How to be a Motion Graphic Designer w/ Carl Barnhill

Welcome to another fantastic episode of the Collide Kids Podcast. Host Christen Clark chats with Carl Barnhill, a creative entrepreneur and author, known for his impactful work in church visual media through his company, Church Visuals.

In this episode, Carl discusses the significance of visual learning in faith, emphasizing how visuals help engage and educate children. Carl provides practical advice for aspiring media professionals, highlighting the importance of gaining diverse skills and continuous learning.

Listeners will hear Carl’s journey of turning his childhood passion for theater arts and ministry into a ministry of providing video and motion graphics for congregations all over the world. He invites kids and students interested in media to connect with him via churchvisuals.com for guidance and mentorship.

Tune in for this inspiring conversation filled with practical tips, fun stories, and a strong message about exploring various interests. Don’t miss the Kids Only Segment featuring Claire sharing her favorite Bible verse! And, remember, God loves you, and so do we!

Clip Finder:

-Innovative Church Media Solutions: "If you are a mom or dad listening or a kid listening, the stuff that is on your screens, the fun stuff when you go to church, if there's a, you know, a fun game on screen or fun graphic to help you learn about Jesus in a really fun and cool way, that's. That's what we do a lot of."
— Carl Barnhill [00:04:16 → 00:04:37]

-"From Baseball to Theater: The Journey of a Kid’s Passion": "I was into baseball for a little bit, and then I kind of shifted into the arts. So I was a theater kid and I was the behind the scenes guy."
— Carl Barnhill [00:06:59 → 00:07:36]

-The Importance of Visual Media in Church: "The stats are alarming on how we consume content and how we retain, really absorb and retain content. And when you are hearing it, you remember a certain amount, like 10%. When you read something, it's like 20%. When you see something, it's like 80% retention."
— Carl Barnhill [00:10:02 → 00:10:24]

-The Early Days of Motion Graphics: "So I started kind of making stuff on the side and putting it out there and seeing, and it kind of took off. And this is before. Since then, there's been a lot of other people kind of come in the space, but this is 15 years ago when there were only a handful of people doing what I was doing."
— Carl Barnhill [00:11:43 → 00:12:01]

-Scaling Your Business: "If you're a teenager listening and you think, could I do this? Try to think ahead. Try to think, like, how can I scale it up? How can I to where it's not just on me? How can I duplicate myself over and over? Or how do I hire people that are better than me and not be offended by that."
— Carl Barnhill [00:14:36 → 00:15:09]

-"Importance of Knowledge and Practice for Aspiring Creators": "For young people coming up, that it's important to know, don't skip over stuff. It's important to have some knowledge and some research into going into things. And it's also

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Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:33]:

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 and my friends. If this is your first time listening, I just want to remind you about the kids only segment. It's at the end of the show, and it's where kids just like you get to be on the show. If you'd like to be a part of the kids only segment, all you have to do is head over to my website and click the tab that says kids only and you can record yourself telling a joke or singing a song or reciting a Bible verse. It's really a lot of fun and I would love to put you on the next episode.

Christen Clark [00:01:09]:

Okay, I have a fall joke for you guys today. Are you ready? What's the cutest season of the year? Aw, Tom, that. That joke made me laugh out loud when I read it earlier, so I knew I had to put it in the show today. Hey, I just wanted to remind you, too that we do have a newsletter. It's coming out this week, and it's all about the episodes for the month of October, as well as some interesting information about things that are happening in my life and some fun things I get to do. And don't forget about our YouTube channel. We're trying to grow the YouTube channel, get more people over to listen to the Collide Kids Podcast. And now you can watch it.

Christen Clark [00:01:46]:

You can watch some of the full interviews. It's a lot of fun. I hope you'll check it out. Well, I am so delighted to introduce to you today one of my very dear friends. His name is Carl Barnhill. Carl is a creative entrepreneur, motion designer, and author. He is the founder and owner of Church Visuals, a company that helps ministry leaders visually communicate the gospel. He has served in ministry for over 20 years, working at some of the largest and most influential churches and ministries in the country.

Christen Clark [00:02:15]:

He is also the host of your visuals Matter podcast. Carl lives in South Carolina with his wife Katie and his two sons, Jacob and Wesley. Now, you may be more familiar with his work and Church Visuals than you think. Church Visuals has created videos for seeds, family, worship, awana answers in Genesis, doorpost and Yancey worship music and much more. And it's used in churches all over the world. I think you guys are really going to love this conversation with my friend Carl Barnhill. Well, Carl Barnhill, I am so excited to have you on the Collide Kids Podcast today.

