The Gospel is the greatest story ever told. Yet preachers today communicate it as if they were preaching from a school textbook, says one Virginia Beach pastor. "I think communicators largely have lost the imaginative qualities of the Gospel," Ben Arment, 35, told The Christian Post. "It's being delivered in the same ways that academia communicate information."

"I don't think the Gospel was ever meant to be read that way." Arment, a former pastor for 10 years, wants to restore those imaginative qualities to the Gospel - C.S. Lewis style.

He's bringing together six "master" communicators of the Gospel to one stage for what he calls a "theatrical conference experience." The fall event, called "Story," will feature music, drama, comedy and interactive exchanges with attendees. The goal is to create a place where Gospel communicators can be inspired to be better and more effective at what they do.

"We're setting it in the context of a theatrical environment to play up the storytelling elements of the Gospel to make it more exciting, more appealing and draw out the essence of what our story is," Arment explained. Think of it as a dinner theater. Hoping to convey the message all the more powerfully, Arment has booked Chicago's Paramount Theater for the conference, which is scheduled for October.

"I couldn't bring myself to put 'Story' in a church. I wanted people to experience all the theatrics of the Gospel story," he said.