StoryRunners

Name

StoryRunners

Legal name

StoryRunners

Website

https://storyrunners.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Missions and Oral Bible Storytelling Ministry

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Phonograph Records & Prerecorded Audio Tapes & Disks (3652), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Writing Retreats & Intensive Bootcamps (EDAMAMAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Online & Hybrid Creative Writing Workshops (EDAMAMAL)

Keywords

• Oral Bible storytelling
• Church planting movements
• Scripture access training
• Missions training programs
• Unreached people groups

Headquarters

HQ city

Orlando

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Giving: StoryRunners is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry of Cru. Its primary revenue comes from financial gifts from individuals, churches, and ministry partners. Donation categories include: School of Storying projects, Story Movements (church planting), Equipment Packages, and Greatest Needs. All Cru missionary staff members develop personal ministry partner teams to fund their own salary and ministry expenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

StoryRunners equips local people to produce oral Bible stories in their heart language through a four-week School of Storying (SOS) workshop, producing The Promise — a standardized 42-story set covering Creation to the Return of Jesus. It also delivers MC² Story church planting training, virtual storytelling workshops, internship programs, and downloadable oral Bible story resources in 101+ languages.

Product overview

StoryRunners is a ministry of Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) that offers a portfolio of products and services centered on oral Bible storytelling for unreached people groups in oral cultures. The core offering is The Promise, a standardized series of 42 oral Bible stories from Creation to the Return of Jesus, which is produced through the School of Storying (SOS) — a four-week residence workshop where local people develop the stories in their own language. Related products include virtual and personalized storytelling training programs, the MC² Story church planting training developed with Global Church Movements, and internship programs (International Story Coach and Headquarters). The company also provides oral Bible story sets available in over 100 languages, downloadable story group resources, and staff career opportunities. Together, these offerings enable evangelism, discipleship, and church planting movements among oral learners worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Promise: A series of 42 oral Bible stories from Creation to the Return of Jesus, developed through the School of Storying methodology in various heart languages.
• School of Storying (SOS)
• MC² Story

Products and services

• The Promise (Oral Bible Storyset) A standardized series of 42 oral Bible stories from Creation to the Return of Jesus, developed in 101+ languages to provide a panorama of God's Word for oral learners and unreached people groups.
• School of Storying (SOS) A four-week residence workshop hosted on location with partnering ministries, where local people develop The Promise oral Bible stories in their own language and are equipped for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.
• Virtual Storytelling Training Five-session virtual workshop held via Google Meet that provides hands-on experience with oral Bible storytelling for small group Bible studies and evangelistic spiritual conversations. Cost is $40 per person.
• Personalized Group Training Customizable workshops for small groups of 6+ participants that empower groups to use oral Bible stories for evangelism and discipleship in their specific ministry context. Pricing arranged on request.
• MC² Story Church Planting Training Oral Bible story-based church planting training developed in partnership with Cru's Global Church Movements, featuring Launch, Multiply, and Develop modules for evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development.
• International Story Coach Internship One-year internship program where participants travel with teams to facilitate School of Storying workshops internationally and coach local speakers in unreached people groups. Interns must raise financial support from ministry partners.
• Headquarters Internship One-year professional internship at Lake Hart, Cru's headquarters in Orlando, Florida, using professional skills in HR, IT, communications, social media, videography, photography, fund development, or mobilization to support oral Bible storytelling ministry.
• Oral Bible Story Sets (Language-specific) Audio recordings of The Promise oral Bible stories available in 101+ languages including English, Hausa, Swahili, Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, and many African and Asian languages. Available for free streaming and download.