Carl Barnhill [00:02:59]:

Christen, thank you so much. So I am so envious of your glasses. You have the coolest glasses ever, and I just cannot compare. I'm very jealous.

Christen Clark [00:03:10]:

Well, you're friends with shake.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:13]:

Yes.

Christen Clark [00:03:13]:

And he has really cool glasses.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:15]:

He does.

Christen Clark [00:03:15]:

So maybe you could borrow a pair of his.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:17]:

I could. I don't know if I could pull them off. I don't know if I could pull off glasses like you or, or his. So I just stick to solid black. It's about all I can do. What is Carl doing with the neon green glasses? Why in the world that. No, no, Carl, take.

Christen Clark [00:03:33]:

No, you just have to put them on with confidence and, you know. Well, what's your favorite color?

Carl Barnhill [00:03:39]:

I'm probably like a red. Red.

Christen Clark [00:03:41]:

Okay.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:42]:

Blue.

Christen Clark [00:03:43]:

So go see this. My favorite color. So they're bold, but that's because that's my favorite color. So maybe start with a bold blue or red glasses. That would be really cool.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:51]:

Okay. I will think about that.

Christen Clark [00:03:53]:

Ease into it.

Carl Barnhill [00:03:53]:

I will think about that.

Christen Clark [00:03:55]:

Would you just introduce yourself for our listeners today and tell them a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Carl Barnhill [00:04:01]:

Sure. So my name is Carl Barnhill, and I own a company called Church Visuals, and we serve churches with graphics and video, and we do that for kids, students, and adults. So if you are a mom or dad listening or a kid listening, the stuff that is on your screens, the fun stuff when you go to church, if there's a, you know, a fun game on screen or fun graphic to help you learn about Jesus in a really fun and cool way, that's. That's what we do a lot of. So in the space, we're one of the top creators of kids and student content, especially, like, even if you find a graphic or video in the, like, say, a worship house kids or a igniter media or somewhere other than our site, which we sell a lot on our site, but if you find it on a marketplace, there's a pretty good chance if it's kids or students that we actually made it behind the scenes. So, like, the other producers come to us to make stuff, and then they turn around and, like, your seeds, kids worship or Yancey or door post songs or folks like that. Like, we make. We make a lot of that, yeah.

Christen Clark [00:05:15]:

That'S a really cool job because, and I don't think we always think about that type of job because we just see the visuals up there and we're like, oh, that's fun to follow along with as we're singing or, that was a fun visual game or video game on our screens at church, but there's somebody behind the scenes that's putting those together.

Carl Barnhill [00:05:32]:

Yep. It's fun. I get paid for it, too. This is crazy.

Christen Clark [00:05:36]:

That's so cool.

Carl Barnhill [00:05:37]:

Not a lot. Let's not get out of control here. I'm still in ministry, but, uh, that's right.

Christen Clark [00:05:44]:

Well, okay, so I want to talk to you about your job because I think this is really interesting and I think there's lots of kids out there that like video and computer type stuff and they're interested in this. Like, whoa, this could be a job that I could do and serve the church. But before we do that, because this is a show for kids, I always ask my guests to tell me a joke. So do you have a joke for us today?

Carl Barnhill [00:06:06]:

Well, do you need like a corny joke or do you need like a, uh. I'm trying to see how. How low I need to go, you know, is this just a pun or is this a, you know, what did the horse say after he tripped? Help. I've fallen and I can't giddy up. Like one of those type of jokes. Do you need another horse? Like, what do you call a well balanced horse stable? You know, like one like that or. Yeah, I don't know. There's your two up.

Christen Clark [00:06:33]:

Yeah, those were great. I love corny jokes. Those are my favorite. Well, let's talk a little bit about your job. So it's called Church Visuals. Why go into this market? You could do anything. Like, you could put out just stuff on YouTube, you could do games, you could do all kinds of stuff for schools maybe, or other things, but you chose churches. So what is it about that that was attractive to you in this type of field?

Carl Barnhill [00:06:54]:

Jeff, great question. So I had this interest when I was a kid.

Christen Clark [00:06:58]:

Okay.

