Latest / CrossCurrent Podcasts / Christian Parent, Crazy World - Choosing Media That Builds Your Child's Faith (w/ Jess Wolstenholm) - Ep. 194

Transcript

Christian Parent, Crazy World - Choosing Media That Builds Your Child's Faith (w/ Jess Wolstenholm) - Ep. 194 · CrossCurrent Podcasts

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World, the podcast that tackles
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: tough topics to help you be a godly parent in
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: an ungodly world. I am your host, Katherine Seegers, and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in today's episode, we are going to explore a vitally
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: important question. How do we find quality children's programming that
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: does more than simply entertain our kids or keep them
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: safe from inappropriate content? Like, How do we find shows
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that actually teach our children biblical truth, cultivate godly character,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and reinforce the lessons we're working so hard to instill
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in them as parents? Yeah, that's a tall order. Because
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the media our children consume is shaping the way they
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: see the world, the values they embrace, and even their
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: understanding of God. What if we could be more intentional
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: about choosing content that doesn't just fill their time, but
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: actually supports our efforts to educate them, disciple them, and
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: point them toward Jesus. Well, we can do that. And
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: that is the ground we're going to cover in this
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: episode of Christian Parent Crazy World. You know, moms and dads,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: finding quality entertainment for our kids can be a real challenge. challenge,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: whether we're looking for something to keep them occupied on
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a long road trip, or we needed a few minutes
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to take a shower or make a meal, or we
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: want to supplement our Bible study and our children's education.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: We want resources that do more than just keep our
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: kids entertained. We want content that nourishes them spiritually, that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: reinforces biblical truth and supports the work we're doing to
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: educate and disciple our children. Think about it this way.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: You know, some foods are toxic and we obviously want
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: to avoid those, but other foods are just empty calories.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: They may not hurt us, but they're not nourishing us either.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: The same is true of our kids' entertainment. If we're
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: feeding their minds a steady diet of junk food or
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: empty calories, we are missing a tremendous opportunity because there
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: is highly nutritious, biblically grounded entertainment out there that can
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: nourish our children's souls while entertaining them. But how do
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: we find it? My guest today is Jess Wolstenholm, Vice
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: President of Education and Publishing at Minnow, a media and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: technology company that is dedicated to helping Christian kids and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: families experience Jesus every day through quality content. Jess holds
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a master's degree in education, and she brings 25 years
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of children's ministry leadership experience to her work. She is
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: also the editor and executive producer of the award-winning Minnow
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids, which you're going to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: hear about in this episode. I'm so excited to talk
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to Jess about what makes children's programming truly valuable, how
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: it can be a wonderful resource available to families and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: and how we can use media more intentionally to support
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: our children's faith and learning. So with that said, I
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: will take you to my conversation with Jess Wolstenholme. Jess,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World. I'm so excited to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: have you here today.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I'm excited for our conversation.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I am too. Right now, as we speak, my children
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: are upstairs watching your programming on Minnow.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's amazing. I love that.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Because sometimes as parents, we need a little something to
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: put in front of our kids.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: We need a break. That's right.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: We need a break. We may need to go get
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: a little work done. We may need to do some
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: laundry or run to the store or make a meal.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: And sometimes we need to put something in front of
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: our kids.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And hopefully it's wholesome. But not only wholesome, but just
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: actually something that can be a source of conversation later
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: or something biblically sound. And we can do it together
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: as a family. We've been doing it a lot together.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I started our day, our homeschool day today off. with
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: one of your devotionals off of Minnow.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's so great. I love that. That's awesome.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So before we get into all that, though, you have
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: spent 25 years in children's ministry leadership, and now you're
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: bringing that experience to the world of children's media as
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Minnow's Vice President of Education and Publishing. And you've worked
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in ministry, education, curriculum development, and publishing, including serving as
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the editor. This was so cool, of the Minnow Laugh
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: and Grow Bible for Kids. I was watching that the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: other day with my daughter, the Mary and Martha episode.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: It was so cute. Brand new.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: It's brand new.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: It's adorable.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, awesome.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: What have all those years of working with children and
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: families taught you about how kids actually learn about God?
