Dear Friends:

Jesus told many parables. We are adapting 36 of them. We do not intend our collection to replace scripture, merely to pay homage to the Master storyteller by adapting the tales he shared while He was here on earth as a man.

Each DVD easily provides a youth group, small group or other ministry meeting with 5 weeks of content! Here are the keys to getting the most from the 36 Parables experience:

Pray - Ask God what He wants to reveal to your group through His stories.
Watch - Watch one of short films.
Read - Read the passages of scripture that relates to the parable you just watched in as many of the Gospels as it is found in.
Discuss - Discuss with your group whatever comes to mind in relation to the stories, the scripture passages, your hearts, and God's revelation to you. We have provided free bible studies for download that you can also use to aid the discussion.
Repeat - Repeat the process in the same meeting or the next week watching a different parable, then the Why Parables? Documentary, and finish up with the Behind the Scenes Documentary.

One of our dear friends from Hawaii shared how he uses 36 Parables DVDs:

What I really want to share with you is the prayer our facilitator had written out to use to begin our study tonight...

Dear Lord, we are here to learn to be people of the light by studying your parables. They make the abstract concrete. They bring great principles of Christianity home to us in ways we can visualize. The parables you told us about 20 centuries ago still live. Please, Lord, help us to apply their timeless inspiration to our daily lives. Amen.

Tonight my Small Group finished "Purple" by viewing "Sean." Since I was facilitating, I used all the resources available on the DVD. I did that especially so the others in the group could see all the goodies you have worked so hard to make available.

First we read the parable in the Scriptures. Then I showed the segment of "Why Parables" that specifically dealt with this parable of the barren fig tree. The group found this resource especially helpful in understanding the symbolism of what Jesus was talking about. And it also helped them to spot something in "Sean" that we probably wouldn't have seen without the documentary. Watching the documentary with its repeated shots of the fig tree and the close up of the leaves and little figs helped us to see Sean's artwork piece as an almost barren fig tree with one tiny little fig on it. It was fun for me that they were able to make that connection both visually and with the parable.

As a reward for the group's faithfulness, I concluded our study of Purple with the "making of" feature. Everyone really enjoyed watching that and picking out which parable the photos went with and remembering the memorable characters. Once again, the same group member that so appreciated the cinematography of Sean was struck by the excellent black and white photos in the montage at the end of the feature.
-Donn Anderson

Remember, at the end of story is the beginning of a relationship with the storyteller.


The Cinematographer,
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com