A Book Review
The Biggest Story Family Devotional from Crossway is my family’s new favorite devotional to use during our evening Bible time. This book contains 104 stories with accompanying Scripture readings and questions to guide families through the big story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration told in the Old and New Testament. Our kids love the videos, artwork, and question-answer dynamic. My wife and I appreciate the clear Bible teaching and the fact that this devotional is written at an appropriate level for our children.
Two features keep our kids highly engaged each evening. First, each story comes with a short video that you can access through a QR code on the page or directly through YouTube. I asked my kids which video was their favorite so far, and they couldn’t decide because they have liked them all so much. The art is pretty and the narrator, Mike Reeves, is really good. (Here is the first video as an example.)
The second feature my kids enjoy is reading the designated verses and answering the questions. Each story has five of these short-ish readings and questions. The devotional includes blank lines to write your answers in the book.
Two other features that I also appreciate are “The Big Picture” introductions and the “Gospel Connection” conclusions that are part of each story. Each introduction teaches a simple lesson about the Bible story. Each conclusion draws a clear connection between the story and the gospel.
Our family tries to cover a whole story each time we meet, but you have unlimited flexibility and can use the devotional however works best for you. Normally, I read the introduction, and then we watch the video. Then I assign the readings to our kids before they take turns reading the passages. We all discuss the questions together and write down our answers. At the end, I read the Gospel Connection and the concluding prayer. The kids are always happy to complete a full story because that means they will get to watch another video the next time we meet.
Depending on how you use this resource, you might find some of the related or accompanying resources from Crossway helpful. They also provide the following:
The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook
The Biggest Story Coloring Book
The Biggest Story ABC Board Book
The Biggest Story Curriculum: Box Set
Special thanks to Crossway for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my thoughts in any way so far as I know. Images courtesy of Crossway.
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