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I think the biggest thing I took
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: away that I try to think about every day in
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: my work here at Minnow is that how we introduce
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: kids to God and the early view of God that
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: they shape in their life is so important to their
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: long-term faith formation. So if we are presenting a God
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: who is, you know, the big boss upstairs who's just
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: watching out to see if they do the right thing
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: all the time, You know, that's not a God that
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: they are going to feel comfortable with or want to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: get to know. Now, that's not to say that God
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: is not holy, that it doesn't matter what we do.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: All those things are true. He is holy. It matters
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: what we do. But their introduction to him needs to
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: be a loving God who created them, who delights in them,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: who loves them. And as they get to know him,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: they get to know his ways. And they learn how
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to walk in those ways. And so for me, you know,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: being around lots of different curriculum and lots of different
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: teachings in even my upbringing and then early on in
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: my kids' upbringing, that was what was so important to
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: me is I want kids to get to know the
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: character of God and the amazing, not only holy, but
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: loving and powerful and nurturing character of God.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think you do that so well. We've been
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: starting off our days with the Jesus Storybook Bible devotions
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: on minimum. Because we've been using that. Okay, we tore
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: up that Bible. Not on purpose. We just used it
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: so much. We had to get a second one. My
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: background's in theater, so I love reading those stories because
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: they're so theatrical. Beautiful.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, they're beautiful.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: But then I think I knew they had, I guess
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it was more of a produced version of that. And
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I think it's Sir David Suchet is the British award-winning actor.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Narrates that.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, his voiceover.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. He is incredible.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: It's powerful.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: It's so powerful. And my kids... are just riveted. We
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: sit there and now they get to listen to somebody
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: else reading it instead of me. They've been listening to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: me for not just years, decades reading that Bible. And
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I get to sit back and enjoy it with them
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and let somebody read it to all of us. And
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of course, it's got all the great illustrations there.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Beautiful.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I know it's beautiful. So was there a moment when
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you realized that children's media could be a really powerful
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: tool for spiritual formation? Yeah.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Um, know if it was a specific moment per se, but,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: you know, there's classics like Veggie Tales. That's what a
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: lot of us grew up on or kids grew up on. And,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: you know, Minnow came about in 2019 because our founder
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: and CEO, Eric Goss, he had three girls at home
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: that he homeschooled, and he wanted them to have a
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: place where they could experience just good, rich media that
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: really nurtured their Christian imagination, that that allowed them to
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: experience stories, but also experience, you know, the love of God,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: the love of Jesus, and get to know him. And so,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: you know, he was really the forerunner in that. And
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: there were some shows out there like VeggieTales. What's in
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: the Bible is another one that Phil Vischer, who created VeggieTales,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: he created that, What's in the Bible, and that's also
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: on Minnow. But that was one of the first ones
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: that he came to and said, okay, we need to
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: get this out. DVDs are going away, right? And streaming
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: is what people were doing. And so he wanted to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: have a place where kids could come that was a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: safe place for them to experience media. And through that,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: we started to really research and really pay attention to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: how kids learn and what is the most powerful avenues
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: for them to learn. And I think Reading is so
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: important and we never want to replace that. It's one
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of the reasons why we have on-screen and off-screen resources.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: It's why all of our Bible stories appear in a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: storybook Bible and they're animated. Because I think when kids
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: engage in a kind of a multimodal approach and they're
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: reading a story and then they're watching a story, it's
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: only going to really enhance and solidify that learning. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: so that's the thing that is so important. powerful about
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: children's media. You know, we want to do for biblical
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: literacy what Sesame Street did for reading comprehension back in
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: the mid-century. You know, they said, they asked the question,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: what if kids could learn through media? And so we're
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: asking the question, what if kids can learn the Bible
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: through media? What if kids can grow in their relationship
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: with Jesus through media? And Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, he
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: was also a forerunner in that, right? He wanted kids
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: to learn and And he wanted them to experience the
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: world in a safe place. And that's what we're doing
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: for kids, but through a Christian worldview and with a
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: biblical lens.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: My son, by the way, is upstairs. He's 11 now.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: He's kind of old for your age.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he is.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: He's watching VeggieTales right now. I love it. He's so
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: excited to see that whole library on there because you
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: never grow out of VeggieTales.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: No, you don't. It's so fun. I know.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: The second you mention it, I start singing, oh, where
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: is my airbrush? Oh, where is my airbrush? Oh, where, where, where, where?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: My daughter and I are singing that. And here's the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: funny thing. So he's up there watching it in the den,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and my daughter, my 16-year-old, is in the kitchen, and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: she's singing along with all of it because she grew
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: up on it.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: She does, and they don't forget it.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Right. Now, I was Mr. Rogers era. That's what I
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: grew up on. And I love how you talk about
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: how you want to do for biblical literacy what Sesame
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Street did for reading comprehension. We do need that. And
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: our youngest, our littles really need that. And I want
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about spiritual formation because I
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: think as parents, sometimes we may underestimate just how much
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the media our kids consume is shaping them. We live
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: in a world where screens are practically unavoidable. Parents are
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: constantly trying to decide what's appropriate, what's beneficial, what might
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: be influencing their kids in ways they don't even recognize.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: So how should we as Christian parents think about the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: role entertainment plays in our kids' spiritual development? Because there's
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a difference. There's a difference between simply clean content That
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: actually helps our kids grow in wisdom and character and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: faith and just, you know, stuff that isn't bad, but
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: maybe not be spiritually nutritious. So what distinguishes those two things?
