Master Storycraft: Unlocking the Power of Storytelling and Hope with Mark Foster

Pastor and storyteller Mark Foster joins Hope Unlocked to show how story captures hearts and brings messages to life. He shares his journey as pastor, handyman, and homeschool dad, and the moment he brought stories back into preaching. We explore why “don’t rush to the moral” keeps people leaning in and how everyday moments can spark transformation and HOPE (agency!). Mark also shares about his new venture, Master Storycraft, equipping leaders to use storytelling that lingers and is truly unforgettable.

Mark's Contact Info:

Website - www.masterstorycraft.com

Email - mark@masterstorycraft.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/markfoster80

Sign Up for Storytelling Workshop on 9/25/25 --->HERE

🎙️Hope Unlocked Listener Exclusive! Feeling stirred but not sure what to do next? Book a 45-minute Holy Spirit-led 1:1 coaching session w/ Hope Unlocked host Kristin Kurtz, founder of New Wings Coaching. This powerful conversation will help you move from stirred to activated—with peace, clarity, & a Spirit-led next step. Book your call HERE now–special pricing to listeners!

Chapters

• 0:16 Welcome to Hope Unlocked Podcast
• 3:14 Mark's Journey into Ministry
• 4:49 Discovering the Power of Storytelling
• 10:35 Capturing Moments That Matter
• 19:01 The Impact of Authenticity in Stories
• 27:04 From Pastor to Handyman to Storyteller
• 34:46 Overcoming Business Mindset Challenges
• 43:54 Final Encouragement and Prayer
• 1:02:19 Upcoming Storytelling Workshop

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:16

Welcome to the Hope Unlocked Podcast. I'm your host, kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching. I help and empower wildhearted and adventurous women of faith feeling caged and stuck, unlock their true purpose and potential, break free from limitations and thrive with confidence, courage and hope. If you're curious to learn more about coaching with me, head to newwingscoachingnet and be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me. Welcome Mark Foster to the show. I am so excited to have him here today. We have just been talking a little bit before we got started and he is a mutual connection through a friend of ours named Jennifer, and I would love for you to just tell us a little bit about yourself before we get into your story.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Okay, yeah, kristen, thank you so much. This is always the worst part of every interview.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Just tell us a little bit about yourself. I know I do that on purpose. What?

Speaker 2: 1:23

do I say so, okay, real 20,000-foot view. I've been married to my wonderful wife for a specific number of years and if I could remember which one it was, I would tell you. But it's more than 20 and less than 30. And we have four wonderful children. Two of them are adults and we have two boys and two girls. The two girls are still at home with us. I've been a pastor for 21 years and I'm also a professional storyteller and been working on building that business out. I also run a handyman business, so I have a lot of irons in the fire and we're a homeschool family. So there's a lot of stuff. That's a lot of stuff going on. So that tells you. That should tell you that there's. There's one thing about me is like I'm not really good at saying no to things because I have all this, all this stuff, but we live in Maine.

Speaker 1: 2:25

I grew up in Maine and we live and we live in Maine and I love it. That's amazing. Well, I love you. Know, some of us are called to be like I would call myself like multi-passionate, would you say? That's what you would kind of lean into as well.

Speaker 2: 2:31

I would like to call myself that yes, cause the alternative is I'm just undisciplined. So multi-passionate sounds so much nicer.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Yeah, because I think, like you know, sometimes, at least for me, like in the business world, or just you know, in all the places that we end up sometimes, or just seeing things on social media or different avenues, are like, oh, you need to, like just do one thing. Yeah, have you heard that a lot?

Speaker 2: 2:56

I have, and I just get a knot in my stomach when people tell me I'm supposed to only do one thing. I'm like there's so many things in the world that I want to do. I can't choose just one.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Yes, well, you've got okay. So you have pastor, handyman, storyteller. How did you get led into, like, maybe the first one, or have you done all of these things?

Speaker 2: 3:19

Yeah, no, I've been a pastor full-time since I was 25, so I was really young. I didn't look to be a senior pastor at 25. It's just the door that God opened and we stepped through it. My dad was a pastor, so I grew up the second of seven boys. I'm the only one that went into full-time ministry. So my dad always said he hoped that he'd have a son that would follow his steps in the ministry, but he never pressured us to.

Speaker 2: 3:49

But I know that God called me to do that and so I started doing that. First I went to Bible college out of high school and then worked a couple of years as an associate pastor in San Antonio, and then the Lord opened the door in North Carolina. I was a pastor in San Antonio and then the Lord opened the door in North Carolina, so we pastored there for 11 years before moving here in 2016 to pastor here in our home state of Maine. So that's how I started with that, and it was after moving here in the last few years that these other business endeavors have surfaced.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Okay, well, the story, like the storytelling, I love. You know, like you, I love stories and I feel I love hearing people's stories. I love telling stories, but it's what like, have you always loved hearing people's stories? Like, are you like a great listener? I would love to hear kind of more of that, that area of what you're doing even now and how you led into that.

Speaker 2: 4:49

Yeah, so I'm from a family of storytellers. Like as a kid, we loved to sit and listen to my father tell stories of his childhood at family get togethers, especially on my dad's side, but also on my mom's. There was a lot of time taken to share the stories about our family's past in those individual moments. So I grew up loving to hear stories and then, as a pastor, I listened to a lot of people's stories. But I remember back in probably 2010,.

Speaker 2: 5:26

Around there I was preaching and I wasn't leaning into storytelling. I had fallen into the trap of just delivering the message right, rushing to the moral, just like I need to tell people these things. They don't need to hear stories, they need to hear the truth. You know, to tell people these things, they don't need to hear stories, they need to hear the truth, you know. And I noticed one week that people were just they weren't listening like they were falling asleep or they were zoning out, and it was like obvious that they weren't paying attention. And I went home really frustrated and I told my wife people, this is so important, but I can't get people to listen, no matter how hard I try. And she said well, have you tried maybe slowing down a little bit on all of the stuff and maybe tell a few stories about why it should matter to people, and I realized I totally forgot about this most important thing.

