Two years ago, about 80 of us enjoyed several days of teaching from Leslie Leyland Fields. She taught at our Lake Hart headquarters from her newest book, Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing and Living the Truth of Your Life. (Navpress, 2020)

Since then, she has developed an online course, “Why Your Story Matters and How to Tell It.” Through the course, she has led thousands of people around the world in writing and discovering their remarkable stories.

** See the NOTES at the bottom of this post for special offers for Cru men and women. **

Leslie tells us more of where God has taken her ministry:

Why Your Story Matters

Why are our stories so important? In this post-truth age, Story has become our most powerful apologetic.

I’ve developed an online Your Story Matters course (https://www.leslieleylandfields.com/wysm) with thirty self-paced teaching videos that walk people through, on their own schedule, a writing process I have honed from 30 years of teaching writing. Good writing is not about words on the page: it’s about discovering the riches of your own story and passing it on. The videos are clear, brief, step-by-step and on-point. People love them.

The course also includes ongoing live weekly classes through the year, AND a private online community where everyone shares their stories and responses. There are 600 people in this community now–(and some non-believers as well who love the community and are so attracted to its sweet spirit. Which we know is the Holy Spirit!) It’s been phenomenal to see people grow in Christ, to see them discover their worth, and to see others loved and moved toward God through the stories and sharing.

There are some Cru people here as well. My vision is to train people in story-making so they can go out and lead Your Story Matters groups wherever people need to be loved, healed, and drawn into community.

If you work through the course and love it, and want to lead others, you would have free access to using the videos for teaching.

Two Cru staff in Moldova, Tanya Onyu and Svetlana Chicu, are in the Your Story Matters course. They now use the book and materials in their own ministry to women.

Tanya writes,

“Leslie’s course, Your Story Matters, is not merely a course in writing, but rather an invitation to a journey of discovering God’s story within your life. No matter what a person’s upbringing, age or social status is, everyone has a story to discover and tell. Dare and take (and teach!) Your Story Matters. You’ll be drawn more to God and God will draw more people to Him through it.”

Guest Post by Leslie Leyland Fields

Leslie Leyland Fields is an international teacher, speaker and the multi-award winning author of twelve books, including Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing and Living the Truth of Your Life and Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt and the Seas, which won Christianity Today’s 2017 Book Award in Christian Living.

With three graduate degrees (in English, Journalism, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction) she has taught extensively for more than 30 years, including six years as a founding faculty member of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA program. She also teaches writing classes online with thousands of students from around the world, instructing in the craft and art of spiritual memoir. Since 2013 she’s been leading The Harvester Island Writers’ Workshop on her family’s island in Alaska with guest writers Philip Yancey, Ann Voskamp, Bret Lott, Luci Shaw and many others. She also teaches internationally on storymaking and matters of faith.

• Leslie’s blog: Leslie Leyland Fields
• Check out her Harvester Island writers’ workshop in Alaska.
• Follow Leslie on Instagram.
• Leslie’s books on Amazon.

NOTES:

• Leslie is offering a discount to Cru staff for her online course, “Why Your Story Matters and How to Tell It.” On June 16th, I will be sharing that discount through MailChimp and Workplace. Please wait until June 17th to ask me questions about it, especially if you don’t see the discount announcements. I need uninterrupted time on the 16th to get all the announcements put together and published. Thank you. Contact me at sus.schmitt at Cru.
• See the photo album from the January 2020 writers’ conference that Leslie taught at Lake Hart.