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I'm sure those are conversations you guys have at Minnow
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: all the time.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: We do. Yes, you know, I love that you used
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the word nutritious because I always look at it like
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: a media diet, you know, and a lot of people,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: if you're not kind of looking at it through a
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: biblical worldview, you're just saying, hey, we want our kids
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: to have a healthy media diet. So we don't want
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: them to be looking at brain rot all day. We
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: want them to have educational media or media that sparks
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: their imagination or media that teaches them history. You know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: all those things are great. And like you said, all
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: those things can, we can find options that are clean
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and good. But if you layer on a biblical worldview,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: then it takes it to the next level and it
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: helps your kids not only experience some of those good
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: things about the world, but they're experiencing it through that
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Christian lens, through a biblical lens, with, you know, With
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: explicit Bible stories, but not only explicit Bible stories, it really,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I think what's helpful is seeing kids on screen living
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: out their faith. You know, some of our originals that
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: we're creating at Minnow are explicit Bible shows like the
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids, where we're telling Bible stories.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: But then we have shows like Micah and Sunni the
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Super Unicorn, where we're just showing kids in these fun,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: kind of zany adventures of life. but they're living out
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: their faith. But they are looking at the struggles they're
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: having in school as a fifth grader through the lens
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: of scripture. And I think that's so important for kids
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: to see. You know, we talk a lot about representation
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: on screen in the world, and I think there's not
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: enough representation of faith on screen for kids. And so
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: needing for them to see, oh, this is how this
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: kid handled this hard thing at school, and he's a
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Christian like me. And, you know, You can do that
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: in a super cheesy way that's going to turn kids off,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: or you can try to do it in a way
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: that really meets them where they are. And that's what
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: we're trying hard to do. We work with some of
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: the best creators. We've worked with Disney creators and, you know,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: people who have worked for some of the biggest companies
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: because they're very, very good at what they do, but
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: they're dying to do it for the kingdom. And so
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: we find those people and we bring them together to
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: create really good media like the Young David podcast. the
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Young David series, you know, that is the highest quality
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Christian children's media you've ever seen, right? It's a forerunner.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: That was so important because we want kids, I think
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I said it earlier, like we say, Christian kids deserve better.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Jesus deserves better. We want them to have the same
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: excellence that the world offers so that they're drawn to it.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: But I think I got off topic of your original question,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: but the original question about a balanced media diet, I
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: always look at it like this. This is what I've
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: always said to my kids because I have, you know,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: always had boundaries around what they watch. My kids are
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: really good at self-regulation. That is only by the grace
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: of God. And so I've given them a little bit
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: of latitude, especially as they've gotten older, watching YouTube and
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: different things. And we've, you know, talked about all those
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: boundaries and they're learning to discern, right, the media that
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: they watch. We want to teach our kids to discern.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: But I always tell them, you need to balance your inputs.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Because you can watch like brain rot all day long.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: My son likes to watch YouTube shorts. And most of
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: the time it's tennis. He plays tennis. So most of
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: the times it's like little tennis reels or memes about
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: tennis or things like that. But I always say you
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: can fill your brain with brain rot all day and
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: it's going to leave you with nothing. And so I
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: always am like, what have you done today to balance
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: that input? What have you watched today that really helps
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: you know, nurture yourself, your faith, but just your learning
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: and everything, your relationships. And so it's just like anything
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: else of finding the balance of helping kids learn to
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: discern and figure out what is the most balanced approach
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: for me to, or for them to engage with media. Mm-hmm.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Very good advice. I think you actually, you didn't get
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: far off topic. You anticipated my next question. I think
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: you already answered it. I was going to talk to
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: you about the mission that you have there at Minnow,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: where it's helping Christian kids and families experience Jesus through
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: everyday quality content. And I was going to ask you
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: what that looks like in practice. And I think you
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: kind of answered that. I love the idea. Well, let me,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: before I get to that, representation, which you talked about.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I was just going to mention your son and my
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: son are so similar, only it's baseball shorts all day
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: long on YouTube and the baseball grows and everything. And
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I know what I would call that. I think particularly
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: if your son plays tennis, watching videos on tennis, that
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: can be helpful. Same with my son. I wouldn't call
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: them empty calories. but they're not necessarily spiritually nutritious calories.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And we need to be feeding our spirits as much,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: if not more than those aspects of our vocation or
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: hobbies and things. So I think We end up with
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the same thing. He could watch it like literally all
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: day long.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: All day long.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: He's got a one-track mind. If it's not spherical with
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: red stitches on it, it's hard for him to get interested.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: But he does get interested. And like I said, he's
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: a little younger than your son. He's 11. So he's
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: upstairs watching VeggieTales right now. And I love what you
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: said about representation. representation for kids, because rarely do we
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: see in any kind of secular media an honest and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: accurate and not cheesy representation of someone with a true
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: biblical worldview. And as an adult, I find that very frustrating.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: In a lot of the content I would tend to watch,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you know, Great American Family, they've got some interesting stuff
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: on there for adults. Yeah, they do. It doesn't really
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: necessarily represent my corner of Christianity. I was watching just
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: honestly for educational purposes. I don't even remember the name
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of the show. It was on Prime, I think. But
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: it was all about a minister whose wife died and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: he's got a family. And he's like out there trying
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: to dip his toe back into the dating world. And
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: he's dating a woman who's not even a Christian and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't even stop to think about that. I'm like, this
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: isn't like that's not. Yeah, like if he's truly but
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of course, I think he was more progressive or whatever
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: in that sphere of things. But I'm like, this is
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: this the secular world's representation of what they want a
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Christian to be. It's not really what a Christian is.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Someone who like if there is a minister and God
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: forbid his wife died, wouldn't you be you? You can't
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: be unequally yoked. You have to write someone or considering
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: someone for marriage who. who would be like you. So
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the same is true of our kids. We would love
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to have representation in the media that they watch that
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is accurate, that is true, that's not cheesy. And I'm
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: so grateful to know that there are streaming services like
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Minnow out there that is concerned about that kind of
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: representation because we're not going to get it from the world.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: We shouldn't even try. When they try to do our
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Bible stories, look what they did to Noah and the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Moses story with gods and kings and then the Noah
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: one with Russell Crowe. Dear me, he did not try
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to kill his offspring.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I was.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: So frustrated when people who don't know our faith try
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to represent our faith. So you're out there trying to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: do for us what some, like the Chosen and the
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: House of David may be doing for an older level,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: for your older kids. This is going to be for
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: our younger kids. And so as I have been exploring
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Minnow and the variety of programs that you have available,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: there are animated Bible stories. There are historical adventures. There
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: are devotionals. And I was thrilled to see some older
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: series there.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, we do have some older stuff. Okay.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Which I want to talk about.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: But I know that you've been involved both in the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: education and the publishing, and you're the executive producer, right,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: of the Men Who Laugh and Grow Bible.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: That's right. Yes.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So when you're developing or selecting a program for children,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: what makes something both educationally sound and spiritually meaningful?