Speaker 2: 6:23

Then I had to figure out well, how do you do that in something as important as preaching and delivering a sermon? So some trial and error started leaning into that, started honing that craft, and I knew I had started to get where I wanted to be when people started telling me. I remember a story you told me a year ago, or I heard you speak five years ago and I don't remember everything you said, but you told this story about X, y or Z and I knew then, one, that I was starting to get the hang of it, and two, how powerful stories are. Because I grew up in a pastor's home, I heard thousands and thousands of sermons. I also went to a Christian school, so there was lectures and chapel services and I don't remember hardly anything I heard in those, but I remember stories. Like I can remember stories.

Speaker 2: 7:17

Stories stick in our minds in a way that I don't know, like data and bullet points just and started developing that skill set, and it's something that you know I've become even more and more passionate about the longer I do it.

Speaker 1: 7:36

So you, like I'm just kind of curious, when you were going through you know school to become a pastor, Like, is that an element that you were taught about storytelling?

Speaker 2: 7:47

No, absolutely not. In fact, maybe the opposite. You know, like people in fact. Okay, so they, I was taught. You know you're young, you're just starting out. When you're young in the pastorate, you know, stick close to the Bible because you don't have any stories, you don't have any experiences yet. Maybe when you get older you can start telling stories. So we were taught and trained and I don't know how widespread that idea is, but we were taught and trained. You know, don't try and tell any stories because you haven't done anything yet. I think there's an error, there's a lot of errors in that idea. But so I was doing what I had been taught to do and it wasn't working.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Right? Do you remember your first? Like you said, people gave you feedback on some of these stories. Do you remember one of the first stories that you told that was impactful?

Speaker 2: 9:17

I don't actually. No, I don't think I know. I don't think I know what that first one is. There are stories that I've told over the years, for example the story of my brothers. When my brother died, my second to the youngest brother, when he died tragically. I tell that story I've told and that one has stuck in a lot of people's minds. I have a story that's more of a humorous story about trying to put out a fire on an anthill that I started with gasoline and it's just one mistake and misstep after another in this huge black cloud of smoke and tying that in to the sermon that I was delivering and people said I don't remember what that sermon was completely about, but I remember that story. That might have been one of the first ones where I really tried to lean into a story and they came back and said I'll never forget that story, made me laugh, but I also I also remember what the point of it was.

Speaker 1: 10:23

And what was the point?

Speaker 2: 10:25

The point. On the point of that one, I'm really curious.

Speaker 1: 10:28

now, yeah, the point of that one. Tell us more.

Speaker 2: 10:31

Yeah, on a practical level is don't try to burn an anthill with gasoline. But secondly, just the. But secondly, just the. You know, when you start off with one bad decision, responding in fear and chaos, trying to undo that first bad decision can lead to greater and greater chaos, rather than just stopping for a second and thinking through what have I done and how should I be responding to this, but continuing to say I can fix this, but continuing to say I can fix this, I can fix this, I can fix this, and everything you try makes it worse. And so, and the you know just the potential damage that you need um when you don't know what to do.

Speaker 1: 11:28

That's so good. Like you need support, right.

Speaker 2: 11:30

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 11:31

I just did a video today talking about do you have the right support, and it's actually kind of a funny story, but I won't talk about it here today.

Speaker 2: 11:38

Oh, I like to hear it.

Speaker 1: 11:40

It's's actually, it's actually really funny, but I'll it's, it's.

Speaker 1: 11:47

It's maybe more like woman appropriate okay, fair enough um, anyways, so you, you're, you're learning about stories and do you like, did you just get the sense that like, did you have training to learn about stories? Did you feel like holy spirit was like, did you have training to learn about stories? Did you feel like Holy Spirit was like training you on how to do this? Because I know there's definitely out in the world there's different. I know even kingdom people who have these storytelling frameworks and you know what did that look like for you to step into this?

Speaker 2: 12:21

For me it looked like self-taught. I think I have a natural aptitude for telling stories, but that's not enough. In any area of life you can have a natural gift, but you can go so much farther if you work to hone it. Much farther if you work to hone it, and so, not knowing exactly where, I started looking for the people around me that I thought told good stories in the kind of way that I would want to tell them and started studying them. So an early influence for me is the comedian Ken Davis.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Ken Davis, I haven't heard of him. Davis, I haven't heard of him.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Who's a Christian author and speaker. Ruth's story just captured me and so I read his. He has a. I read that I started just watching as many watching or listening to as many videos and audio that I could from people who were really, really good storytellers and taking notes, and I recognize that there's a lot of different ways to tell stories, and so it was mostly just self-taught, a lot of reading, a lot of study and a lot of trial and error to see what makes a good story and how can I use my natural voice to tell stories in a way that make a difference to people.

Speaker 1: 13:49

Okay, and how long have you been coming alongside people to help them in this?

Speaker 2: 13:54

realm In this. This is relatively new. So just for a year that I've been working to do this in a professional capacity, I've helped people in an off-the-books capacity. For a while I would talk to other pastors or I would talk to other public speakers and work with them to hone their public presentation and how to deliver stories and encourage other people to tell their stories. Deliver stories and encourage other people to tell their stories. But about a year ago when I was challenged finally you're really good at telling stories, you should teach other people this I'm like dang it. Is there a market for that? I didn't even know that was a thing.

Speaker 2: 14:35

But if I could, I would love to do that. So I said, well, if this is something that I could could do on a, on a professional level, I would, I would love to do that.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Yeah, so what like? What does that look like? You know what? What does Mark do to come alongside somebody? And what is the name of your business?

Speaker 2: 14:56

A master story craft is. Master story craftcom is my, and it's a work in progress, but there's a lot of information there already. I also teach workshops. In fact, I have one coming up on the 25th of this month that I host. This is my level one storytelling workshop, where I introduce a framework that I use in my own storytelling. It's one that I came up with and created, and so I teach people how to find those stories.