Quantifiable outcome

• 101 Bible story sets completed across 101+ languages
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ)coreOthersStoryRunners is a ministry of Cru, launched by Cru in 2003 to take God's Word to oral learners in unreached people groups. Cru's President Steve Sellers provides an endorsement quote on the About page. StoryRunners is based at Cru's Lake Hart headquarters in Orlando, Florida. Cru is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
• Renew World OutreachcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization with a logo on the StoryRunners About page. Renew World Outreach is a global mission organization focused on church planting among unreached people groups. The partnership enables StoryRunners to deploy oral Bible storying through Renew's ministry networks.
• Global Church Movements (GCM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStoryRunners and GCM linked arms to create MC² Story — an oral Bible storytelling adaptation of Cru's Multiplying Churches and Communities (MC²) church planting training. MC² Story includes Launch (11 stories), Multiply (43 stories), and Develop (24 topics) phases all built around The Promise oral storyset. GCM's national director Averin Awele (West Africa) praised the oral training as fulfilling a long-held dream.
• Forum of Bible Agencies International (FOBAI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization on the StoryRunners About page. FOBAI is a forum for Bible translation and engagement agencies to collaborate on Scripture engagement initiatives globally.
• Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization on the StoryRunners About page. GACX is a coalition of church multiplication organizations. Cru Vice President Dr. Bekele Shanko stated that StoryRunners' oral methods have made GACX's church multiplication training available orally in multiple languages.
• EMDC (International Orality Network)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization on the StoryRunners About page. EMDC refers to the International Orality Network's oral ministry network, which StoryRunners collaborates with for orality resources and methodology.
• E3 PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization on the StoryRunners About page. E3 Partners is a church planting mission organization that partners with StoryRunners to use oral Bible storytelling in unreached contexts.
• Jesus Film ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLee Bickerstaff (Chief Operating Officer) served 7 years with Jesus Film Project before joining StoryRunners in 2024. The Jesus Film Project encounters voice actors who cannot read their lines and must be coached orally — a parallel challenge that informed StoryRunners' methodology. Historical and staffing connection rather than formal active partnership.
• International Orality NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMark Overstreet (International Orality Network Global Leadership Team) provided an endorsement quote on the About page. StoryRunners recommends 'Making Disciples of Oral Learners' published by the International Orality Network. The ION provides orality research and methodology standards that inform StoryRunners' approach.
• Covenant Theological SeminaryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Tasha Chapman, Professor of Educational Ministries at Covenant Theological Seminary, provided an endorsement quote on the About page, stating StoryRunners equips people to use oral Bible stories with rich experience designing story sets for languages and cultures globally.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• DOOR International: DOOR International is a direct peer that produces oral Bible stories specifically for Deaf communities in sign languages. Its orality-based, storyset-driven approach to unreached language communities mirrors StoryRunners' methodology in the spoken-language space.
• Pioneer Bible Translators: Pioneer Bible Translators is a direct peer that combines Bible translation with church planting among unreached people groups, including orality-focused approaches. Like StoryRunners, it deploys field teams in restricted-access regions and works to make Scripture available in heart languages.
• The Seed Company: The Seed Company accelerates Bible translation projects worldwide, including among oral and unreached language groups. It is a direct peer in the orality-adjacent Scripture access space, though it focuses on translation sprints rather than oral storyset production.
• OneStory: OneStory is a direct peer — both organizations develop oral Bible stories in heart languages of unreached people groups using storyset-based methodology. Their mission, target audience, and product (oral Scripture for oral learners) are closely aligned with StoryRunners' School of Storying model.
• Jesus Film Project: Jesus Film Project is a direct peer in oral media-based evangelism, sharing historical and staffing ties to StoryRunners (e.g., COO Lee Bickerstaff served there 7 years). Both use oral/storytelling formats to share the gospel in languages where literacy is low, and both distribute content globally.

Broad incumbents

• American Bible Society: American Bible Society is a broad incumbent focused on making the Bible available and engaging. It engages with orality initiatives and Scripture access for marginalized groups, overlapping thematically with StoryRunners but at much greater scale and with broader scope.
• Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ): Cru is StoryRunners' parent organization and a broad incumbent in global campus and missions ministry. As a parent, Cru provides infrastructure, donor base, and partnership networks that StoryRunners leverages, and runs parallel church-planting and disciple-making programs.
• Biblica: Biblica is a broad incumbent in Bible translation, publishing, and engagement. It overlaps with StoryRunners on Scripture access for unreached languages but operates as a much larger, established publishing and translation organization with broader product lines.
• Wycliffe Global Alliance: Wycliffe is a broad incumbent in Bible translation, working to make Scripture available in every language. It overlaps with StoryRunners on the goal of reaching unreached language groups but focuses on translation rather than oral storyset methodology.

Others

• Frontier Ventures (formerly U.S. Center for World Mission): Frontier Ventures is thematically related through its focus on unreached people groups and frontier missions research, training, and mobilization. While not a direct competitor, it shares StoryRunners' target population and provides a thought-leadership ecosystem for orality and church planting movements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@storyrunnersofficial6905
• Facebookfacebook.com/storyrunners
• Instagraminstagram.com/storyrunners
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/storyrunners1

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about StoryRunners