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: We have.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: We look at everything, and a lot of things we license,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: and so somebody else made it, and we review it
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: to make sure that it is theologically sound and age-appropriate
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: and all that. And then, of course, when we develop
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: something on our own, we have a lot more control
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: over how it's made. And so when we're looking at
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: something that we have licensed, we're just looking at what
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: We say we have a 50-point check system, and that's
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: just a very technical way of saying that we are
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: very intentional and we're looking at the entertainment quality. We're
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: looking at the animation quality or the production quality. And
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: then we're looking at the biblical soundness of it, the
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: theological soundness of it. At the end of the day,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: we want it to be fun and entertaining for kids.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: We want it to be engaging for them. Because something
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: can be completely biblically sound and just be absolutely boring
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: for kids and or not age appropriate if it's speaking
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: way over their head in a way that they're not
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: going to understand. It's just not going to be a
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: good place for them. Back to what I was saying
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: with your first question, too. One of the things we
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: look at when it's something that we haven't developed is
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: how did they represent God? How are they presenting God
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: to kids? If they're doing it in a way that
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: we don't think is healthy, if it's very moralistic or
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: very behavior-based, All those things are very important, but we
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: don't want to lead with that for kids because we
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: don't want their relationship with God to be based on
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: behavior or, you know. So those are the things we
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: look at. And then when we go to create something, gosh,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: it's funny, you should hear some of the conversations we
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: have and the arguments that we have over how should
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: we handle, you know, I remember when we were doing
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: the Passover episode for Laugh and Grow Bible, how should
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: we how should we animate the angel of death? Like, oh,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: like never thought I'd ask that question. Like, what did
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: the angel of death look like? Or I've said so
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: many times, because there's a lot of death in the Bible.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: And we try, we are not leaving anything out, but
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: we are trying to deliver it in an age-appropriate way.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And so I've said more times than I can count,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: can we please use the word death less in this script?
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Like, I have to say that all the time.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: It's in there. I mean, you can't tell the story
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: of Jesus and what he did for us on the
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: cross without using some hard words and some hard subjects.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: But we try to really just wrap it in gentleness
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: for kids so that it is the most accessible for them. Right.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: So they can grow in their understanding of it.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of your original programming first. Yeah.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Young David.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Young David.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Dear me. Wow.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: It's wonderful, isn't it?
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: It's incredible.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Now, have you seen the David film? Have you seen
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: the film?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: You know, I hadn't seen the whole film yet. Now
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: that's on, is that on Netflix or?
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: It's on Netflix and Angel right now. We don't have
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: the film yet because Netflix has it. But we are
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: praying because we partnered with them on the Young David series.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: It was a prequel to the movie. And it was
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: imagining the life of young David, which the Bible doesn't
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: share a ton about. So we did take some creative
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: license in that. But we really stayed true. It was
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: a focus on the character of David. So there's five episodes.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: We have five books that go along with each of
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: those episodes. And it's David as warrior, poet, king, shepherd, worshiper.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Five character traits of David. And we put him in stories,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: simple stories, where he exhibited that character trait. And that's
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: what those shorts are. And they were prequel to the movie.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And it was just kind of a way to get
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: people excited, to get people to understand the level of
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: animation and production that was coming with the film. And
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: then the film is just absolutely unbelievable.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: You created the film as well?
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: We didn't create the film. We worked with the team
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: that created the film to do the shorts. And then
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: we helped with the film on the business side of things.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: And we were very kind of connected to the team
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: that did it. But we did not create the film.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I don't want to claim that.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: But I'm like, the shorts, are you going to do
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: more of those? Or is it just the five?
