in many countries now as STS) was launched in September 2006. It is best described as "inductive Bible study, oral style." Built on the foundation of "storying," STS teaches the skill of discovery and teaching using questions. STS instructors now impart these skills to both literate and non-literate learners.

STS is seeing great fruit in evangelism and discipleship as it opens up the Word of God to everyone. Users learn how to easily and accurately remember Bible stories, how to discover deep spiritual truths for themselves, and how to help others find those treasures through well-directed questions.

History of Founders

Tom and Dorothy Miller established and operated numerous businesses, including the largest riding school on the West Coast of the United States. The businesses served as platforms for witnessing and regular Bible studies. Questions and discussion style teaching involved students in discovery of Scriptural truths.

After the couple sold their businesses, Dorothy authored numerous books as well as scripts for Christian videos. A team from Jeremiah Films, on which Dorothy served as script writer, produced a storytelling overview of the Bible, God's Story: From Creation to Eternity. This 80-minute film covers Genesis to Revelation.

In 1998, Jeremiah Films asked Dorothy to head up The God's Story Project (TGSP). Through August 2001, God led the way to complete 37 language versions of God's Story.

In September 2001, Lifegiving Resources Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization purchased God's Story. Since that time, TGSP has operated as a non-profit under Lifegiving Resources under Miller's direction.

Workshops Born and Grow

From September 2006 to December 2007, TGSP instructors produced STS storytellers in 3-day workshops. Miller did most of the teaching, since no staff people yet existed who had the needed skills. The workshops spread to many countries.

Although, from the beginning, stories were studied in small groups, the fledging storytellers stood in front of all of the attendees to tell a story and ask some questions. Then they were evaluated by Miller. As STS was new in design to most people, no one else yet knew how to "coach" the learners. Practitioners were emerging, but trainers came along slowly.

In the spring and summer of 2007, STS partners completed recording 70 stories in three languages for the solar players. The stories were formatted onto solar players along with God's Story and the New Testament. An attempt was made to track the use and impact of the first 50 players, in each language, given to non-literates and semi-literates who attended an STS workshop.

Statistical data on the players given for the Swahili and Nepali workshops proved hard to compile. Communication and transport to those very rural places was difficult. However, India proved to be the easiest place from which to obtain comprehensive data about the impact of STS and the solar players on the ministries of rural evangelists.

Local pastor-hosts obtained before-STS ministry profiles of the evangelists. Then, after being trained in STS and receiving the recorded Bible stories on solar audio players, local literate evangelists interviewed those 50 attendees at the one month, three months, six months and one year marks. The interviews showed an exponential leap in evangelism and discipleship results. See report Amazing Results: One Year Report

By January 2008, there were thousands of good practitioners of STS. STS was growing, but Miller recognized that something needed to change to realize the potential that STS had. So, in a workshop in Hemet, California, near the TGSP headquarters, Miller tried an experiment that help propel STS forward.

After preparing stories in the usual small study groups, instead of one large group audience, Miller experimented by rotating storytellers within four medium-size new groups. The storytellers made their story presentation under the guidance of blossoming instructors. This one change proved to be instrumental to allow TGSP to train people more quickly in STS skills and to teach attendees the way to train others.

Throughout 2008, TGSP continued using a small group rotation system of preparation and presentation to teach STS. They, and the overseas instructing staff, moved to 5-day workshops. The refined workshop style accelerated comprehension in practitioners and caused an increasing number of people to become qualified instructors.

Due to the quick growth and fast replication, by mid-year TGSP could no longer keep track of how many STS workshops were being run. At least 300 were held.

In December of 2008, for a gathering of CEOs of story training organizations, Miller needed to compile information on STS and TCPT (a church planting training they had been running). Dorothy and the staff of TGSP were pleasantly shocked to discover that even using conservative estimates, in just over two years, at least 90,000 people had been trained to use STS skills in their ministries and STS training was being done in about 40 countries.

History of God's Story

In 1992 Norm McGary, a former lead illustrator for Disney and Hanna-Barbera Studios, drew 12 pictures to help him share the Gospel with his mother. He showed his work to his pastor, Chris Johnson. Pastor Johnson liked what he saw and took Norm to a movie producer who lived near Tom and Dorothy Miller, in Hemet, California.

The producer, Pat Matrisciana, told Norm they would need more pictures, but he’d see what could be done. Knowing Dorothy Miller was a writer, the producer asked her what she thought they could do with the pictures. Miller possessed writing expertise and twenty-five years experience in chronological Bible teaching.  Pat commissioned Dorothy to be the script writer and head of the project. Dorothy joined a team from Jeremiah Films to produce a full-length film which came to be God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity which is a storytelling overview of the Bible.

This 80-minute film covers Genesis to Revelation. God’s Story was released in 1996. The Lord provided the perfect narrator for the English version in the person of Dean Jones, renowned Disney actor who acted in Herbie – The Love Bug and many other movies. Dean was a dedicated Christian. Jones' multiple voice-characterizations set a splendid standard for the many narrators who would be recording God's Story in other languages.

Dorothy was used to writing books, so she wrote the script for one person to narrate the entire story, without thought to the significance of that decision.

Led by the Lord, this single-narrator format made it easier for people to remember and to repeat the stories in God’s Story to others. Having only one narrator has also allowed for easier translation and recording into new languages. Dorothy’s experience leading small group Bible studies helped her understand the importance of teaching chronologically through the Scriptures. She took these major stories: creation, fall, Cain and Abel, Noah, Tower of Babel, Abram and Sarai, Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, the Exodus, 10 commandments, the Prophets, Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and the time to come, and wove them together in this meta-narrative.

God continues to use this chronological layout of the Bible to powerfully impact Christians and non-Christians alike. As of 2021, God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity has been translated into more than 410 languages.