How to Teach Faith through Veggies and Journalling w/ Mike Nawrocki & Sarah Humphrey

Welcome to this week's exciting episode of the Collide Kids Podcast! Host Christen Clark is delighted to introduce two fantastic guests—Mike Nawrocki, co-creator of VeggieTales, and Sarah Humphrey, author and Mom Creative. Together they are the hosts of "The Bible for Kids" podcast.

In this episode, Mike shares his fascinating journey co-creating VeggieTales. You'll learn how beloved characters Bob and Larry were born and how VeggieTales has been teaching kids about God's love since 1993. Mike also gives us a sneak peek into his current project, "Dead Sea Squirrels," a book series that's soon to become an animated series.

Sarah Humphrey talks about her 25-year writing journey, inspired by a spiritual calling to journal, leading to her first book, "40 Days to Joyful Motherhood," and her work in children’s devotionals like "Solomon Says Devotional." She’s currently exploring new projects in children's fiction as her own kids grow.

Together, Mike and Sarah discuss their podcast, "The Bible for Kids," which offers valuable resources for Christian parents. You’ll also enjoy light-hearted moments, including jokes and riddles, adding fun to this faith-filled episode. Plus a very special version of a VeggieTales classic song in our Kids Only Segment featuring Liam Smith!

Clip Finder

"Reviving Christian Bookstores through Podcasts": "The podcast was actually Dan's idea, and it was born out of the desire to help serve the need that was met largely by christian bookstores for so long, where folks could walk into their local christian bookstore and say, okay, what's new out there."
— Mike Nawrocki [00:09:26 → 00:09:45]

"Balancing Life as a Homeschool Mom": "Well, I'm Sarah Humphrey. I am a mother of three, a homeschool mom. So we were actually doing school a little bit earlier today. I'm an author. I'm a guest teacher at Pure Bar, where we do exercise for women."
— Sarah Humphrey [00:04:18 → 00:04:33]

Motherhood and Devotion: "So I like to write just in a variety of different styles, but most of the time, I've been doing a lot of devotionals because I think a lot of busy parents might have five minutes in the morning to, like, feed themselves with something."
— Sarah Humphrey [00:15:15 → 00:15:30]

Exploring Fiction in Parenting: "I'm just learning kind of a little bit about story and figuring out how to kind of work a fictional story or narrative into my daily life with what's happening kind of around me."
— Sarah Humphrey [00:17:36 → 00:17:48]

The Time-Travelling Squirrels: "Merle and Pearl Squirrel are a couple of first century squirrels or an old jewish couple. Merle has always wanted to take a vacation to the Dead Sea because he heard that you can't sink."
— Mike Nawrocki [00:19:32 → 00:19:42]

Growing Up with Comedy and Faith: "I grew up just loving to make people laugh, you know, I was a biggest Muppets fan, Jim Henson fan. I love Monty Python growing up, Mel Brooks movies, and my deep, deep love was the Doctor Demento radio hour, which wa

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Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:21]:

Hey y'all, welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast. I'm your host, Christen Clark. The Collide Kids Podcast is a show for kids and families where we learn together how life and faith collide. I am so glad that you're listening today. Thank you so much for being here and spending this time with me. If this is your first time listening, I just want to let you know that at the end of every episode, we have the kids only segment where kids just like you get to be on the podcast. Well, I am really excited about this month's lineup of guests and I think you guys are in for a special treat.

Christen Clark [00:01:01]:

If you want to know who all the guests are going to be for the month of October and you want some fun family content as well, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. You can get that at collidekidspodcast.com dot there's a little pop up that'll let you subscribe and you get all the fun info just for that month. I promise. I only send them out once a month because, well, I'm not that good at keeping up with them and I I don't like getting a ton of emails and I don't want to send you a ton of emails, but I want you to know what's going on with the show. So I hope you'll subscribe to the podcast newsletter. That would be a lot of fun for you to check out. You can also head over to our YouTube channel and watch some of the latest episodes, interviews and you get to see what the person looks like and see what we talk about. It's so much fun.

Christen Clark [00:01:42]:

I would love for you to subscribe there as well. Well, I just want to go ahead and get right into our interview today because I am so excited about our guest. Today we have Mike Nawrocki and Sarah Humphrey. Mike is the co creator of Veggietales and the voice of the beloved Larry the Cucumber and he has been the pulse of the veggietale brand. Since its inception in 1993. Mike has directed, written and directed most of the popular silly songs with Larry segments including fan favorites like his Cheeseburger and the Hairbrush Song. In addition, Mike has authored a number of veggietale books and projects, as well as developing and writing for another of big ideas. Hit animated properties.

Christen Clark [00:02:23]:

Three, two, one. Penguins. I love that show. Mike is currently focused on developing new children's content centered around fun characters, engaging storytelling and wholesome value. Sarah is often considered a mom creative. She enjoys spending time with her family through homeschooling while also working as an author and a voice actor. Her writing and doodling is most notably featured in her latest devotional and coloring book, 40 days to a joyful Motherhood. While her voice is also heard in several commercials, children's books and audiobooks.