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: We hoped. We hope to.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I hope you do, too, because I was blown away, man. Oh,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the the cinematography on that, the animation on that. I
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: was like just in the opening scene. And I'm not
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: that I'm not well versed in all of that, but
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I was sure. It was incredible.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: But you can tell it's good, right? You can tell
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: it's good.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: No, it was great. Like the highest quality.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: And the stories are beautiful. We've been watching the– I've
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: been watching them with my kids. And, of course, they
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: have seen The Young David. I've been in the process
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of moving for a long time. I told you about
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: it before. Yes. I haven't seen it yet. But I've
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: got a date with my youngest daughter. Amazing. We're going
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to sit down and do that. watch that together. But
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I love that. And I love that it's on your,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: on Minnow. You can watch it anytime. So there's the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: five there and hopefully, hopefully in the future.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Hopefully we get the film once. Yes.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: And then also maybe some more of those because they're incredible. Yes.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: And maybe some other characters. We hope to do some
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: other characters that way where we do it kind of,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: we feature their life as a young. And again, that's
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: just a way for kids to, to relate to them.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: and then do the full biblical story. So yeah, we
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: hope to do more.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Hey friends, it's Katherine here. If you're trying to be
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a godly parent in this wild and wacky world, you
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: need all the help you can get. And I've got
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: you covered. When you subscribe to my website, you'll get
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: instant access to tons of free resources made just for
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Christian parents. You'll get my prodigal bundle, which is packed
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: with every podcast, article, and scripture list I've created for
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: parents walking that tough prodigal road. You'll also get my
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: free e-book, Beyond the Lies, uncovering five myths the culture
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: spreads to mothers. Plus, powerful scripture lists to pray over
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: your kids and even scripture songs to help your family
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: hide God's word in your heart without even trying. And,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of course, I'll keep you encouraged with my weekly newsletter
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: called full of faith-filled pep talks and outlines of what
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: we're tackling each week on the show. So don't miss out.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Head over to CatherineSegers.com. That's CatherineSegers.com. And subscribe today because
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Christian parenting may be crazy, but you don't have to
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: do it alone. What you also have, though, on Minnow
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: that I was thrilled to see is And this is, okay,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: so the animation is older. It's, let's call it vintage,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: but it ages so well. The Torchlighters series, Heroes of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the Faith. My daughter, my nine-year-old, is upstairs right now
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: watching the one on Gladys Allward. We found that years ago.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: We found that whole Torchlighters series years ago and started
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: watching it. And Gladys Allward is probably not someone most
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of my listeners are familiar with. But she she just
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: fell in love with this story of this young British
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: kind of housemaid who at the age of 14 determined
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: that knew that she wanted to be a missionary to China.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: She really wasn't a great student. She wasn't great with
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: other languages. And she was denied that opportunity. She kept
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: applying and they said, no, you're not. You're not who
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: we want. And the Lord just opened doors for actually
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to go and be an assistant. To a woman who
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: was ministering in China and that woman passed on and
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: she ended up taking over the ministry. And her story
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: is incredible. They actually made a film years ago. I
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: think Ingrid Bergman starred in it because she was one
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: of the women who was an activist who actively she
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: went up against the Chinese government contesting the binding of feet.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Women's binding of feet in order because they would bind
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: feet because they thought teeny tiny feet were attractive. And
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: so she was a woman who really helped to eradicate
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: that in China. Anyways, my daughter is up there watching
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: that right now because we watched it years ago and
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: she's fascinated. But there's so many of those stories. We
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: watched the Eric Little. story the other day. We're talking
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: about our sons. Your son's all about tennis. My son's
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: all about baseball. Eric Little, the Chariot to Fire movie
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: was about him and about his journey to the Olympics.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: And of course, he gets... He's qualified for the Olympics
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and he can't, he won't run. He can run, but
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: he chooses not to run because the heat was on
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: a Sunday and he was going to honor God. And
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the story is really powerful. But Chariots of Fire ends
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: at the Olympics. The Torchlighter series takes, it goes through
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the Olympics. Yeah, but it goes through his ministry when
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: he goes back to China and what happens there. So
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: there's a whole host of these wonderful stories.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they are wonderful.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: The animated older, but the stories are so rich and riveting.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: My kids, I could see my son. I was so
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: excited to show the one about Eric little to my son,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: because look, it's all, it's fine. If God gifted you
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: to play this sport, but that has to come second
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: to him. And that was just such a wonderful story
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: of that. So I love the idea of introducing children
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: to real people whose faith shaped the way they lived.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about that, that kind of
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: series and that kind of content that you have on Minnow.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right. The animation is old, but we think
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: it's valuable enough that it's worth it.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, it is.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of that, right? We love watching
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: old movies and we know the quality is not there,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: but it's such a great movie. And so we didn't
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: want to sacrifice those incredible stories just for that reason.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: And so, yes, we are so proud to have those
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: on Minnow because it's so important for kids, like you said,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: to see how people are living out their faith. And
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: those stories are such powerful conversation starters for kids, for
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: maybe a little bit older kids, upper elementary, middle school kids.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: Just like you said with your son, hey, it's great
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: if you want to be passionate about this, but God's
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: got to come first. You have to have things in line.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: And Just being able to see people who lived such
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: brave lives in the name of Jesus can be life-changing
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: for kids because they see that they're not the only one.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Or if they are up against something, maybe that makes
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: them fearful or intimidated, you know, just to be inspired
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: by someone who's gone before them. It's why kids learn
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: history in school, right? We learn history in school because
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: So that we can understand how we got to where
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: we are and so that we know how to move
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: forward from here. And so that's why you watch historical
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: shows about inspiring people. You know, you want to know
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: how people have operated in their faith, have gotten to
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: where they are, and it inspires you to move forward
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: from here.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: It truly does. And I think these kinds of stories,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: all of these Torchlighter series stories, They really help us
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: get our kids out of our first world bubble.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, definitely.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Because my two older kids, my second and my third,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: they've been on missions trips to Asia twice. And they've
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: gotten that taste of international missions, and they both have
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a heart for people in other nations. I think you've
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: got the Amy Carmichael story on there, which of course,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: her ministry to India is so powerful. But my younger kids,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: of course, they haven't done that kind of ministry yet
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: or missions yet. And I want them to get a
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: taste for that. And I really think that this Torchlighter series,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Heroes of the Faith, that's going to help whet their
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: appetite for that. So not only that, I have to say,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: you know, this kind of content, she was going to
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: watch it upstairs and I'm like, but I want you
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: to wait for me. Because I want to watch all