Speaker 2: 15:25

So, if you got something you want to say but you don't know how, this is how you do that, and so it's a beginning workshop or a level one workshop, and then I'm in the process of crafting the follow-up workshops for telling stories in whatever medium you choose. There's a difference between telling a story from the stage or in front of a camera or in a text-based medium like Facebook, and so if there's a way that somebody really wants to tell stories but they don't want to type you know, I don't want to write my stories, I want to tell them Well, there's a little bit different way to do that, so let's talk about doing that. And then I'm also working to build relationships in business and in nonprofit space to help people who stand in front of people on a regular basis, whether on a stage or just in an office, just in a company office, and try to, you know, to deliver the daily, the daily talk. And here's how you can communicate these important things using the medium of storytelling.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Amazing. So you have, you definitely have a teaching gift right, I think so.

Speaker 2: 16:36

Yes, I believe so.

Speaker 1: 16:39

And you know, to be able to come alongside people, is it, would you say? It's a little bit of like coaching and consulting?

Speaker 2: 16:45

Yes, Um, yeah, so I didn't mention but like one-on-one, one-on-one, working with people in coaching and then also in consulting. Um, absolutely, because it's one thing to be told how to do it, but, like in some areas in my life right now, other than storytelling, I'm having to work with someone to help me learn. You can tell it to me, but now I need to go out and do it, and when I do it, I fall down and it's frustrating, and so I need someone there to say, okay, but you thought you were doing this, but really you were doing this, and storytelling is a lot like that.

Speaker 1: 17:17

Okay, yeah, I mean, would you say that I'm just going to ask you and I think I didn't answer this question, but I feel like there's a lot of things in our life that we weren't taught, like I said to somebody the other day like nobody taught me how to dress. Would you say that this is an area that you know people are? Maybe you're looking at people. I'm sure you're on social media and you're kind of looking at the landscape going, oh my gosh, like I could so help you.

Speaker 1: 17:48

Like so what are your thoughts on that? Like what? What would you say is the biggest? Um I don't want to call it a mistake, Cause a lot of times, people you don't know what you don't know Right Um, but what could be like the biggest like key that you could give somebody who's out there, you know, without giving away too much, if?

Speaker 2: 18:06

you want to, I'll give away. I'll give away.

Speaker 2: 18:08

I'll give away the farm okay, I think I think that one of the biggest hindrances to that I see online is everybody is I mentioned it earlier but everybody's rushing to the moral. And so one of the things that I say in my workshops and I've said online is, if you only gave me three minutes to talk, I would want to tell you a story, like if that's all I had time to do. I'd rather tell a story and not give any instruction, because I want my story to contain that instruction, but also because storytelling is that powerful, it's more likely that people are going to remember it. But everybody seems and everybody's a broad brush, but so many people are so worried about getting to the point that they brush past the story and I think people just scroll right on by.

Speaker 2: 19:03

It's like I'm getting preached at every time I get onto Facebook, like you know, here's what you're doing wrong, here's what I'm doing right, here's what everybody else is doing wrong. It's like somebody just tell me a story and I'll stop and listen. So I think that's one of the biggest hindrances and mistakes maybe through lack of knowledge is how important it is that you tell a good story. So I tell people, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to help you learn how to tell better stories and how to tell the ones you are telling better, and because that's going to be really helpful for you.

Speaker 1: 19:38

And you found this to be, you know. So, like for myself, like I'm a coach and I I feel like I'm telling a story, but I'm sure that I'm I could do better at telling stories, like my, my video I did today. It was a. It was a funny story, but, um, you know, just maybe give us an example of somebody you've worked with um and how you've helped them go from you know, kind of like what were they doing before and now what are they doing with their, whether it's their social media or their stage presence, or would you be willing to share something?

Speaker 2: 20:08

Sure yeah absolutely.

Speaker 2: 20:11

So well, so let me I'll. I don't know if this will fit the bill, but in one of my, in my last workshop, we had a doctor, a full-time doctor on the workshop and they said I don't I want to use storytelling, but they were afraid because in the medical field, everybody's angry at doctors because you had a, you arrived at your appointment, you sat in the room for 45 minutes and you're late and the doctor comes in and they there for 15 minutes and then they leave and then they didn't do this and they didn't do that. And then you get the bill and everybody's angry. And she said I feel like it's hard because people can't see me as a person. And so, on the workshop, I said well, tell me a story about something that you would want to share on social media about you as a person.

Speaker 2: 21:03

And she thought for a minute and she told us this wonderful story about a exercise that she and some other doctors were brought into. It was a painting exercise and how, as a perfectionist, she began to paint and they were like just paint what you want to paint, don't worry about it being perfect. And she said and I was being so judgmental and I hated what I did, but I painted it. And then they said now let's step away from it, walk away from your painting and come over here for a little while and then we're going to and then go back and look at your painting again. And she said, when I went back and looked at my painting after stepping away from it, I could still see some of the errors that I wanted to fix, but I felt like I did that. That's something that I did.

Speaker 2: 21:48

And she said it's really hard for me not to be hard on myself. And she's telling this story. And one of the other guys in the workshop said well, I'll tell you what. I'm one of those people that's always hard on my doctors, what I'm the one of those people that's always hard on my doctors.

Speaker 2: 22:03

But listening to you tell that story made me think I should be nicer to my doctor, because they're a real person with struggles too. They come into the room with their white coat and their stethoscope and their clipboard and they're like I know everything, but they're just a person behind that, with doubts and fears and struggles. And I think she saw in that moment how powerful it was to tell a story from her personal life in a way that, even if it didn't help her, could help other doctors be seen as more human and real. So I think that's. I love it when that kind of thing happens, when people realize your personal stories do matter and they can help matter and they can. They can help you and they can help many other people by hearing them.