Christen Clark [00:02:55]:

With a heart for community and relationships, Sarah enjoys helping young families explore God, creativity and connecting through her writing, art and daily joy. Together, they are the hosts of the Bible for Kids podcast, a show for christian parents to discover resources from publishers and ministry partners to help their kids gain a biblical worldview. We had such an incredible conversation and I was so delighted to share this with you today. So here is my conversation with Mike Nawrocki and Sarah Humphrey. Well, I am so excited today to have the host of the Bible for Kids podcast today. You guys, Mike and Sarah, welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast.

Mike Nawrocki [00:03:47]:

Hi, Christen. Thank you so much for having us on.

Sarah Humphrey [00:03:49]:

Yeah, this is so fun. It's fun for us to be on the other side of things. So this is really special.

Christen Clark [00:03:54]:

I know whenever I'm on a podcast, I say the same thing. It's really. It's a different feeling to be the one interviewed instead of the one that's.

Mike Nawrocki [00:04:02]:

There'S not as much preparation, which is really nice.

Christen Clark [00:04:05]:

That's true. You don't have to worry about how it sounds or what happens.

Mike Nawrocki [00:04:09]:

You show up and answer questions. That's all you got to do.

Christen Clark [00:04:13]:

Would you guys just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Sarah Humphrey [00:04:18]:

Well, I'm Sarah Humphrey. I am a mother of three, a homeschool mom. So we were actually doing school a little bit earlier today. I'm an author. I'm a guest teacher at Pure Bar, where we do exercise for women. I do a lot of little things. I like to garden, anything creative, really draw a little bit, write a little bit of always with kids and in my neighborhood most of the time.

Christen Clark [00:04:44]:

Nice.

Mike Nawrocki [00:04:45]:

Yeah. And I'm Mike Nawrocki. Your listeners might know me as the voice of Larry the Cucumber, which, you know, it's never too far away from the microphone. A co creator of veggietales. You know, it's been a number of years since I've worked on veggietales, but in those years I've started teaching. So I'm a professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. So I teach film and animation there. And then I also have a new book series out the Dead Sea Squirrels.

Mike Nawrocki [00:05:13]:

And we've actually just wrapped season one animation based off of that first series. So excited about that. And married my wife, Lisa. And we've been married almost 30 years, 29 years now. And we have two kids and they're grown and out of college. And yes, we're kind of new empty nesters and entered that season of our life. So, yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

Christen Clark [00:05:40]:

That is very cool. I love that. And I love that you're Larry the Cucumber. I have to say, larry boy theme song is one of my favorite songs still.

Mike Nawrocki [00:05:48]:

Oh, nice.

Christen Clark [00:05:49]:

I know you didn't sing it, but.

Mike Nawrocki [00:05:50]:

The OG one, the one with the OG.

Christen Clark [00:05:52]:

But I do. We all grew up on Veggie tales, and there's still some veggie tale fans floating around. There's some new versions and some people that are introducing it to their kids.

Mike Nawrocki [00:06:03]:

So, yeah, it's so cool as I see, you know, newer and newer generations, you know, four or five year old kids who are watching veggie tales. And I'm like, all right. Yeah, it's still. Still going, which is really cool.

Christen Clark [00:06:14]:

That is cool. All right, well, I'm excited to talk to both of you today, but before we get started in our conversation, because this is a show for kids, I always make my guests tell me a joke, so. Or something funny. So if you've got something for us today, I'd love to hear it.

Mike Nawrocki [00:06:28]:

I've got one. I've got one. And then maybe Sarah could go. Why did the Cucumber cross the road?

Christen Clark [00:06:34]:

I don't know.

Mike Nawrocki [00:06:36]:

Cause he thought he saw the hairbrush. It was sitting right there. But he went over and it was gone. I bet you couldn't tell that I just made that up just now.

Sarah Humphrey [00:06:45]:

I know. I was pretty curious how it was going to end.

Mike Nawrocki [00:06:49]:

I'm sure you have a much better joke, Sarah.

Sarah Humphrey [00:06:51]:

Well, I don't know if it's much better, but we do this thing whenever we go on family vacation. When our waiter comes to the table, we give our waiter a riddle, and we'll give him a big tip if he can get the riddle right. So we're about to go on vacation. So I was looking up a couple. So this is one. Let's see how it goes.

Christen Clark [00:07:07]:

Okay.

Sarah Humphrey [00:07:08]:

What has hands but cannot clap?

Mike Nawrocki [00:07:12]:

Is that a clock?

Sarah Humphrey [00:07:14]:

Oh, how did you.

