Saturday, February 15/25 (Part 1) – 8am (pacific)
Wells, Vows, Worship
A workshop that explores the eastern pattern of meeting prospective life partners by water wells, understanding the motif of these stories, and learning the story of the Samaritan Woman from the Gospel of John as our performance piece.
Sunday, Feb 22/25 (Part 2) – 8am (pacific)
Growing Skills, Growing Faith
In this second part of the workshop, we will continue our exploration of themes and patterns, and further our ability to embody the story.
Leadership: Sandhya Ruban Hobday
Master Biblical Storyteller
India’s first certified biblical storyteller from the NBSI Academy for Biblical Storytelling, passionate storyteller, preacher, mother of two girls, founder of the Network of Biblical Storytellers India and the NBS Asia.
About herself, Sandhya says:
I live in a bustling city on the southeast coast of India, along the Bay of Bengal, called Chennai (erstwhile Madras). I have a professional degree in dentistry. I also have Master’s certification from the Academy for Biblical Storytelling under Dean Tracy Radosevic. Now that I have completed three levels of biblical Hebrew, I am pursuing my D.Min. in finding feminine narratives in the Bible.
After my oldest daughter Samara was born, I decided that a full-time professional career as a dentist, handling a church, and a child, were just not meant to be, so I closed an active 14-year-old practice. I was convinced that I had to have an alternative career, and teaching and training were the next best options, as I had a gift for it. I started telling stories, received formal training as a storyteller and went on to perform both nationally and internationally.
It was then I started searching for biblical storytelling as I felt there was such great need in my country to hear the stories of the God of Mercy. Proselytizing was becoming a challenge. Literacy levels, especially among women in rural villages were really low, and for them to relate to a printed book was almost impossible. We have 28 languages in our country, and I realized we had the challenges of translation, and of learning stories in regional and national languages. My vision is for India to know what biblical telling is about.
I started learning to tell in five languages and I see a spark in the congregation’s eyes when I am telling a story. They begin relating with the characters in the Bible and in an instant so much happens. I am a firm believer in the verse that says, “Every word that goes out of his mouth, will not return void, but bear fruit, 30, 60 and a 100-fold” and this is why my passions run high with biblical storytelling.
Injustice to the marginalized and inequality in the social fabric of my country deeply saddens me. I know we serve a righteous God, and one day, He is sure to equalize and restore tilted scales.
My greatest joy is when I am teaching a group of ‘newbies’ the steps of learning a biblical story and, once done, one of them retells the story with the finesse of a professional. My heart just swells with pride.
kshop will help people to never read the Bible with a pre-formed lens again.