Carl Barnhill [00:06:59]:

So, you know, I was really big into baseball when I was probably 910. Eleven. Like that, that kind of range. But as I kind of grew up a little bit more, so, you know, if you're a kid listening and you're, you're like, I'm not that. I'm not into sports and stuff like that. So I was, I was into baseball for a little bit, and then I kind of shifted into the arts. So I was a theater kid and I was the behind the scenes guy. I also like to act and be on stage, but when I did theater, I would do one play where I was on stage acting, and then the other play, I was a spotlight operator or a yemenite, ran the sound and did the, you know, whatever.

Carl Barnhill [00:07:36]:

And so, you know, a lot of kids, especially now, I think, think they're pigeonholed into, well, I'm not good at baseball or volleyball or soccer or football or, you know, kind of the typical sports, and you don't have to, you know, there's all kinds of stuff that you can be into, and I'm kind of a product of that. I'm kind of a product of. I grew up. I am not a sports guy. I have a profession that I can do what I love to do, and I enjoy it, and I can serve Jesus doing it. So those, the interests that I had as a kid and as a teenager kind of developed a little bit more. I thought I would go into student ministry for a little bit and be a student pastor. In fact, I was majoring in college as a student pastor, and then the.

Carl Barnhill [00:08:20]:

And then I minored in broadcast media, and the, like, the head over the student ministry department called me into his office and said, obviously, we want more people in our student program, but I don't think that's you. I think that you need to switch your major. Your interest is over there. I think you need to go do that. And so I reversed it, and I majored in broadcast media and minored in student ministry.

Christen Clark [00:08:47]:

How did that make you feel when he said that? Were you offended, or were you like, oh, you're right?

Carl Barnhill [00:08:51]:

No, I was like, you're right. You're absolutely right. Thanks for telling me. You're right. You nailed it. And so, yeah, just kind of cultivating that interest and just stepping into new opportunities kind of led me to serve in churches. And I was at a big ministry in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was an editor on a tv show, and then I went to a church, and I was the video director for a really big church in Mississippi.

Carl Barnhill [00:09:21]:

And I was one of the only people and the only one for. For a while of making the content that went on the screens. And this is a huge, massive church, like, five campuses, thousands and thousands of people coming. And I was kind of in charge of making the videos and making the stuff. And I got to realize, you know, if a church this big and they're not building a team of people like me, they're only hiring like me and maybe one others, like, how can a church, a smaller church of 500 people, 100 people have high quality visual media to go up on their screens because the stats are alarming on how we consume content and how we retain, really absorb and retain content. And when you are hearing it, you remember a certain amount, like 10%. When you read something, it's like 20%. When you see something, it's like 80% retention.

Carl Barnhill [00:10:24]:

And so that kind of moved me into what if I started a business that served churches and ministries. So I did it and I jumped out full time. In fact, if you guys know seeds, kids worship, family worship, they do word for word scripture songs. But I started doing a couple of, like, lyric videos for them, and they said, what if we gave you the entire album, our new album, and you make a video for every song. Okay. And then what if. So we have, like, twelve or 13 albums in the backlog that we've done. What if we gave you all of them?

Christen Clark [00:11:00]:

Oh, wow.

Carl Barnhill [00:11:02]:

That began a journey of doing hundreds of lyric videos for seeds. One thing led to another, and now we have, like, 30 people working for us. So it's kind of turned into me not making as many videos, but me kind of leading a team of other people that make stuff.

Christen Clark [00:11:17]:

And I think it's really cool to think about all of the different ways that we use visuals at our church. And like you said, some really big churches have people and staff that can put that together. But not all churches have that position, or it's a volunteer or someone that does it, like, on the side or something like that. So tell me a little bit about how you discovered that you wanted to help other churches, not just your own church.

Carl Barnhill [00:11:43]:

So I started kind of making stuff on the side and putting it out there and seeing, and it kind of took off. And this is before. Since then, there's been a lot of other people kind of come in the space, but this is 15 years ago when there were only a handful of people doing what I was doing. So it kind of took off, and I kind of realized, okay, well, this is a need. And motion graphics was something that I was really into. So there's a lot of people that kind of can shoot video and know how to shoot video, but I really dove into motion graphics, which is kind of a. It's a step between video editing and not, like, full on cartoon, but, like, animating text and animating different things.

Christen Clark [00:12:26]:

Yeah.

Carl Barnhill [00:12:27]:

So, yeah, that. That's what kind of started it. And then realizing that, yeah, the churches do actually need this. And. And I was more affordable than a full time person.