Speaker 1: 22:46

Yes, and it's got me like curious, cause that's, you know, I'm very curious. Um, I love that you know this doctor was able to. You know, even me I'm like, oh, you know, like I'm like leaning in, like what, what is she going to? Like, what's going's gonna happen here? Um, yeah, and you know I'm I'm always very curious about stories and I'm sure some people maybe aren't as curious. But what would you say about? I don't know, we're all everybody's walking through something, right, yeah, and what would you say to somebody, like even like myself? I said the other day, um, to somebody, you know I'm walking through something. You know like we're always walking through something, but I'm kind of in the middle, like kind of that messy middle in one area of my life, and you don't want to necessarily like, at least for me, I don't feel like I want to tell the story until maybe the story is like kind of more complete, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2: 23:39

It does.

Speaker 1: 23:40

So how do you, how do you navigate that?

Speaker 2: 23:44

Does that?

Speaker 1: 23:45

how does one navigate those types of things?

Speaker 2: 23:48

So storytelling and the word story is is is really. It has become a buzzword and it means a lot of different things to people. It was like own your story or are you in the right story, and that has a place, but it really muddies the water. When I'm talking about stories, I'm talking about actual stories and a good story. The difference between an anecdote and a story is a story has a moment of illumination or transformation.

Speaker 2: 24:17

So, If you're in the middle of something. That's not a story that you can tell yet, but there might be a moment within that messy middle that would make a good story. A good story is made of a single moment, a moment when you realized something. I walked out of Walmart recently and could not find my Jeep anywhere. No-transcript button, and I'm pressing the panic button and holding it above my head and it's not going off. Then I remembered that someone said if you hold those things in your mouth, your body becomes an amplifier and reach it from farther away. So I'm walking up and down the row with the, with the remote control in my mouth, pressing the panic button, and still no Jeep, like I can't. Now I'm starting to think no, I'm not wrong, somebody did stole my Jeep. And then I said God, I waited my whole life for this Jeep and now somebody stole it. Like, where is my Jeep? You know where my Jeep is? You know, tell me.

Speaker 2: 25:34

Right now, as I'm having this conversation with God and I'm really worked up and I'm, everything is going wrong because my Jeep is gone I walked past an orange colored RAV4 and I thought to myself you know, I have one that looks just like that and I kept on walking and then I thought, wait a second, I have one exactly like that.

Speaker 2: 25:58

And I realized I didn't drive my Jeep to Walmart, I drove my RAV. I hadn't forgotten where I parked my Jeep, I had forgotten what vehicle I even drove to Walmart. That's classic. And I realized that sometimes again, I can get worked up over the dumbest things and God is patient with knuckleheads. And when I prayed to him, lord show me where my Jeep was. He couldn't, but he could show me where my RAV was. And that's. I love that relationship with God where he's so patient and he knows that we don't know the things that we think we do. We're so certain and sometimes we're wrong and that's a silly story, but everybody's done something like that I love it and it's a single moment in a relatively ordinary day.

Speaker 2: 26:49

That can be and I don't even have to change it by saying and here's the 10 things I learned from this like just a simple statement at the end, and the next time somebody can't find their car, then maybe they'll remember that. So what I'm saying is think smaller when you're thinking about the stories and say well, I don't have anything important enough to tell. Every day things are happening to you. That would make great stories.

Speaker 1: 27:20

Every day, yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:20

The question is are you paying attention to those moments of illumination or inspiration, lean into those and say there's something here that would make a great story?

Speaker 1: 27:34

Yes, I mean, this is so like just even the timing of this, because it's really been highlighted for me to share more stories. I think sometimes and and I, I don't know, maybe we all do this it's like, oh, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about. Or it's like I don't know how do I even organize this or how do I write this and yes what I've just been doing.

Speaker 1: 27:55

a lot lately I've I've actually challenged myself in september to, um, I would say monday through friday is is my goal to go out and do like a less than three minute video and most of it.

Speaker 1: 28:07

You know I tried to. I created like a Google doc of like oh, share this on this day. And oh, my goodness, that's. I don't even go there. It's like oh my gosh, I have a new story to tell. Um, so are you kind of? I know I've heard people. I'm trying to remember the terminology. It's like um, work, reverse, reverse. Something like like reverse engineering thank you. Yes, are you kind of thinking about that? Like are, even when you were having that jeep moment, were?

Speaker 1: 28:38

you thinking like oh my gosh, I need to share this.

Speaker 2: 28:42

I was then because I'm in the mode of looking for story moments in my life, and I got that idea from Matthew Dix. He wrote the book Storyworthy and he really encouraged people like if you're not keeping a record of those moments, those story moments, then you'll forget them. And so for a long time now I've been keeping a list when a thing happens. And here's so, if something happens in my life and immediately it's like everything goes on pause and this one moment becomes important in an otherwise ordinary day. I've learned to say there's a reason that that is sticking out to me, that person's response, that person's interaction with me that knocked me off script for a reason. And there's something really important here, and it's not always things when I do it right, sometimes it's when I do something wrong, and those can sometimes be more powerful to share.

Speaker 2: 29:52

So that's another thing that I think sometimes we're doing incorrectly or less than optimally on social media is everybody wants to be the expert that I have this figured out and you can definitely overshare. And then there's the term trauma dumping, and there's no redemption in it. It's just all bad. But when you go through something where you learn a lesson, that is powerful and important. Even though it's small, those can be incredibly personalizing stories and other people can say, oh, finally somebody else that understands what it feels like to do that. So sharing those can be incredibly powerful as well. But then, once you're looking for them, you can keep keep a list, and I have a list of story moments that I haven't crafted into actual stories yet, but I I recorded the moment so that I could go back to it, because once you have the moment, you still need to know how to craft it into a, into a good story um, so are you naturally a writer, would you say.

Speaker 1: 31:06

Or are you having to really partner with God, kind of like Holy Ghost writer, to come up with something? Are you literally typing? Are you verbalizing it to get it out?