Mike Nawrocki [00:07:19]:

Okay, so when I was in high school, I was taking an architectural drawing class, and the teacher said, okay, I'm gonna give you guys a riddle, and if anybody can answer this riddle anytime throughout the, um, the semester, I'll give you an a. And. And the riddle was, why is a mouse when it spins? Why is a mouse when it spins? You know, so we were all. Everybody wanted to yay. So we were racking our brains about it, and we would guess certain things, and you go, nope, that's not it. So finally, we got to the end of the semester, and we said, okay, well, what's the answer? He says, there's no answer. It's just that, you know, I was just making up something stupid.

Christen Clark [00:07:56]:

Like, I just want to see you guys, like, bothered by it for a while. I can figure it out.

Mike Nawrocki [00:08:03]:

That's good.

Christen Clark [00:08:04]:

I remember when I was. I did education as my major, and so if you're an education major in college, you have to go back to school and you have to do, like, a student teaching. And I interned at the school I grew up at, and I was sitting in the teacher's lounge next to one of my english teachers, and she made this comment like, you know, whenever the kids say, I'll say, oh, it's time for a pop quiz. And the kids will be like, what? You didn't tell us that. And she's like, I didn't. I had no idea. And for the longest time, I really thought that she was, like, one of the craziest, dumbest teachers, but she was just playing us that whole time. So the power that teachers have.

Mike Nawrocki [00:08:45]:

That's right.

Christen Clark [00:08:46]:

Just, like, devastated in college to learn that she had lied to me.

Mike Nawrocki [00:08:49]:

And how dare you not tell your students about a pop quiz, right?

Christen Clark [00:08:52]:

She's like, I forgot to tell you guys. I'm so sorry. Yeah, that was her thing. So that was fun. All right, well, let's talk first about your podcast, because we were saying this before, like, the people that listen to podcasts are people that listen to podcasts. When you're already listening to podcasts, you're always looking for a new one or something fun to add to what you're already doing. So, how did you guys get started with the Bible for Kids podcast?

Mike Nawrocki [00:09:17]:

So, Dan lynch is the producer of our podcast, but he's also our literary agent, so he's been representing us for a number of years. And so the podcast was actually Dan's idea, and it was born out of the desire to help serve the need that was met largely by christian bookstores for so long, where folks could walk into their local christian bookstore and say, okay, what's new out there. What books can you recommend? What kind of resources are available for my child who I'm trying to bring up with a biblical worldview and with a lot of christian bookstores going out of business and a lot of that business going online, the idea was if we could have a podcast where we have authors on that have new books coming out, new resources, not just authors, but musicians, anybody who kind of creates stuff for kids that helps bring them up in a biblical worldview, that's what we want to do. So largely, it's a show for parents about resources that are available for their kids. And so that's sort of the big idea around the, around the podcast. And so I did it. We've done it for a number of years now. Amy Parker and I started off the show, and then Amy went to law school and got really busy.

Mike Nawrocki [00:10:34]:

And so that's when Sarah joined a couple years ago now. Sarah, is that.

Sarah Humphrey [00:10:38]:

Yeah.

Mike Nawrocki [00:10:39]:

So Sarah's been joining. So it's fun. So we just, you know, it's a weekly podcast. We speak with one author a week or one musician or one actor or whatever field of, you know, kind of art they're in, and it's great. And hopefully, you know, we, you know, just help parents just know what new resources are available out there for their kids.

Christen Clark [00:11:00]:

That's awesome. I love that. And I think I agree. Like, my favorite place to go was the christian bookstore. And I would just walk around, look at book titles and, and always looking for, for new things that were coming out. And so to not have that as a resource anymore, it's hard to know what's out there.

Mike Nawrocki [00:11:15]:

Right.

Christen Clark [00:11:16]:

And Barnes and Noble has a very small little section for faith based content, but.

Mike Nawrocki [00:11:22]:

Right. And probably the people that are working there don't really know what's what. And as far as that goes, where, you know, the folks working at the christian bookstores would be able to, you know, give you the inside scoop on stuff and be able to, you'd be able to ask them questions, so. And, you know, and there's still some great bookstores around, but, yeah, they're few and far between now.

Sarah Humphrey [00:11:39]:

And one of the fun things about the podcast, too, is you kind of get a behind the scenes look at the author. Well, I say author because typically it is an author of some sort, but you get to hear kind of some of the things that went into the project before it actually bloomed or got on a shelf or, you know, was available for order, which I think is fun for moms in particular who are looking for those resources, because you get to kind of pull the curtain back a little bit and find out, like, how was this made? What inspired it? You know, what was the story behind this book or project or song or VBS curriculum, you know, anything like that. And it's just nice to know where your products that you're teaching your kids come from. So I think the podcast is unique in that way because people can hear from the person who created it.

Christen Clark [00:12:26]:

Yeah.

Mike Nawrocki [00:12:27]:

Yeah. And I know a lot of times, too, maybe aspiring authors, it can be interesting to them, too, because what we run across time and again is folks saying, when we ask, why did you write this? The answer is, well, because I was looking for something and I couldn't find it about this. So I thought, maybe I'm the person that needs to write this. And so that can be really motivating for folks who saying, hey, here's an idea that I have that I don't see out there. So maybe this is something that I can write and see if I can get out into the world.