Christen Clark [00:12:36]:

Right. And I love motion videos and lyric videos like that because I think it really draws your attention to the front, especially for kids ministry. We love to watch the ones, you know, where it moves around and jumps around. It keeps the music exciting and keeps the kids engaged. So that's what people are going to be looking for. So tell me a little bit about. So you went from just being you to building a team. So how did you know, okay, I'm doing this, and I need some help, or I need some more people involved.

Carl Barnhill [00:13:06]:

Yeah. So the project started getting more and more, and my wife came on and helped for a bit. Then we kind of needed, we thought, okay, this is too much for just me to handle. So how do we bring on people? And this is the biggest challenge that I faced in running this business, is how to, how do I duplicate myself over and over and over. And. And the challenge is, one, how do I find someone. This is going to sound arrogant, but I hope you understand my heart. How do I find somebody at the level of skill that I'm at so that if I pass a video project to them, the client that I have been working with doesn't see a dip in quality? So how do I find someone that's at my skill level when it comes to motion, graphics and video? And then how do I pay that person fairly and still keep the cost affordable for a church? So that is, that has been the challenge.

Carl Barnhill [00:14:06]:

And I think we figured it out. And, you know, we're continuing to play that game, especially as the economy does weird things goes up and down. But I think we've kind of gotten in a really good groove. But that was a big challenge of, can I pass off this project? Can I trust them to do it in a way that I would have done it or better than me? And so, like, if you're, if you're a kid thinking, maybe I could run a business one day, or if you're, you know, a teenager listening and you think, could I do this? Try to think ahead. Try to think, like, how can I scale it up? How can I to where it's not just on me? How can I duplicate myself over and over? Or how do I hire people that are better than me and not be offended by that, not be threatened by that, actually be excited about that, because, oh, yeah, now we can do multiple projects, you know, three times as many, ten times as many projects as I could just do by myself. So that was the challenge. And so we just kind of brought on one at a time, whether that be a graphic designer or a video person, a motion designer. And I only usually hire motion designers because motion designers know how to edit video, but video editors don't necessarily know how to do motion design.

Christen Clark [00:15:29]:

Okay, so explain that a little bit. So what, what, how would you know if you're into videos and creating videos? How would you know if you know how to do motion videos versus video editing, or what would you look for in that person?

Carl Barnhill [00:15:42]:

Yeah. So there's a couple of things. One, I'm kind of at a point in my career where I, if I can see your work, I can know pretty quickly. I know. And through a couple of questions, like, did you create this all of yourself, or was it, did you use other things? What pieces of this did you actually do? Where I kind of know. Okay. I know what you can do by looking at your work. Also, too, there's a couple of key programs that you can use after effects.

Carl Barnhill [00:16:17]:

So if I asked you, what programs do you use to make this video? If you were to tell me, Adobe premiere, I know that that is a vid, primarily a video editing software. If you were to tell me, Adobe after effects, I know that that is a motion graphics dedicated software. So if you say after effects or a couple of different programs, because I kind of know my stuff. Like, I know what program you use to make it. So I know that you are familiar with motion graphics as opposed to just video editing. So I say that for young people coming up, that it's important to know, don't skip over stuff. It's important to have some knowledge and some research into going into things. And it's also important to practice and practice and practice and create something.

Christen Clark [00:17:13]:

Yeah.

Carl Barnhill [00:17:13]:

If you were to come to me and say, I want you to hire me as a motion designer, and I say, let me see your stuff, and you say, I don't really have anything to show you, which just happened this last week for me. Hey, can you show me some of your stuff? Well, I don't really have anything. That's a no. It's a no right off the bat.

Christen Clark [00:17:31]:

Yeah.

Carl Barnhill [00:17:31]:

Like, go make something and then come so I can see what you can do.

Christen Clark [00:17:35]:

Right.

Carl Barnhill [00:17:36]:

Even if it is a side project, pet project, hobby, like, you're just playing around. It doesn't have to be a paid gig, but you have to show me something. And so I would highly encourage young people coming up to practice, play, come up with things. The biggest movie directors in the world, you can trace it back to, they were playing around with personal cameras, trying to figure out how to make little home movies.

Christen Clark [00:18:08]:

Yeah.

Carl Barnhill [00:18:09]:

Well, so, and I would say that that's true for any field. You're gonna, you're gonna fail at first and you're gonna, you know, things are gonna go wrong. It's not gonna be as clean as you thought, but keep at it and keep at it and keep at it. And people will hire you if they see a track record of, oh, wow, you've done all this.