Speaker 2: 31:15

Yeah, I love to write. I don't know if I'm good at it, but I love to write, and I heard something years ago that thoughts become disentangled when they pass over the lips and across pencil tips. And so in the process of verbalizing or in the process of writing, I find a lot of clarity that comes out, and then I'm able to put it all out there and then go back and refine it before clicking publish or send.

Speaker 1: 31:46

And would you say that you prefer to share your story written or verbally or video, like what is your?

Speaker 2: 31:54

favorite. Oh, that's so hard. I love all of it, but I love more than anything else having a discussion with people, whether that's one-on-one or standing from a stage and interacting with a live audience. Storytelling if you can get past the nerves, storytelling in person is so incredibly rewarding because you can see in real time how what you're saying is landing with the people that you're talking to. And writing it is good. In fact, it might in some ways be better, but it's a delayed gratification. I found you have to wait. Is anybody going to read this? Is it going to hit? Are they going to resonate with it?

Speaker 1: 32:39

So I love, I love what you're sharing on social media too, like in the written aspects when you're sharing stories.

Speaker 2: 32:46

I'd like to think so. I certainly hear a lot that they do. I'm still trying to find I mean, none of us are experts in the sense of having everything right and so I'm still learning on this journey as well. And when it comes to social media, I'm still struggling with how people want to read, and you know, because people are like. You know, jennifer talks about this, our friend Jennifer's you know too much white space, not enough white space, or too many words, and I'm like well, I mean there are some stories that you can't say in just a few words, and yet one of the most powerful stories that I've ever heard was um was four words, and I can't remember.

Speaker 1: 33:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:40

The. I think it was Emerson who was talking to people about writing and telling them how important it was. I may be getting that attribution wrong, but he said I think it was five words or maybe six. Anyway, infant shoes for sale, never worn.

Speaker 2: 34:00

Wow shoes for sale, never worn and when you just sit with those words, infant shoes for sale, never worn, there's, I mean all kinds of things flood into your mind Emotions, questions, sadness, depending upon your background. And that's the power of a good story is it, is it engages the imagination and emotion of the audience, um, with their own personal, with their own personal story. That's how you know you've told a story. Well, I think. When is when people respond with one of their own?

Speaker 1: 34:42

yes, yes.

Speaker 2: 34:43

It's like that resonant.

Speaker 1: 34:44

Somebody would come up to you maybe after a second engagement and be like oh my gosh, your story connects to my story.

Speaker 2: 34:50

Okay, I see, yeah, and that used to irritate me at first. Right, because I would tell a story either online or in person, and people would come up and say let me tell you one of mine. I'd be like this isn't about you, this is about me. I'm the storyteller, I'm the speaker, because I didn't realize that what they were doing was resonating. They were saying I saw myself in your story and that's powerful, that's storytelling gold when you get that kind of response.

Speaker 1: 35:16

Wow. So do you think that's a big part of where we're missing it? Because, again, I do feel like there there's been just even over the years. You know, I've been in business for doing one thing or the other for gosh 13 years and it seems like you could reach people without telling a story to, like you know, connect with them a little easier to to get to the DM is what they would say Like you know to connect maybe somebody you don't know what I'm.

Speaker 1: 35:48

what I'm noticing is that when I've heard people say like, let's just say, for example, like I'm, you know you or I were starting, we're going to have a workshop or we're going to do something coming up in a month and it's like it. It might take and I don't know what the statistics are, so I might be wrong with this, but it might take somebody like 30 times for them to see the same post, the same newsletter, to like have them take a step, and I'm like that's ridiculous.

Speaker 2: 36:17

Right.

Speaker 1: 36:18

What do you think that's?

Speaker 2: 36:19

a lot. It is, and I do think what you're hitting on is accurate. It's just because we are information heavy. Just so much information. One of my favorite illustrations of this. You know the children of this world are wiser sometimes than the children of light. But last year's Super Bowl I'm not a sports guy but I watch the advertisements because those are the best part. Last year's Super Bowl the average cost investment that companies made for the privilege of delivering an ad was $7 million For one ad.

Speaker 2: 36:56

For one ad, for one 30-second ad, and when you watch those ads? People watch those ads every year for one reason because they are micro stories. So companies spend $7 million and they don't even talk about their product overtly, they just tell you a story. For example, this last year they've got Jason Momoa dancing.

Speaker 2: 37:21

T-mobile has Jason Momoa doing this auto-tune, auto-correct dance out there and they don't even talk about how awesome their cell phone service is. But they told this silly story about two guys dancing and throwing a party. And you get the idea oh, t-mobile and their internet speeds make that a party without interruption. Then they had two grandmas chasing this guy who took the last bag of the favorite Dorito chips, and two grandma hit men. It was just a fun story. Or you get a vehicle like a Ford, or Chevy will put this tear-jerking story about grandma and Alzheimer's and Christmas dinner and Chevy, and they won't say our cars have more power than everybody else's. They're just like let me tell you a story. And then I want you to remember that emotion when you think about buying a car. And so if companies will spend $7 million to tell you a story, we should be paying attention to how powerful that is.

Speaker 1: 38:28

Yes, you've got my brain like spinning right now. I'm sure there's other. You know a lot of the women and definitely some men who listen in. I believe that they're, you know, entrepreneurs and ministry, so I definitely feel like you carry. I love to talk about keys and unlocking and ways that people can, can, truly, you know, I like to say cut through the noise because it is so noisy on social media and sometimes I literally I like to call it like stop, drop and roll and roll out.

Speaker 1: 39:02

Like stop, like drop something to encourage, and then I dip out. But yeah, I do feel like there's a different way. There's a shift happening.

Speaker 2: 39:13

And.

Speaker 1: 39:13

I do really feel like you're on the cusp of something really beautiful here, especially doing it, you know, from a pastoring teacher perspective like kingdom right.