Christen Clark [00:12:55]:

Yeah, that is cool. And that's. I've had the privilege of interviewing a lot of authors as well, and I love that it's something that you get really close to that person. Like, I don't know about you guys, but every time I interview someone on my podcast, they are immediately my best friend after that. Yeah, that's true, because you get to know them and their story, and I love hearing people's story about where these ideas come from or where they came up with their content and why they're so passionate about it.

Mike Nawrocki [00:13:22]:

Yeah, absolutely.

Christen Clark [00:13:23]:

So, speaking of content, you guys both have some books and things that you've put together. So, Sarah, you have a devotional. Well, you have a few books. Tell us a little bit about your books and how you got started in writing.

Sarah Humphrey [00:13:35]:

I got started in writing, actually, by simply journaling. It was probably, like 25 years ago where I felt like the Lord really put it on my heart to start just writing every day. Just several pages of whatever was on my head went on to the paper. And after I had done that for, I don't know, maybe ten years or so, he asked me to go back through all of my journals, find the ones from childhood, all the way through this process, and reorder them in chronological order. So I did that, and then I ended up writing basically my autobiography from my journals, and I kind of put it into more of, like, a creative journal that was mostly for, like, my kids because I wanted something for them, you know, a long time from now when I have great grandkids, they could pull out my audio file or that book and be like, oh, this is where great grandma came from, told by her. So I did that. But then there was a lot of content in that. That was like, I could turn this into, like, a devotional if I make it really practical.

Sarah Humphrey [00:14:39]:

So I took just different kind of ideas from those original journals. And that's where my first book, 40 days to joyful motherhood, came out of. And then other opportunities came from that book being published. It was just 40 days of, like, little Devos, one of them being Solomon says devotional, which is for eight to twelve year old children. And it's a devo that goes through 100 of the proverbs. And I wrote that with Queen Parker, who was the co host before me. So that was a really fun project because I actually stepped into a book of the Bible and then wrote a divo from Mac. So I like to write just in a variety of different styles, but most of the time, I've been doing a lot of devotionals because I think a lot of busy parents might have five minutes in the morning to, like, feed themselves with something.

Christen Clark [00:15:30]:

Yeah.

Sarah Humphrey [00:15:30]:

So I like doing those short and sweet little nuggets where I feel like I've helped a parent or I've helped a child get through their day a little bit easier than maybe they would have if they wouldn't have had anything like that to read.

Christen Clark [00:15:44]:

Yeah. And I love devotionals for that because I think, especially if you're not someone that understands a lot about the Bible or you don't know where to start or where to go first. It's really good to have a devotional kind of help you understand, help break it down, and then give you something to think about. And so, yeah, I love having devotionals. Can I just be honest? I also. I have, like, devotionals all over our house. So I have some beside the table in the living room, I have some. We have a little centerpiece on our kitchen table where we eat dinner.

Christen Clark [00:16:11]:

And then I have a couple that are in each bathroom because what a great place to have a seat and read for a few minutes.

Mike Nawrocki [00:16:18]:

So a captive audience.

Christen Clark [00:16:19]:

That's right. Why not get fed while you're there.

Sarah Humphrey [00:16:24]:

The most of your time?

Christen Clark [00:16:25]:

That's right. That's right.

Mike Nawrocki [00:16:27]:

Give some input to the output.

Christen Clark [00:16:30]:

I love that. There you go. That's what I'm putting. I should get a sign for that. So fun. Tell me a little bit about why you decided what made you want to do devotionals instead of maybe like a fictional book or something like that.

Sarah Humphrey [00:16:45]:

Well, I think devotionals, that's kind of just what I was comfortable with. I think that those journals, like, it really was my time of where I was talking to God and waiting, hearing, you know, waiting for him to talk to me back and writing down just kind of what was in there. So I think it was just a natural fit for me to turn that into, like, a small devo style. I am. I am working on some little kid books, you know, more picture board books, and I am tinkering on a fictional series. So I'm playing in that area a little bit and kind of getting my feet. Wetland. My kids are all in that, like, middle school.

Sarah Humphrey [00:17:20]:

Well, my oldest has just started high school, but the other two are in that middle school range. So I've been, like, picking up the books that they're reading, you know, that are fictional and just kind of, like, getting a feel for it. But it's new for me, so it's fun, though. I'm having a good time, and I'm just learning kind of a little bit about story and figuring out how to kind of work a fictional story or narrative into my daily life with what's happening kind of around me. So we'll see what happens with that. But I'm tinkering there a little bit.

Christen Clark [00:17:52]:

I love that. That's cool. I just interviewed Andrew Peterson, who wrote Wing Feather Saga, you know, and I'm like, how did you come up with all these fictional, like, plants and animals? Like, it wasn't just these characters. It was so he created a world, and he just said it was just fun to kind of use your imagination and. And you get to be in control of the story and in control of what, you know, what the world looks like. And so I think that's cool when you have that power. So, Mike, tell me a little bit about your books. I love the title Dead Sea squirrels.

