Many grew up watching the Christian animated series “VeggieTales,” and Father Dave welcomes the show’s co-creator Mike Nawrocki to discuss sharing faith with kids. Mike wrote and directed episodes of the hit show as well as both theatrical-release films, and he served as the voice of Larry the Cucumber. Mike’s latest project is a new kids show called, “The Dead Sea Squirrels,” based on his own book series.
Mike describes how “VeggieTales” began. “[Co-creator] Phil Vischer – voice of Bob the Tomato – and I met back in college. We did a lot of performing together, largely puppetry; we were both Big Jim Henson fans. We ended up in video post-production in Chicago just as computer animation was starting to emerge,” he explains. “We wanted to tell stories coming from a bBiblical worldview that reminded kids that God made them special and he loves them very much. But we needed simple characters with no limbs, no hair, and no clothes, because all those things were really hard to [animate] on a computer; so vegetables were a great choice.”
Mike recalls how he first pursued becoming a missionary doctor and how God’s call shifted to entertainment. “I really felt like God had called me into ministry, but I didn’t know what that looked like until I had a chance to exercise my gifts a little more and see the place that he had put me, and how I could best serve him and others,” he says.
Like “VeggieTales,” his new show “The Dead Sea Squirrels” also seeks to creatively combine faith and fun. “The premise is an old Jewish couple who are squirrels — Merle and Pearl Squirrel — who live in Galilee in the first century. Merle has always had it in his mind that he wanted to go to the Dead Sea because he heard you can’t sink,” Mike says. “They spend a day in the sun swimming and having a great time, but then they realize they didn’t have a plan to get back up [to Galilee.]” He continues that the squirrels are preserved by salt in a cave for 2000 years until a boy from Tennessee named Michael finds them while vacationing and brings them home with him.
“Michael sets them up on his windowsill…it rains, and [the squirrels] desalinate, rehydrate, and come back to life,” Mike says. “So they’re his little buddies that lived in the first century, witnessed the life of Jesus and the disciples, and have stories and lessons to share from that time as he goes through his life as a fifth grader.”
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Father Dave says, “God bless you for the creative sense that the Lord has blessed you with…Do you put some of the ideas, or even storyboards, in front of kids to say, ‘Does this work? Is this funny?’ Mike responds how he used his children as a test audience for “VeggieTales” as they grew up.
“What I love to do is create shows where the message is fun and appropriate for kids, but then also include humor that parents can laugh along with too,” he says. “I’m a big fan of all the old ‘Looney Tunes’ [cartoons] where I can watch it now, and there’s a whole different layer of humor there that I totally love.”
Mike describes how his creative talents have combined with his faith. “I feel like storytelling has so much power in the lives of kids and of people in general; it’s how they form their worldview,” he says. “I feel like it’s part of my ministry to tell stories that assume that there’s a God who made us, who loves us, and who wants a relationship with us. It’s definitely part of how I practice my faith.”
