Every Great Story Begins Somewhere!
Randy Cross
Silas, Elijah, Lauren, Isaiah, Zoë Cross
Every story begins somewhere.
For me(Silas), it began with my dad, Randy Cross.
Growing up, my friends and I could always count on one thing: if Dad started telling a story, we would stop whatever we were doing and listen. Sometimes his stories were completely made up, wild tales about creatures like the Hobba Gooch lurking just beyond the edge of the woods. Other times, they were stories from his own childhood, full of adventure, mischief, and the unforgettable characters he met along the way. But the very best stories were always a little bit of both, a bit of truth stretched just enough to spark the imagination.
Those stories didn't end when the words were over.
The next morning, my friends and I would head outside in search of adventures of our own. We explored the woods a little farther, dreamed a little bigger, and came home with stories we couldn't wait to tell. That's what great stories do. They don't simply entertain us, they invite us to imagine, explore, and create.
My father passed away before he ever had the chance to meet my children. But through every bedtime story, every campfire tale, and every book we create, a part of him still lives on. In many ways, Ouachita Story House was born from the desire to pass along the gift he gave me, the gift of seeing the world through the eyes of a storyteller.
Whether a story is rooted in history or woven from imagination, its greatest purpose is the same: to help us look beyond ourselves, believe that adventure is waiting, and inspire us to dream bigger than our present circumstances.
That's why Ouachita Story House exists.
Because every great story becomes the seed of another.
Carrying the story forward.
“Winston grazed in the golden light of summer, proud but humble. He knew antlers would fall again. And grow again. And through every season, God was still shaping him, not by what he carried on his head, but by who he was created to be.”
Long before stories were written in books, they were carried in the hearts of storytellers.
Across West Africa, griots preserved the history of families and kingdoms through stories passed from one generation to the next. Throughout medieval Europe, troubadours and bards traveled from village to village, sharing tales of courage, hope, and adventure. Closer to home, the front porches, campfires, and country stores of Appalachia and the American South became gathering places where ordinary people spun extraordinary yarns that shaped communities and family traditions.
Storytelling has never been just entertainment.
It has always been how we remember where we came from, imagine where we might go, and pass wisdom to those who come after us.
Today, we live in a world overflowing with content. We can watch, scroll, and consume stories almost endlessly. Yet in the middle of all that entertainment, many people rarely experience the joy of telling stories themselves. Imagination is too often replaced by distraction, and creativity by consumption.
We believe there is another way.
At Ouachita Story House, we want to help families, schools, churches, libraries, and homeschool communities rediscover the timeless art of storytelling. Through books, educational resources, ministry tools, and interactive storytelling experiences, our hope is to help people not only enjoy great stories but also become storytellers themselves.
Because when a child imagines a new world, when a parent tells a bedtime story, when a teacher sparks curiosity in a classroom, or when a pastor brings Scripture to life, storytelling continues its oldest and greatest work.
Our hope isn't that our stories will be remembered. It's that they'll inspire someone else’s.