Christen Clark [00:18:23]:

Where did that come from?

Mike Nawrocki [00:18:24]:

Well, yeah, so the title occurred to me first. I'm always a sucker for a bad pun, and so I thought that would be great, you know, actually making veggie tales for all those years. One of the things, one of the lines that we drew in the sand early on was to never depict Jesus as a vegetable, for obvious reasons. Right. We were pretty irreverent with veggietales, but we had enough reverence to figure that out. But it limited the number of New Testament stories that we could tell. We told the Christmas story and the Easter story in creative ways, but we had to really? Watch how we did that with veggie tales. But I wanted to have a concept that would be a great vehicle for New Testament stories, tell about the life of Christ and the apostles in the early church.

Mike Nawrocki [00:19:07]:

And so that title occurred to me and I thought the general idea was what would it be like? Kind of like Encino man, if you saw that old movie from the eighties or nineties? What would happen if a character from the first or characters from the first century were sort of frozen in time and then discovered in the modern day? And so that was kind of the genesis of that. And so the overall kind of idea is Merle and Pearl Squirrel are a couple of first century squirrels or an old jewish couple. Merle has always wanted to take a vacation to the Dead Sea because he heard that you can't sink. They live up in Galilee. So they come down the Jordan river, spend a couple hours on the shores of the Dead Sea and figure out, oh my goodness, we're going to die because it's so hot and so salty. And so they go into a cave, but they get stuck there and of course they're encrusted in salt and eventually they sort of dry out and petrify and flash forward 2000 years later, Michael Gomez is on a summer trip with his dad, who's an archaeologist. And Michael wanders into a cave, kind of like the little boy who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know? Michael walks into a cave and discovers these two salt encrusted dehydrated squirrels. And he thinks they're super cool and he sneaks them in his backpack home with him to Tennessee and he sets him up on his dresser so they don't stink up his room.

Mike Nawrocki [00:20:24]:

He opens up a window that night it rains and they rehydrate and desalinate and come back to life after 2000 years. And so they've got these stories from this first century to share with Michael and his friends who are in the fifth grade and going through things that fifth graders go through. And so there's a biblical lesson that we share every book in the form of a flashback chapter to the first century that helps Michael and his friends deal with their dilemma in the present day. So, yeah, so it's a lot of fun. There are twelve books out right now. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, so it's a whole, and those first twelve books tell a complete story.

Mike Nawrocki [00:21:04]:

So it's a series, sort of a cliffhanger at the end of every book, but that sort of wraps up in the twelve books. And I've actually started writing a new set of twelve that'll be coming out fairly soon. So it's just been great. And I've loved doing it. I'm a trained screenwriter, and so for me, getting to write prose, it was kind of intimidating at first, but then after a while, it's like, wow, this is really fun. You have to be so economical as a screenwriter because you're just imagining, okay, what is this going to look like? And what's going to be communicated visually? You don't have to write that, you just have to write what are you going to see and hear? But it was really fun. I just really, really have enjoyed the process of, I get to write what the characters think. You can't do that in screenwriting, or I get to have a narrator who says some stuff about stuff.

Mike Nawrocki [00:21:53]:

So it's been a really, really fun process. And then in the midst of all that, because I have such a big background in animation, in the process of publishing the books, I started animating the books as well. And so we have an animated series that's about ready to come out. We're still tying down our distribution deal, but we're done with animation on 13 episodes of Dead Sea Squirrels. Each of them is about half an hour long, and I'm really, really excited about releasing that. So it's been so fun.

Christen Clark [00:22:25]:

I love that because it's like you get to kind of see it come to life and the fact that you're involved in it, you get to make sure it looks the way you want it to.

Mike Nawrocki [00:22:32]:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Christen Clark [00:22:33]:

Sounds the way you want it to. Yeah.

Mike Nawrocki [00:22:34]:

And, you know, it was great to be able to develop the stories in the books because writing a book is so much cheaper than making a movie. And so being able to. Being able to develop all the stories and the characters and kind of get this world and then, you know, and then doing the adaptation to a screenplay and then, you know, and things, you know, are a little bit different in the, in the film as they are in the books. And it's just. It was fun to play with that, but, yeah, it's just been really, really great to see it come to life.

Christen Clark [00:23:01]:

Now, I've heard, like, other animators and people that have created movies about animals, they study the animal and they watch the animal. Do you ever interact with squirrels to get ideas for your stuff?

Mike Nawrocki [00:23:14]:

The inside scoop on squirrels.

Christen Clark [00:23:15]:

Yeah, tell us about squirrels.

Mike Nawrocki [00:23:17]:

Yeah, yeah, it's so funny. We just had, my neighborhood's about eight years old now, so the trees are finally starting to get big enough to have squirrels. So it's like, oh, wow. I'm just realizing that I written this whole series largely without having squirrels around my house. So now the squirrels are showing up.

