he reason John wrote Epic was to share the Story of God with those who haven’t heard it before. It’s that simple. That’s why we kept it small (a “quick read”) and under $10 – we wanted it to be the kind of book that folks could easily pass along to friends, and strangers, too! It’s a pass-it-along kind of book.

We hope you loved it. We hope you, too, want to share the Story with others. If that’s the case, read on. We’ll offer some ideas on how to tell others about the Story. After all, this is a story worth sharing!

Give it away!

Okay, this is a no-brainer – give the book away. Keep a few copies in your purse or briefcase or backpack and hand ‘em out to folks you sense are lost in their story, or seeking for God’s Story. It will start some great conversations!

To help you pass Epic around, we’re offering a great deal on bulk orders of Epic click here. We also have it available and less expensive in paperback.

Oh, Epic is also available in Spanish, too! click here

Show the Story

In October 2005, Epic was released on video. In a presentation with a live audience, John walks through and explains each Act of the Larger Story. The DVD was designed with presentations in mind. It comes with an hour long version, a 38 minute version, and a six part group study version complete with guides. Use the version that will work best where you would like to share. The Epic Live! DVD is available at our store.

Epic In Your Church

The Epic Church Kit is available to help you do Epic in your church. This version is similar to the DVD (above), but has printed materials for promoting and facilitating groups exploring this message. It also has sermon outlines and a new study guide.

Tell the Story

Epic actually began as a live presentation John did while using the film clips he writes about in the book. We’ve made a CD of that presentation, called Epic Live! which will give you some great ideas on how to tell the story yourself. You can listen to a sample of the CD or order Epic Live! to hear the whole thing. We want you to tell the story! You have our permission to use the ideas in Epic in your church, or home group, youth group – any setting you can think of. (Yes, like any book, Epic is copyrighted. That means you can’t take the ideas and use them to make your personal fortune. Sorry about that. But we want you to share the ideas found in Epic with everyone you know! Take them and use them – just don’t charge anything for it!).

It makes for a powerful telling of the Story, to do Epic live with the movie clips, so here are some ideas on how to do that as well:

You can be the storyteller (stealing all John’s great ideas) and throw in the film clips. Get the Epic Live! CD, listen to it a couple times to get the feel, then you do it, inserting your personal stories. Or, you could simply play the CD of Epic Live! and insert the film clips along the way. (We had to pull the film clips from the CD, because getting the rights to Hollywood movies is a nearly impossible task, not to mention a super expensive one!). Adding the film clips back in yourself really spices up the message; brings it home with much greater force. It’s way cool. Either way – using Epic Live! or telling the story yourself, here’s an outline of how John does that, where he uses film clips, and which ones he suggests.

John's Epic Presentation Outline

You have our permission to use the ideas in Epic, verbatim even, in any setting where you are not using it to make money. That’s all the copyright means. This story is meant to be shared!

Do a Book Study

Get a few friends together and go through Epic, a chapter a week. You could have folks read the chapter in advance of your time together, or, given how short it is, you could even read the chapter out loud at the beginning of your time together. For even more drama, include the film clips John recommends for telling the story (see John's Outline, above). That makes it even better! Then…open it up for discussion.

Host a Movie Night

One of the big ideas behind Epic is that every great story will speak to our hearts, both about the story of our own lives, and the Story God is telling.

Movies are the story-telling medium of our day, and it doesn’t take long for a group of people watching a great movie to get into a great conversation. As a follow-up to an Epic study group, or a presentation of the Larger Story, or as a way to draw some folks together, why not host a movie night at your place and invite your friends to first read Epic, then come watch a great movie and talk about how it stirred them, what it speaks to in their heart, and how it also touched upon the themes found in Epic? We’ll bet that if you give it a go, it’ll become a favorite activity for your group. There’s no end of great movies to use. You might start with one of your favorites, and then ask the group to make a list of films they’d like to watch together.