Last weekend I travelled for Bible Society to Mosgiel to attend Samstock 08.  Samstock is a Christian music festival run by University students and attracts anywhere between 400 and 800 young people each year.  It's kind of a mini Parachute.

We took 400 Bibles and gave away about 350.  I was intrigued by the reactions of some when asked if they wanted a free Bible.  Some were overwhelmed, some very underwhelmed.  Some took a free one for a friend, others said "No thanks, I've already got one". 

Whatever the reaction, it was clear that Samstockers held the Bible in high esteem, even if many of them didn't know much about the story. 

I ran a workshop which focussed on the grand story of the Bible.  I summarised it into 15 minutes, and included some interactive group work.  I believe that a lack of knowledge of the grand story is a really inhibiting factor when coming to the Bible.  Not much makes sense unless you know why and when a book in the Bible was written.

Blank faces greeted me when I asked the crowd about Abraham.  I didn't ask anything after that.  At the end of the summary, they broke into groups to create an expression of what they'd heard.  I was wearing a sweatshirt with the 50 word Bible on it.  I challenged them to come up with something similar, but to let their thoughts go wild.

Here was one group's work:

HE created
HE guided
HE came
HE ministered
HE saved
HE died
HE rose
HE transcended
HE lives
FOREVER

I like it.

More from Samstock soon.