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: of these stories again. You know, Jim and Elizabeth Elliott,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: they're in our timeline. Yeah, I know. And what a
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: story of sacrifice. We study them in our Christian homeschool curriculum.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: So this is such an aid. for me as a homeschooler,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: but you don't have to be a homeschooler for this
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: to be really valuable content because I mean, they're getting
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: a lot of other worldview. If they're going to a
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: public school all day, we need to be counteracting that
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: with the media that they consume. And this is a
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: really incredible way to do that. Speaking of though, things
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: that can really aid with our education are, Liberty Kids.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: I love that series. We watched it years ago with
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: my older kids. You've got all of those episodes on here.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: We do. It is a little older, too.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: It's also older. We had a fun time screening that.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: We added it this year for the 250th anniversary. We
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: wanted to have some American history on the channel. It's older.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: It's older.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going to be honest with you. So
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: you get a little peek into our process. Not every
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: episode is on there because there are a few episodes.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: Because it was done so long ago, there are a
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: few episodes talking about our American history that had things
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: that we didn't think were appropriate for children. And so
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: we were like, okay, we're going to hold this one
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: back because we don't think that that's– it's not the
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: way we would have done it. And, again, when we're
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: not creating it, it's not going to be the way
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: we would have done it. But even fast forward, I
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: don't remember how old it is. It was probably done
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: in the 80s or 90s. You know, there's just things
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: that we wouldn't do that way. And we thought it
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: would be best to not have. So we review every
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: episode to look for things like that, to make sure
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: that this is not going to be inappropriate for kids
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: or whatever. And that was one of them. But All
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: that to say, it's fun to have it. I've been
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: so amazed at the nostalgia factor because there's so many
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: older kids or young parents who watched it when they
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: were kids that are just loving it. And it's very
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: nostalgic for me because it just reminds me of what
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: I was watching growing up.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that. Yeah, you added it for the 250th.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: I hadn't realized that. But my kids have already done.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: We're in a U.S. history cycle. In our homeschool curriculum.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: So they have already done papers this year on the
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Boston Tea Party, on Benjamin Franklin, and they are currently
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: doing their second paper on George Washington. And you have
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: episodes on all of that material. We watched the Boston
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Tea Party one the other night. And it was really
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: fun to see that come to life because they have
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the source material they're reading and the papers they're writing
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: and some of the stuff we're discussing in their history curriculum.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: It brings it all to life.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: It's wonderful. So, yeah, I love that you added that.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: There is such a connection between faith, history, and the
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: founding of our nation. We didn't get it all right.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: We screwed up a lot of stuff, and it took
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: us a while to get some of it set right,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: and we're still setting things right. That's the amazing thing
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: about the way our Constitution was drawn. It's a document
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: that can be amended, and there are things that we change,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: but it just opens the door for those really rich conversations.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: We did mention the Jesus Storybook Bible.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Yes. So fun.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: That one I really enjoyed using with my kids. We've
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: been opening up our devotion because we usually read it
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: for a devotional every morning. I'm like, I'm going to
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: let Sir David Suchet read this for you. That's right.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Let him read it out loud.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: We're going to let him do it. But let's talk
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: about how, you know, even the best of programming, it
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: can't replace a parent's role in discipling a child. Right.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: but it really can give us something very valuable to
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: build on. So how, how can we then take all
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of this amazing, rich, some vintage, some new content that
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: you guys are producing in your shows and use that
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: experience to nurture our children's faith? How can we expound
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: upon that and use it as the springboard to have
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: really valuable conversations in our homes?
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's exactly what it is, is a springboard.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: We like to call it an entry point. Um, We
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: hear from parents all the time that say, I just
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: don't know where to start with discipling my kids. I
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: didn't grow up in the church. I don't know the Bible.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: And so we love offering them that springboard, that entry
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: point where they can say, hey, let's watch this together.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Or even if, listen, you're not always sitting down and
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: watching together. I think shared experiences and co-viewing is really powerful.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: There's research on that. But, you know, a lot of
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: times you're in the kitchen cooking dinner and you just
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: need your child to be quiet for a little while
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: so you can get dinner on the table. And so
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: they're watching it. But hey, if you're in the type
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: of house layout where you can kind of watch, you know,
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: while you're cooking dinner or at least hear what they're watching,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: that's an opportunity for you later when you sit down
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: to say, hey, tell me about what you were watching or,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: you know, what did What was happening in that story?
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: It's just a great way to just start conversations. And
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: those happen by asking questions. Kids love to tell us
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: things that they know or learned, right? They always love
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: to know more than we know. And so if you
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: say to them, what were you watching? Like, I want
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: to hear about that. Tell me that story. They love
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: to repeat it back to you. And then from there,
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: you can ask questions, you know, that can get a
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: conversation rolling. One of the things that I think is
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: so important for parents is understanding how to turn anything
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: into a faith conversation. I think that's a skill that
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: takes time to develop and it takes the Holy Spirit's help.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: But as you, you know, yield to him and allow
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: him to work through you and even just praying, God,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: I want to be able to point my kids to
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: you through everything, whether we're on a walk and we
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: look at a flower or they're watching a show on
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Minnow or they have an argument with their friend and
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: they're telling me about it. Like every moment is an
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: opportunity to turn it back to a discipleship moment. And so, again,
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: that's intimidating and a lot of people don't feel equipped
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: to do it. But with the help of the Holy Spirit,
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: I believe that we can all develop that skill. And
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: I think starting with shows, it might be the easiest
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: way to do that because you have something very clear
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: to ask them about a story that they've watched. And
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: then as you develop that skill, you can do it
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: in other areas of your life.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: You know, this morning when we were watching the short
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: on one of the David shorts, at the end of it,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: it has questions to ask. So if you're struggling with
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: finding the questions... start there with the David series because
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: it's got the questions at the end for you and
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: you can pause it and you can just talk about
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: that question. You don't even have to come up with it.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: But like you said, of course the shared viewing experience
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: is wonderful. And I personally want to do that because
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: I want to watch all of those, go back and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: watch all of the torch lighters and the Liberty kids
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: with my, my kids, all of it actually. But you know,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: sometimes like you said, I need to go cook dinner.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: I'm in the other room. So, Hey, Honey, tell me,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: what was it about? What was interesting to you? What
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: did you learn? What does that tell us about God?
