The Greatest Story We Were Meant to Know

Experience Three Nails One Purpose

Hear the story from those who were there in our unique first-person retellings of each passage we have chosen.
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Sample Week 1
Have you ever wanted to immerse yourself in the world-changing moments of Jesus’ death and resurrection?
To walk with him hours before he was crucified?
Have you ever wondered if Jesus’ sufferings might also speak to the sufferings in our world today?

Introduction to the Book and Uses for Individuals

  • It can be used as an individual, family, or small group.
  • Ideal for exploring the story of the cross over 40 days, during the Easter season, or at any time.
  • It can be used year after year to revisit this story in all its detail and meaning. 

Introduction to the Book and Uses for Pastors and Leaders

  • Make the book available to small groups. Groups can read one of the 40 writings as both an experience of the story and a chance for discussion. 
  • Make the book available to the whole church or leaders as a gift for personal/devotional use during the Lent/Easter season or any other time.
  • Make the 40 audio readings available daily to church members on social media during the Lent (or another 40-day) period. 
  • Sunday worship: pick seven readings during the Lent season and have one read each week dramatically to help people follow the passion story.
  • Preach through the story during Lent or another period and read the corresponding book readings out loud.  
  • Do 1, 2, and 5 simultaneously for a more significant impact. 

About The Author

John Lewis

Dr. John S. Lewis is the founder of Kingdom Story Ministries (now called EQUIP) and is passionate about seeing the next generation of Jesus followers be rooted in their faith and the story of God. He loves his family and the Christmas holiday. He and his wife, Carissa, are the parents of three grown children and live in Tacoma, Washington.

Your Stories

The author Pat Conroy wrote: “The most powerful words in English are, ‘Tell me a story.’” We are, at our core, narrative beings. Humanity’s sense of the significant and small, attraction and aversion, the beautiful and banal, all find their meaning in story. John Lewis’ set of retellings on the passion story allow the reader to stop and see ancient texts in fresh ways. This is a wonderful resource for the journey of faith.
Dave Hillis
Colangelo Carpenter Innovation Center Senior Fellow, Author of City as Playground
What never surprises me, but always satisfies me, is coming across someone or something that has recognized the power of the greatest story ever told in new and fresh ways. In short—and every generation needs to do this—to find the particular drama of our time within this larger story. John Lewis achieves this. Moreover, what is particularly attractive about John’s work is that you need to appropriate your feelings, thoughts, imagination, physicality—in a word your humanity—to access it. This is no small feat. It takes great skill and a heart saturated with love for both the text and the person who will eventually pick it up and read it. Having been around a while—an 80+ year old Catholic—I have seen a lot. It is from this vantage point that I highly recommend John’s Lenten reflections on the Cross.
Dr. Reid Carpenter
Founder and Founder Emeritus of the Global Leadership Foundations Network 
In this collection of readings, John doesn’t explain the meaning of the cross or a theology of atonement. That comes later. Here he invites you to experience and come nearer to the story, scene by scene, character by character, line by line teasing out the passion and purpose of the Cross. The approach makes all the difference.
Kris Rocke
Director of Street Psalms, Author of Geography of Grace and Meal from Below

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Come and immerse yourself, your family, or your small group in the scenes, thoughts, and feelings of the Cross and Resurrection stories, as if you were there!
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