Christen Clark [00:23:34]:

I was actually chased by a squirrel once. I was in college, and I was sitting on this beautiful bench that was, like, overlooking this nice hillside. I don't know. And it was in the morning, and I saw a squirrel coming towards me, and I was like, oh, look, it's coming towards me. And then it didn't stop. It was, like, gonna jump on me. So I threw my backpack towards it, and it, like. And I thought it was gonna.

Christen Clark [00:24:01]:

I don't know. I was. I've never been terrified of them, but I just remember that moment where this girl ran at me.

Mike Nawrocki [00:24:06]:

Oh, my goodness. No. That would be freaky. Cause he wrote it. It's like, does this thing have rabies? Why is it charging me? This is.

Christen Clark [00:24:11]:

Why does it want to talk to me right now? Maybe it was one of those dead seas. It was.

Mike Nawrocki [00:24:15]:

Yeah. It was just trying to tell you, trying to give you a good lesson, a good life lesson, a good story.

Sarah Humphrey [00:24:20]:

Well, I have a funny squirrel story from this morning. I have a couple that like to hang out in our neighborhood backyard. And so we have this little bird feeder where you can take, like, pictures of whatever animal, like, comes to the bird feeder. Well, the squirrels like to come and get seed from bird seed from it, too. And so we hadn't, like, fed, put any seed in it for quite a while. And my daughter Lucy was like, can we please get some bird seed and put it back in the. In the feeder so that we can get some action in the backyard? Okay. So we did.

Sarah Humphrey [00:24:51]:

We went to Walmart the other day, bought a little seed this morning. I'm sitting out there, and there's a squirrel out there, and I hadn't seen him in a while, and I was like, oh, I missed him. So he's eating, you know, or she. I don't really know. Can't tell the feeder. And all of a sudden, this, like, blue jay or some. Some type of bird, I think it's a blue jay, comes in, is sitting on the fence, watching the squirrel eat the seed, and the bird's starting to get frustrated because the bird wants some seed.

Mike Nawrocki [00:25:17]:

So it's not called bird seed for no reason.

Sarah Humphrey [00:25:23]:

Squirrel. And I'm watching him, and he's getting a little, like, annoyed. Like, louder and louder. And so eventually, the squirrel takes this paw and smacks the seed off of the house onto the ground so that the bird will go to the ground and eat it and, wow.

Mike Nawrocki [00:25:39]:

Stop bugging me. Stop bugging me.

Sarah Humphrey [00:25:42]:

Down to the grass and started eating the seed. You know, it was quite.

Mike Nawrocki [00:25:46]:

Wow, that's awesome.

Sarah Humphrey [00:25:48]:

Oh, my gosh.

Mike Nawrocki [00:25:50]:

A whole little conversation going on out here.

Christen Clark [00:25:52]:

Yes. I love that. That's fun. Yeah, I love those bird feeders and, like, you know, the ones that spin the squirrels off. Those are fun to watch also. Well, I'd love to hear a little bit too, Mike, about your experience in film, how you got started in that, which led you, apparently, to be Larry the Cucumber. So can you give us that journey of how you got started?

Mike Nawrocki [00:26:14]:

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, I grew up just loving to make people laugh, you know, I was a biggest Muppets fan, Jim Henson fan. I love Monty Python growing up, Mel Brooks movies, and my deep, deep Love was the doctor demento radio hour, which was like a radio parody music hour. And it's where guys like weird Al Yankovic got his start. So I love that. And so I just loved writing goofy little songs. And, you know, I became a christian when I was about 13 years old, and we had a, you know, a couple of churches that I went to had a really dynamic arts ministry. And so I got involved in, you know, plays and choirs and eventually Sunday school.

Mike Nawrocki [00:26:59]:

We did kind of like a Sesame street Sunday school thing for kids. So I started getting involved with puppets. When I went to college, I went to a small christian college. For the first year and a half, it was a denominational college of the Christian Missionary alliance, and every student was required to do a student ministry. And I chose the puppet team because they had one, and I had done puppets. And I met Phil Vischer. Phil, who would later go on to become Bob the tomato, he and I met on this puppet team, and so we started writing our own stuff, and he had a really wacky sense of humor like me. And so we like to say we traveled the Minnesota countryside, scaring the Baptists with our puppets.

Mike Nawrocki [00:27:36]:

So we hit it off, and then we both ended up in Chicago. I did pre med, and he was working in video post production. So I came to University of Illinois, Chicago to do my. I had fun doing this stuff, but I had no idea that this is something, a calling that I could do for a living and for a ministry. But to put my way through school, a job opened up where Phil was working as a vhs tape duplicator on the graveyard shift. And so I took that and was working and going to school. But then I was learning all this new production stuff, and it's like, oh, this is so much fun. And then, so I learned enough.