Speaker 2: 39:31

Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think there's a lot of work to do, even in the church. Just last Sunday I came home and opened up social media and I saw a prominent figure who said we need more Bible and less stories in the pulpit. And I know what they're saying, but like three quarters of the Bible is a story, so there's more story than didactic teaching in that book, and so I know what he means, but I think he's wrong. We need good stories. We don't need just rambling and disconnected and unintentional stories, but we need good stories in the pulpit that can help drive a truth into our hearts.

Speaker 1: 40:09

Yeah, especially like with you know we're seeing a lot of people being led back to church.

Speaker 2: 40:16

And.

Speaker 1: 40:16

I love. I mean, like you and I, we love stories. The movies I watch are usually about underdogs, overcomers, seeing people go from like wow, that that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 40:29

Like you're there to hear, um, you know, and I know that like I love hearing the transformation stories which kind of ties into you know, I've heard kind of through the grapevine maybe in the marketing world to you know, really talk about the, the solution that you offer, like the problem you solve, like how would you tie that in with a story, like as an example? So, based on what you do, I'm having you like go off the cuff, or maybe if you've ever put something out there before, how would you, how would you share that?

Speaker 2: 41:06

how?

Speaker 1: 41:07

so how would I share, yeah how would you share kind of your solution to like somebody's problem out there um in story?

Speaker 2: 41:17

I. I guess it would depend upon which, upon which problem that I'm trying to address yeah, um.

Speaker 1: 41:27

So let's say, somebody is really challenged in marketing and social media. They're like I just don't even know what to post. And here comes mark. He's like I can help you with stories. Yeah, so okay. So okay, you share, like, um, how you could help somebody through a story? I guess maybe that's a better way to ask.

Speaker 2: 41:48

Okay, I would. Well, I would probably retell or in one case, I would tell that story about the doctor, um, and how she she really wanted her marketing was. I want doctors to be seen as more human. I want people to know that we're human too, and figured out that telling her personal stories were the better way to do that rather than just getting onto social media and saying doctors are people too. But now you're rushing to the moral. So I would tell a story like that and say here's how one person in their context delivered their message through their own personal stories.

Speaker 2: 42:33

I talk about hope and growth a lot and I would rather share a story and I have a lot of them that I could share a quick story to say, hey, I'm growing and I'm changing, but here's a story how, just the other day, I failed at this again, and that's okay because here's what I learned. So I would encourage them. I don't care what the business model is if it's marketing. It's like I don't know how to. I want to sell things to people. How is storytelling going to do that? Well, the age-old people buy things from those they know, like and trust, which might be true. I have my doubts always have my doubts, always. Well, for example, if I'm going to go to a doctor, I'd rather go to a doctor that doesn't know me than one that's known me since I was two, because I'm just a private person, so a perfect stranger works for me in that case. But if that's true, what's the quickest path to earning something that feels like, like and trust or know? The quickest path to doing that is to open your life and tell a purposeful story that says I'm a real person too, and then this is what I do. Here's a story about me. And then someone says I'm looking for a real estate.

Speaker 2: 44:02

I just did a storytelling talk with real estate agency of the day and I said there's, they're everywhere. But if I'm looking to buy a house and I was just on social media and I saw a realtor share a story about a challenge or a way that they came through for their client the other day and just told the story and just left it there Like that's the real estate agent I want. My Jeep right now is having an engine replaced in it, which I'm not thrilled with, but it needed to be done, and I chose a mechanic who in our town, who just shared a story a few weeks ago about that illustrated how he goes to bat for his customers to get them the best price and get them back in their vehicle, and I was like I need a mechanic that I feel gets the problem. And that guy gets it. And so he's working on my Jeep right now because of a story.

Speaker 2: 44:50

I don't know if he's the best mechanic in the world, but that story was powerful and like again, you have 1,001 voices in the world that are coming at you. Who will you remember? How will you be remembered?

Speaker 1: 45:09

It's going to be through storytelling. I'm just really excited for you. I'm excited for the work that the Lord's called you into, and I do have to ask about the handyman work too. Tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2: 45:20

Sure, yeah. So the handyman work was a way for me. So I grew up in a pastor's home, so we grew up pretty poor In our denomination. Anyway, you know, virtue and poverty go hand in hand, and in the 21 years that I've been a pastor, we've struggled financially a lot and we had some broken minds yeah, that's around the area of money and so the handyman was a way that I could immediately take some of the skills that I had and begin to not only get out and meet people in the community but provide, uh, and make ends meet for my family. Um, so it gave me that. It gave me that. That. It gave me that. It gave me hope, because one of one of the definitions of hope that I like the most is that hope is tied to an individual's perception of their ability to act in a way that can alter their present or future in a meaningful way. It's agency. In other words, Hope is tied to a sense of agency that's not taking away from our.

Speaker 1: 46:30

I feel like somebody needs to hear that being that we're locked here.

Speaker 2: 46:33

Yeah, hope is tied to our sense of agency, that it's not taking away from our hope in God, but that God gave us abilities to do things, and so I can't do everything and anything that I want to do, but there's always something I can do, and if I do the one thing that I can do, no matter how small, it's amazing how hope is the inevitable byproduct of that.

Speaker 2: 47:00

I did something out and replacing a window or fixing a toilet, and I came home with money in my pocket. I pray for God to meet our needs all the time, but God gave me this gift too and he says you can use that gift to go and do, and that's just as much God providing, I believe, because I'm using the gifts that he gave me and I didn't feel stuck anymore, like, look, there's something I can do, and what I can't do I leave to him, and so, yeah, so hope is tied to that sense of agency. So for me, the handyman business was a way of stirring up hope in my own heart and life that I could do something.

Speaker 1: 47:51

And what's the name of your handyman business?

Speaker 2: 47:53

Stateline Small Jobs.

Speaker 1: 47:56

That's amazing. You know, I was even thinking about the other day. I happen to have a husband who's a handyman slash. Well, he does.