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: What does that tell us about Jesus? Lean into his character.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Just some simple questions like that can really help unpack
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: it and make it into a discipling moment for your kids.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: So, you know, there are a lot of other kids
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: streaming services out there. Some of them are even Christian services.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: So what is it then that distinguishes Minnow from the
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: other options parents have when it comes to kids Christian programming?
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the on-screen, off-screen and the kind of
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: holistic approach that we take when you were talking about
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: the Young David series with the correct questions at the end,
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: that's actually something called our five-minute family devotionals. So Young
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: David streams on our platform alone by itself, just those
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: five shows. But then we have a version of it
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: called the five-minute family devotional that adds a question and
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: a prayer at the end. And we do that for
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: a lot of our programming because we want to give
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: parents that entry point. So even our Laugh and Grow
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Bible episodes, The Young David, so many other things. If
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: you look on many, you'll see five-minute family devotionals. And
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: it's kind of like we couched it in a scripture
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: verse at the front, and then you watch the entire episode,
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: and then there's a question at the end, question or
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: two questions, and then a prayer. And so that's an
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: example of one way that we're trying to make media
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: more than just this consumable you know, mindless thing that
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: we do. We're trying to give parents those tools that
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: they need to engage their kids. And we do that
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: through on-screen things like those devotionals, but then we also
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: have off-screen devotionals. A lot of our shows will have
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: like discussion guides with them that we'll send out to
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: our members via email so that they have, again, talking points.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: There'll be talking points in that, or it may include
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: coloring sheets and things for younger kids to to kind
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: of engage them with the show off screen. I think
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: that's the biggest differentiator is our on-screen, off-screen kind of
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: holistic approach. And then just the thoughtfulness that we put.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, I can't speak to other people's thoughtfulness, but
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: I do know the level at which we kind of
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: are going into the intentionality with our theology and the
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: way we approach teaching kids about God. I've never known
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: anyone else to do it that well, and I'm really
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: proud of that because I think it's going to set
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: kids up for just a really healthy journey with Jesus.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: I hadn't realized all of the on-screen, off-screen counterpoints. I'm
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: excited to incorporate some of those into the things that
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: we're doing as well, especially for younger kids who are
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: still loving to color and And having, you know, a
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: story they can read as well as something visual they
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: can see when you can hit it from all of
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: these different aspects, it really helps it to bring it
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: alive and stick. That's what you want it. We want
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: it to stick in our little minnows.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: We want it to stick.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Wonderful. Okay. So as Minnow continues to develop and curate
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: quality Christian content for our kids, what's on the horizon?
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Can we look forward, I guess, so we talked a
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: little bit, hopefully, to some more Young David content? Yes.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: You've got new productions in the work or other series?
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: We have some new, yeah, we have some new productions
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: in the works and more coming. And We have some
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: new people on our team that I think are going
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: to kind of shepherd us into that new season of
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: developing more original content. Hoping we can do more Young
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: David or other characters of the Bible with the same
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: team we did that one. You know, animation is expensive
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: and it takes a long time, but we're just trusting God,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: you know, to lead us to do the right next projects.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: But you'll always see new content on Minnow, whether we're
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: developing it or we license it. We want to give
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: our members fresh content every month. And so you'll always
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: see something new. And the biggest thing that I can
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: tell you, though, is for the Laugh and Grow Bible,
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: we have 75 episodes now of the Bible complete. And
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: we will have over 200 when we're done. Our goal
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: is to animate pretty much every story in the Bible.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: for kids. And starting in January of 2027, we're going
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: to release one new episode every week. So we've never
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: released them that fast. And so every week there'll be
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: a new Bible story to engage with, which is really
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: exciting for us.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: That is exciting. That's really exciting. So one a week,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: that is a pretty big pace. I do one podcast
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: a week and I can barely keep up with that.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: That's a lot. That's awesome.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're excited.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: So as we're bringing this full circle, I'm just curious,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: like after 25 years of working with children and families,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: what is your greatest hope then? We see this generation,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of this, we see a lot of Gen
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Z generation. is struggling in their faith. They're, they're struggling.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: A lot of them may be wandering far from it. Uh,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: I've got one kid who struggled in her faith as well.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: And two kids that are just really solid after that. Um,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: and then I've got two more coming up under that.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: So what is your, what is your greatest hope for
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: the next generation? I guess you're really your contents for
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: Gen Alpha when it comes to knowing Jesus and understanding
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: his word.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: My hope is just that, that they would know Jesus
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: and understand his word. And like I said in the beginning,
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: just to bring it back full circle, is I want
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: them to have a really healthy view of who Jesus
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: is and who he can be in their life and
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: how much he loves them and how much of a
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: difference he can make for them. I want them to
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: have a very healthy view of the gospel and not
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: a watered-down view of the gospel. but one that where
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: they understand that, yes, you know, we sin and there
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: is sin and we have a Savior. And all of
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: that is true, but that doesn't mean you have to
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: live a life riddled with shame. I feel like right