Mike Nawrocki [00:28:12]:

After a while, Phil and I started talking about, and he was learning a lot, obviously, too. What could we use this new art form of computer animation to do what we had done with puppets back in Bible college. And for that, we needed simple characters with no limbs and no hair and no clothes, because all those things were really hard to do. Yeah. On the computer. And Phil actually modeled a candy bar at first. And he had gotten married by this time. And his wife Lisa, who then would later go on to become a junior asparagus, he said, phil, I don't think moms are going to appreciate their kids learning biblical values from a candy bar.

Mike Nawrocki [00:28:49]:

It's just not healthy. So, of course, vegetables are simple and healthy. So that was the next thing. So that's how Bob and Larry were born. Or at first, Mister Kuke and Mister Tomato, but then we later named them Bob and Larry. And then we had done puppets. And so we just lent a couple of our puppet voices to these characters into other characters that we did with veggie tales. And so really kind of that all around training of acting, performing, getting to know enough about computer animation to make our first show, and then kind of the production involved in that and then skit writing.

Mike Nawrocki [00:29:27]:

And so those short skits of veggietales later turned into longer stories. And then we did a couple of films and sort of learning how as we went. And Veggie Tales was born in 1993, so that's over 30 years ago.

Christen Clark [00:29:42]:

Wow.

Mike Nawrocki [00:29:42]:

So just been producing stuff ever since then.

Christen Clark [00:29:46]:

That's amazing. I love that. Don't you love when you find those friends who are just as quirky and crazy as you are, and you're like, where are those things?

Mike Nawrocki [00:29:53]:

I know, right? No, no, that was so great. I mean, it was such a revelation to both of us. And it's like, and we've always worked so well together creatively, and we're actually mulling over a couple projects right now that we're working on. So even though we're, you know, I'm down in Nashville now and he's up in Chicago, but we still talk and work on stuff together.

Christen Clark [00:30:12]:

That's really cool. I saw, I think I saw a TikTok video a while back where someone said, now whenever they read the Bible, they still have a hard time not seeing vegetables, you know? So, like, they're reading about Joshua and the battle of Jericho, and they're like, those peas, those french peas, they come out in the.

Mike Nawrocki [00:30:31]:

We had somebody that worked for us at big idea. And she said, you guys, I got to tell you, I got to confide this in you. My biggest fear is when I get to heaven, I'm going to be met at the pearly gates. And it's like, well done, good and faithful servant. But I want to talk to you about that veggie tales thing.

Christen Clark [00:30:50]:

I think you guys are going to wait just a minute.

Mike Nawrocki [00:30:52]:

Before you come in, let's have a little talk about this.

Christen Clark [00:30:55]:

Yeah, that's good. But I think it really makes the. I think it really made the Bible so much more approachable and, you know, so I think that's the goal. And it just made it fun. And I'm sure you guys had no idea it would blow up and be as popular as it was.

Mike Nawrocki [00:31:10]:

No, no. In fact, you know, kind of the idea the whole time was that we've got an ensemble cast of vegetables, and they're putting on these little, like, church plays of Bible stories. That was sort of the idea, you know, so they are never, never meant to. To say, okay, this is how it happened. And a lot of times we, you know, so we stayed very close to kind of the main story points in the Bible and kind of the main themes, but obviously had a lot of fun outside of that. But, you know, the hope was just to, yeah, help kids obviously know that God made them special and he loves them very much. But then also to, you know, have this awareness of this story, you know, the biblical, you know, just God's. God's story of the Bible and have, you know, be able to carry that throughout their lives and then come back and read the real story and say, oh, okay, I remember this because of this and all that.

Christen Clark [00:31:56]:

Yeah. And there's no asparagus in this story.

Mike Nawrocki [00:31:57]:

But there is no asparagus. Yes.

Christen Clark [00:32:00]:

That's awesome. Well, you guys, thank you so much for being here today. This has been so fun talking to you. Can you let our listeners know, sarah, where they can find out more about the bible for kids podcast?

Sarah Humphrey [00:32:11]:

Yes, I believe it's just the www.thebibleforkids.com, and you can hop on there and you can get access to all the podcasts. And mike and amy, you still do one for kids, right? That's narrated, I believe, on the website also.

Mike Nawrocki [00:32:26]:

Yeah, it's on the website. Yeah. Yeah. So we actually did a kids bible, and we've done reading of all those, of a number of different stories. And I believe there's like 50. Yeah. So we've done a reading of all those stories as well that go along with the book that we did. So there are also available on the website for free.

Christen Clark [00:32:44]:

Well, good. Well, I definitely encourage my listeners to go check you guys out. I think it's great, and especially if you're looking for resources and looking for just a fun conversation to check that podcast out. All right, well, before I let you go, I always ask my guests to tell me a memory from when they were a kid. So who wants to go first?

Mike Nawrocki [00:33:02]:

Sarah, please go first.

Sarah Humphrey [00:33:04]:

So. Well, we used to get together every Christmas Eve as a family, my mom's side of the family at my grandparents house. And every year never fails. After we opened up all of our Christmas presents, we had a wrapping paper fight. And it was always the best. Full throttle. People were throwing hard and fast.