Speaker 1: 48:04

He doesn't have as a business, but he does help people all the time, and I was thinking about it the other day, just how blessed I am to have somebody who can literally fix our cars, who can absolutely house toilets. I mean, I don't know that we've really hired many people at our house before, but you know, I got to thinking of, like what do people who don't have that do? Do they have a handyman like that they have to call all the time? Have you found that?

Speaker 2: 48:33

I'm just curious I was literally thinking about this the other day fill the niche and that gap in the market, because I kept hearing people say nobody will call me back. The big contractors, they only want the big jobs. And I just need some doorknobs replaced or a window fixed or a sink faucet replaced, and I don't know how to do that myself, and they couldn't get anybody to do it because there wasn't enough money in it for them. And so I wanted to step into that, and I've just found I'm building a growing list of aging clientele who are just happy to have someone that will pick up the phone and come and help them with their thing and doesn't charge them an arm and a leg. I don't do it for free, but they don't want me to do it for free. They're just happy to have me there, and sometimes I get cookies too.

Speaker 2: 49:34

Aw, I'm just imagining that you bring more than just a handyman you bring stories there too, yes, yeah, and a little passion maybe too, yeah, well, so many of the Maybe some stories that come out of there.

Speaker 2: 49:47

Absolutely, and a lot of the elderly folks grew up in a time where storytelling was part of what society did. We've lost it, but it's not something we've never done before. But we don't tell stories as a society like we used to. But they remember that and, man alive, when we start talking and I share a story, then they'll share a story and those stories lead to referrals because they'll call their friend and say you've got to hire my handyman. He told me the greatest story and so they love that. And yeah, so it all intersects.

Speaker 1: 50:24

Yes, and I'm thinking okay, jesus was a carpenter, he was a teacher, storyteller.

Speaker 2: 50:31

He didn't do, just one thing did he.

Speaker 1: 50:33

He didn't and you kind of encapsulate a lot of what he did. So you know, we get to do the very things that he's called us to do, and we have so many gifts inside of us, I think so many people. Just there's so many untapped things in us right, Absolutely, and I'm sure you have a lot of joy in these times, most days I do right, most days I do yes, so what has been the most challenging thing you know?

Speaker 1: 51:01

you're doing kind of across of what I would say you know most it's business tree in business and ministry. What's been the most challenging aspect, maybe I would say in the last year, that you've encountered?

Speaker 2: 51:15

The biggest challenge has been transitioning to a business mindset. Not that it's opposite ministry, but in a lot of ways there's some broken thinking in the ministry mindset. But finding a way to lean into a business and help people who have only ever known me as Pastor Mark, to see that I'm in business, I'm building a business, and then to get past those hurdles in my own mind when it comes to pricing and offers. And I want to, I want to help people and sometimes you think the only way you can help people is to give everything away, and so that's that's been. One of the biggest hurdles is to say this is a business. Business helps people, but it's okay. It's okay to charge for what you do as well.

Speaker 1: 52:08

Yeah, that's really good. I'm guessing that that is blessing somebody today.

Speaker 2: 52:13

I hope so.

Speaker 1: 52:14

For sure, Because I think one of the things that I haven't heard it a lot personally in my own business, but I've heard it from others that there can be this expectation know shouldn't be charging a certain amount. We shouldn't be doing this or we shouldn't be doing that. And you know, I get my pricing, I ask the Lord and I get a pretty clear confirmation on what I have to charge and I just say, like, take it up with him. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 52:47

Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1: 52:48

I can write that down. You can ask my boss, ask my like, take it up with him. I don't know. Yeah, there you go, write that down.

Speaker 2: 52:52

Take it up with my boss. I like that.

Speaker 1: 52:55

I do like that. I'm. I'm the chief encouragement officer and he's my CEO.

Speaker 2: 53:00

I don't know, there you go. I like that a lot.

Speaker 1: 53:03

Yeah, well, what else? Um, is he having you like stretch into this here? It's one of my favorite questions to ask, Like, is there something that you're being stretched into? Maybe you can't share it yet, but if there is, yeah, no, I don't mind sharing it.

Speaker 2: 53:16

Probably the biggest area that I'm being stretched into relates to business and it's the issue of sales, and I've been working with a coach to get better at that and man, it's been so hard.

Speaker 2: 53:31

And in fact I just realized the other day because she said, mark, I think you've been doing the things you're good at all your life and every time something's hard you back away from it and I was like that's not true. But then I thought I think that's true. And every time I'm trying to learn how to make a connection or speak to somebody on LinkedIn or somewhere, or have a sales conversation, I undermine it in some way or I get nervous like sweaty palms and everything. And so I'm really being stretched this year on learning how to have the confidence in what God has given me to do and to bring that out and not to let that fear stop me. And it has been. That might not be hard for some people, but it is still brutal for me. It is still brutal for me and I know that the Lord is stretching me in that area and he's using some people to do that. So I'm grateful for what will happen after I'm done being stretched.

Speaker 1: 54:44

Yes, that's so good, and I appreciate your vulnerability too, because it's not my favorite thing either. I'm just like the Lord gave me a word after I left my corporate job, and it was something that I had been reminded of. If you remember, field of Dreams, I love it yes, yeah. He's like if we build it, they will come. So I'm like all right, I'll just put my lemonade stand up, and they're just you know, it's not it's not it's no.

Speaker 2: 55:17

No, because everybody and their mother has a lemonade stand exactly, and it's like well what?

Speaker 1: 55:22

what sets my lemonade stand apart, our lemonade? Let's tell stories that's exactly right, and so people get a lemonade stand with stories.

Speaker 2: 55:30

Yes, well, I should start a lemonade stand and say have a drink and I'll tell you a story, or tell me one. I think that some of the stretch for me there has been the issue of thinking about scarcity versus abundance, living with the idea like, if there's not enough to go around and being really challenged to say God is, he's not. He doesn't have a scarcity mindset, he gives abundantly. Like I love how in the story of the fish and the loaves, he doesn't just do five, he doesn't just feed the people there, he makes more than anybody can eat and says here, take a doggy bag home with you. I know Like he's an abundant and extravagant God.