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: now in Christian circles, you know, we have such extremes
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: in our thinking, right? So it's either, we're either going like, nope,
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: we're you know, we're not talking about sin with our
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: kids because we don't want them to develop shame or
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: we're just like, it's all about behavior. And I just
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: feel like there is a third way. There's a middle
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: way where we can stay true to the gospel, to
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: stay true to our need for Jesus, but do it
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: in a really healthy way. And so that's what I
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: want for kids because I've seen kids leave the church
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: because of, and I have friends that have left the
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: church and I have young people, you know, young women
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: and men in my life that have left the church
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: because of that unhealthy, you know, extremism on either side. I've,
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I've seen it all. And so I feel
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: like there is a balance and I hope that we
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: can help kids find it.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: I love that. Thank you for saying that. I think
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. My oldest who's, who's struggled, she sees
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: some of the people that she grew up with who
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: are in the faith kind of using some of the
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: truths of scripture bludgeoning people with it. I'm like, that's
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: not the intention. We need to help. And this is
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: what I love about your programming is that we need
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: to help our kids to taste and see that the
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Lord is good. That's right.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Taste and see that the Lord is good. He loves us.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: And the standard is there to protect us so that
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: we don't hurt ourselves because he loves us. You know what? I,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: I didn't ask this. Maybe this should have been my
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: first question. But like Minnow, for anyone in our audience
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: who might not know why you chose that name. Oh, yeah.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Awesome name for it. Tell us why it's Minnow.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: This was our CEO's vision. Eric's vision was Minnow is
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: an Anglican spelling of the Greek word Minnow, M-E-N-O-W. which
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: means to abide. It's out of John 15. And so
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: our hope is for kids and families to abide with
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: Jesus every day. And that's why we're called Minnow. And
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: so that's the goal, and everything we do points to that.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: I thought... Perhaps it was because it's a little fish, right?
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: A little minnow. And we're trying to grow up the
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: little fish to be big fish.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: Big fish.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: These are our little minnows. I mentioned that earlier.
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: Well, that works too. That works too.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: It totally works because, of course, we all know that
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: the symbol they used back in the early church days
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: for being a believer was a fish.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: Was the fish.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Right. Little fish are just little minnows that abide. Yes.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: With the father. We can tie it all together. We
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: can use it all. That's right.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: It all works together.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: I love that. I love that too.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: I love it too. Oh, that's awesome. So if parents
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: want to explore Minnow's streaming platform and discover all of
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: that amazing programming and the resources we talked about today,
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: where can they go to learn more?
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they go to GoMinnow.com. So it's M-I-N-N-O, so no W.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: It's G-O-M-I-N-N-O.com, GoMinnow.com. And you can find, you can do
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: a free trial there. We do a seven-day trial and
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: experience the videos. And then I don't think I said this,
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: but we also have audio. So we released audio and
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: that way parents have a screen-free option. And that's another
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: thing that's unique to Minnow. It works in CarPlay and
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: all that too. So you can listen to Bible stories
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: if you don't want to watch them and when you're
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: on the go. So you can try a free trial.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: And then our subscriptions are $ 10. 99 a month or $ 69. 99
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: a year. So quite a big savings for a year,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: which we try to make it really affordable for families.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That's really– that is affordable. And I was thinking
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: with Christmas right around the corner, this is.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: A really good gift.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Because the grandparents are always asking, like, what do your
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: kids want? What do you want? And this would be
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: a great thing to gift from grandparents to kids or
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: parents to kids. But this has been so refreshing, so wonderful.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today, Jess, to
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: talk about.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: I think this is just a wonderful opportunity for us
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: to engage with our kids with some valuable content. Like
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: I said, I am going through that whole library of
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: the Torchlighters and Liberty Kids. I love it. This year
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: with my kids, and it's just going to be aiding
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: our homeschooling experience. But if your kids are in public school,
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: it's a great way to engage with them on biblical
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: worldview and biblical stories. once they get home from school
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: and send them in front of this. And I did
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: not know. Okay. So all the audio content, because sometimes
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: we do need to give our kids the visual break.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: That is very unique about yours. So thank you so
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: much for joining us today.
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. It's so fun.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: Yes. We're practically neighbors, aren't we? Yeah, we are. Yes.
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: We'll have to meet for coffee. We will.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: We'll have to get together for coffee because I moved
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: to your neck of the woods.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: God bless.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: Bye-bye. Moms and dads, what I love about this conversation is,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: is the reminder that even little choices we make every
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: day can make a big difference in our kids' lives.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: The shows they watch can be more than just a
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: way to pass the time. They can actually spark great conversations.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: They can plant seeds of truth, and they can help
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: our kids see God in new ways. And isn't that
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: what we want? To find those everyday opportunities to point
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: our kids toward the one who loves them the most?
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: I know that's what I want. And as always, remember,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: God gave you your kids, your specific kids, for a reason.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: That's because you hold the key to unlocking who God
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: created them to be. We'll see you next time.
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: Christian Parent Crazy World is a production of Life Audio
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: and Salem Media. For more faith-filled, inspirational podcasts, visit us
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: at lifeaudio.com.