Hi, I'm Doug Bland. Welcome to my storytelling web site. The purpose of this site is to encourage storytellers and to promote the art of storytelling. I am especially interested in helping people of faith tell stories. Floating Eagle Feather, a Native American Storyteller, once said that the reason we need to tell stories is to "keep dogma from having more puppies." Where dogma divides, stories have a way of transcending our differences and uniting us around shared, universal, human experiences.
I am a teacher, a pastor, a father and an environmentalist, but it is storytelling that knits my life and my work together into a meaningful whole. I teach storytelling at South Mountain Community College, the only community college in the country to offer a two year certificate in storytelling through the  Storytelling Institute. I am a Pastor at Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Tempe, Arizona, where we have become known as "the storytelling church." I am chair of the Earth Care Commission for the Arizona Ecumenical Association, where we have put on environmental conferences and storytelling concerts that inspire us to care for God's Creation, the Earth.

Recently, I wrote a statement of my values, vision and mission, which will tell you a little more about who I am:

VALUES---
I value the interconnectedness of all life
I value creation as an on-going process that invites participation.
I value the holy in the ordinary and humor in the mundane.
I value gratefulness.

VISION---
To honor the kin-ship of all Creation.

MISSION---
To connect our individual stories with the larger, unifying Story of God's Love.

 
If you would like to contact Doug Bland, doug.bland@tempeccc.com

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