Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A unique Community Story Slam on Monday will feature an evening of storytelling from Brighton-area pastors, leaders, and storytellers.

The Story Slam will be held in the upper level of Brewery Becker, located at 500 West Main Street. Doors open at 5:30pm, with the Story Slam starting at 6:30pm.

While a collaboration of Brighton-area churches is putting on the event, organizers note that it is not intended to be a “church” event.

Senior Pastor/Reverend Scott Phillips with First Presbyterian Church of Brighton told WHMI as pastors, they wanted to find a way to help the community come together and connect, so they started the story slams. He said a group of them had been chatting about how to change some of the negative dialogue heard around the community, especially during the election. Phillips said they wanted to change the conversation in the community and offer something positive to bring people together.

Monday marks the second Community Story Slam, with the first held last September – drawing around 150 people. The dates are selected specifically to fall on the fifth Monday of the month - as many people have meetings on Mondays.

Amir Baghdadchi from the Moth Radio Hour will be the host of Monday’s event – which is where the idea for the Story Slam came from. Phillips says there’s always a theme and people will come up with stories around it that can’t be more than 5 minutes. He said they’re prepared stories but need to be true to someone’s own personal experience - no props or notes, just basic storytelling.

There are eight stories slated for Monday, which will all be centered around the theme “Busted! Caught in the Act, Close Calls, and Cracking the Case.”

Phillips will be among Monday’s storytellers, along with some others from a group of storytellers called “Passages” in Flint.

Phillips said the stories are of life and experience of life - sometimes they’re humorous and other times touching or emotional or things that maybe took someone off-guard. He said the hope is that the stories tell a little about something that can help people.

The event is open to everyone and Phillips said is not intended to be a “church” event per say.

Phillips said when all of the pastors were first talking about it, they wanted to gather people from the community together and realized that the best way to do that was not in any of their churches, as that tends to just draw people from their particular church. He said they really wanted a neutral ground and eventually said “let’s do it in a brewery”.

Phillips said it’s really just an open night for anyone who wants to come and sit and listen to a bunch of great stories in a welcoming, non-threatening environment and get to know each other. There’s no cover and local churches are providing free pizza. He added the second and third floors of Brewery Becker “make for a perfect venue for our storytellers”.

Phillips stressed they’re always “looking for ways to get our community talking with one another in a fun and creative fashion”. As such, he says a big community square dance is being planned at the AMP in downtown Brighton on June 29th.

The sponsoring congregations are: Chilson Hills Church of Howell, Community Unitarian Universalists in Brighton, First Presbyterian, First United Methodist of Brighton and Whitmore Lake, and St. Paul’s Episcopal.

Main Photo: Pastor Allison Webb