Mike Nawrocki [00:33:29]:

It seems like that's always got to end badly, though. Was it ended in tears times?

Sarah Humphrey [00:33:33]:

It did. We're good forgivers, so we always, you know, go back around. But that was one childhood memory that I remember it after, you know, after the ripping paper fight, then driving home, and typically it was in Ohio, so typically it was cold and there was snow, you know, to drive home and just a sweet, fun, sometimes feisty memories.

Christen Clark [00:33:54]:

That's great. I love that.

Mike Nawrocki [00:33:56]:

My fondest childhood memories, I think, are probably at my grandparents cabin I up in the Pocono mountains. My dad's parents were immigrants from Poland who lived in Philadelphia, and my grandfather built a cabin on a river leading up to a lake called Lake Wallan Polpack up in eastern Pennsylvania. And I just would love going up there, spending the summer with my grandmother. We'd have a little boat. I'd go out fishing. We had a friend with a water ski boat. It was really, I don't know, maybe three summers, four summers that I went up there. But, you know, it made such a big impact on me just getting to spend that time with my brothers who were there and then my grandmother.

Mike Nawrocki [00:34:37]:

So it's a great, great memory from childhood.

Christen Clark [00:34:39]:

That's cool. I love that fun outdoor activities are always a good. Yes, good thing. Well, you guys, thank you so much for being on the show today. It was great having you.

Mike Nawrocki [00:34:49]:

Christen, thank you so much. This is such a pleasure and an honor to be on with you.

Sarah Humphrey [00:34:52]:

Yes, thank you. And your questions were so fun, too, and thoughtful.

Christen Clark [00:35:04]:

That was so fun. I can't tell you how much joy I felt to hear Larry the Cucumber tell a joke. I mean, and it was so interesting to learn that Veggie tales was almost about candy bars, but they had to use something more wholesome. And that's the reason veggies work, because, well, it was easier to animate back then, 1993. And now here we have this classic show that has helped so many kids throughout the years learn more about the Bible. I always love learning about how people start writing and the things that they're interested in. And I loved that Sarah started her devotionals from journaling. Journaling is just a great way to process feelings and remember great events and stories from your life that you can look back on someday because you wrote it all down in a notebook.

Christen Clark [00:35:48]:

And I love that the Dead Sea Squirrels books have been turned into an animated series. That is so fun. To learn how that story came together. We will have links in the show notes for you to go check out. Mike and Sarah's books and resources, as well as their podcast, the Bible for Kids podcast, which actually started to showcase new content for families to help kids grow up with a biblical worldview. And they're still able to do that now, which is really great. So definitely check that out. If you love listening to podcasts, then I highly recommend their show.

Christen Clark [00:36:19]:

I think you'll really enjoy it. You can find out more about their show at thebibleforkidspodcast.com. Well, now it's time for the kids only segment. This is the part of the show where you get to be on the podcast, so you guys are in for a treat. This is my friend, Liam.

Christen Clark [00:36:42]:

"The Lord has given this man to us. No need to fuss. He know what he's doing. We know that he will take care of us if we will follow him".

Christen Clark [00:36:59]:

Thank you, Liam. Wasn't that amazing? Okay, and if you go to YouTube, you can watch the video and he sways back and forth, just like Larry the Cucumber did on Josh and the Big Wall, which is a great rendition of Joshua, which we talked about earlier in the show. And I love the timing on this because my friend sent me this video a few months ago, and then I found out we're going to have Larry the Cucumber on the show. So I've been saving it for just this moment. So great job, Liam. That was so good. Hey, if you'd like to be like Liam and be on the next episode of the Collide Kids Podcast and sing your favorite veggietale song, or maybe a different song you want to sing or a bible verse you want to share, or maybe you have a great joke that you want to tell. Just head over to my website, collidekidspodcast.com, and click the tab that says kids only.

Christen Clark [00:37:48]:

You can record it right there. It's so easy to do. You can also send it to me as a video through my social media. I'm on Facebook at the Collide Kids Podcast or on Instagram @collidekidspod and I would love for you to follow me there on Instagram and Facebook. I share all kinds of stuff about upcoming episodes, episodes, and some really fun content that you will enjoy. And also, don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel Collide Kids Podcast. Easy to remember, they're all the same. And you can watch the full length interview for today's episode.

Christen Clark [00:38:18]:

You know, a great way to support this podcast is to leave a rating and a review on your podcast app. When you do that, it really does help other people find out about the show. And I love it when you guys share about the podcast and tell your friends family why they should listen. It's so encouraging to know that you are enjoying it and you want to share it with someone else. And anytime you think about it, I always appreciate your prayer support as well. Well, I hope that you guys have a great week. Thank you so much for being here and listening today. And in case no one has told you, I would love to be the first to remind you that God loves you so much.

Christen Clark [00:38:53]:

Thanks for listening.