Speaker 2: 56:11

And somewhere I got the idea that there's this limited amount of resources and blessing. Or even if God blesses me, he won't be able to bless them. Or the jealousy of when I see someone else being blessed. I'm like, oh, now they got blessed. I guess I can't be, and so that's all part of it for me is having to grow in that, and you'd think after 21 years of pastoring I'd be better at that, but I'm not. I'm still growing.

Speaker 1: 56:39

I feel like it's all such a process.

Speaker 2: 56:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 56:42

You know truly there's I don't know about you, but there's areas that you know need more strength training for sure.

Speaker 2: 56:49

Without a doubt. Without a doubt.

Speaker 1: 56:51

For sure, like I, I kind of call it the resistance training and even weight training, wait training there's an element of having to wait because we are in a, in a world that thinks that, um, our business should, you know, maybe grow in a day and right, exactly, and it would be great, yes, be great, yes, um, but yeah, there is such an impact that you have here that you carry and I'm just thrilled to you know just even get to hear your story today and be able to share with others.

Speaker 1: 57:20

So, um, I would love for you to share with us, um, before we close, would you be just willing if you could think of this one person who's listening in today because I do this for the one as I shared with you one times one in the world is one and one times one in the kingdom is exponential, so we're focusing on this one today. If you have any words of encouragement, additional wisdom that you'd want to share over this one, and then would you pray us out today?

Speaker 2: 57:47

Yeah, absolutely it's. I remember listening to a podcast several years ago between just two men that were talking.

Speaker 2: 58:05

One of them happened to be a pastor and it was like he was reading my mail everything he said was like me and my heart was racing and I felt a surge of hope because I felt like, hey, that's me. If he can do that, then maybe there's a chance for me. And my hope for that one is that someone is listening today who, in some story that I told or some part of my story, they felt and they're feeling right now, like that's me. The details might be different, but that's exactly where I am and I want you to know that. For me, what that looked like was reaching out to someone and saying, hey, could we talk about this? And one step doing that first thing that I could do couldn't solve everything, but it took that first step.

Speaker 2: 59:09

Hope is tied to agency. There's something I could do and there's something you can do. Couldn't solve everything, but it took that first step. Hope is tied to agency. There's something I could do and there's something you can do. So if you're listening to this episode and it feels like you're reading my mail, you're telling my story and you've been waiting. You've been sitting in the background thinking that you were stuck and had no options and that this was going to be where you were for the rest of your life, I can't tell you what God would like to do through you, but I know that he would love to do something in your life. He may just be waiting for you to send that email, make that phone call or even just make a decision. I'm going to take that first step. If I just knew what it was, I would take it Because that will be the beginning of a radical change that can happen in your life. It did for me and I know it can for you, so for whoever that one is that needs to hear that today.

Speaker 2: 1:00:08

Let me close this out in prayer then.

Speaker 1: 1:00:10

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:00:15

Abba, I love you. You're so good. I've really enjoyed the conversation that I've been able to have with Kristen, and I know that there are people who are listening. They're not listening at the moment that I'm speaking these words into this microphone, but it will feel like that to them and you already know who needs to hear it and I believe you're going to be working to ensure that when this episode is dropped, that that person is listening, and maybe it'll be more than one.

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

You can take five loaves and two fish and feed a multitude, so you can take a 60-minute conversation and magnify it and multiply it to help as many people as have a need. That's what you do, and I just pray that you would encourage the one today who needs that encouragement, that one with just a spark of hope inside of them, that you would fan that into a flame and, lord, that they would lean into you and lean into what they can do. We're all growing. None of us are where we want to be or even ought to be, but help us, as we grow, to follow you, to keep our eyes on you, to recognize the stories that we have that are worth telling and to see that life is made up of those stories, and ours are important too. So we love you and I pray a blessing over those who are listening, and we thank you for it in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1: 1:01:43

Amen, amen. Thank you so much, mark. You've been such a blessing.

Speaker 2: 1:01:48

Oh, this is so much fun, I just want to make sure that we capture again.

Speaker 1: 1:01:51

How can listeners get in touch with you? Where can they find you? And then could you just tell us a little bit more about this workshop coming up? Sure.

Speaker 2: 1:02:00

So you can find me on Facebook, which is where I'm most active. You can find my Facebook profile, mark Foster, and you can do it. Facebookcom forward slash Mark Foster, eight zero. That's a horribly branded one, but at least my name's in it. So Mark Foster, eight zero. And then you can also email me, mark, at master story craftcom, which you know is also my website, so they can. They can contact me either of those ways.

Speaker 2: 1:02:27

The storytelling workshop is on September the 25th. It's at 12 pm Eastern time and there are still slots available for that and it'll be a 90-minute workshop where I'll teach what I call the vowel framework. It's just a framework for how to find, craft and deliver your stories and it's intended for absolute beginners. Or maybe you've been trying to tell stories but you want to try to hone that a little bit. You're welcome to come in for that. It's not a free workshop. There is a cost to it, but you can find all those details and I don't mind saying it's a $50 workshop for 90 minutes. You'll get the. You'll get the recording afterwards as well, and you can find that on the events um the events page on my Facebook profile. But I would love to have as many people as possible join me, and if you, and if they, and so we'll, this will already be done.

Speaker 1: 1:03:18

Obviously, I don't know if it'll be done already, but it will and if and beforehand okay, and uh, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:03:35

So and then, once that one's done, we'll be doing others so and then. So you can let me know if there's any way that I can help you out when it comes to honing the craft of storytelling Awesome, well, thank you so much for being a brave voice who's setting many free. I'm going to close with the Hope Unlocked anchoring verse. It's may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope, and that's Romans 15, 13. So thank you again, mark. I will be back with another episode next week. Have a great day, listeners. Thank you.