Christen Clark [00:18:29]:

Yeah. And you could even do some things like offer to help out at your church, because we had a couple kids who were, like, working in graphic design, and they're like, hey, we want to help out. Could we make some stuff for graphics, for your social media or for kids ministry stuff? And we're like, sure. So that was a great way for them to practice and get feedback and try things out, you know, and then at the same time, it benefits the kingdom, it benefits the church. And that's so helpful. So that's a great way to do that.

Carl Barnhill [00:18:57]:

Absolutely do that. And you're going to pick up knowledge along the way, going to pick up language. You know, if you did that at your church, you're going to know what photoshop and canva is so that when you go to an employer, well, I've used canva, I've used Photoshop, and, like, you know, the language and those things matter of you can get to something faster if you have some knowledge base in, in you and some practice.

Christen Clark [00:19:22]:

Yeah. And I think, too, like you said, it's good to just practice and try things out and learn some things. So for people that are interested in graphic design, maybe also tinker a little bit with animating your graphic designs and figuring out how to do that, that gets you into a whole other world of possibilities for your passion or your job later, you know?

Carl Barnhill [00:19:44]:

Yeah. And the field is kind of small when we're talking about certain niches. So, like, video editing has a little bit more, but motion design is really, it's hard to find really good people that love Jesus, that love that thing. It's kind of a small niche. And so you may consider that, like, the more versatile you are. Well, I can do graphic design and I can do video and I can do motion design. Oh, like that. That's going to get my attention.

Christen Clark [00:20:12]:

I love that we're helping kids right now get jobs.

Carl Barnhill [00:20:14]:

Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:20:15]:

Like here, we're going to set you up for a great career.

Carl Barnhill [00:20:18]:

I could talk about that all day.

Christen Clark [00:20:20]:

I love that. So let's talk a little bit about this whole idea of visuals in the church. And one thing you said was, like, that this is how we are communicating now. It's really important how people see things. So what are some ways that we could use visuals in the church to learn more about the Bible or to learn more like, how do we use these visuals?

Carl Barnhill [00:20:42]:

Yes. So I would say a couple things. One, the Bible use visuals, right? God in the Old Testament a lot. And then Jesus and his followers used a lot of visual imagery. Noah's ark, big visual of salvation, big visual of saving a people. Elijah, the, the altar and the fire, you know, hey, put some more water on it. And then taunting the, taunting the guys, maybe your God's asleep. And then the visual when those guys saw the altar explode in fire, that was a serious visual to them of who the true God was.

Christen Clark [00:21:27]:

Right?

Carl Barnhill [00:21:28]:

Daniel's visions, in the book of Daniel, Daniel, when he got these visions, there was the statue. And all these pieces of the statue meant different things. That was very specific. And it came to Daniel in a dream or God revealed it. It was very, very visual on what all these pieces of the statue meant. And then he communicated that to others. Here's what this piece means and why and what's going to happen in the New Testament. Jesus parables, you know, he was constantly talking in a illustration, what about the wheat and the tares? What about the fig tree? What if, you know, the soil and different things, all types of using what these people knew to give them a visual representation of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Carl Barnhill [00:22:20]:

So the Bible is very, very visual, which really kind of sets the stage and kind of makes my case for I think we should be visual, like we're made for to be visual creatures, right? The brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. So, you know the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words. There's kind of an argument that a picture is worth 60,000 words if you can process it 60,000 times faster than, than text. Why do I bring this up? Because we should be using more visuals. People will absorb more of the gospel. People will retain more of the gospel. If you show more than you speak, like a Sunday morning sermon, if you showed more than just speaking, people are going to remember it more. If you are a parent, this would be the case.

Carl Barnhill [00:23:15]:

If you are a kid's leader in a kid's classroom or a student leader, that would be the case. If you're listening and you're a kid right now, or if you're a parent, think how much time your kid spends on YouTube. The stats are like they spend 2 hours plus a day on YouTube. Alone. Think about how much they watch videos compared to listen to audio. But we are visual learners, and you're going to absorb the gospel more. You're going to remember it more. You're going to remember it longer if you show more than you speak or more than you read something.

Christen Clark [00:23:53]:

And I love to what you said earlier, that there's not a lot of people in this realm of creating visuals that love Jesus. And so if we can find a way to communicate the story of the gospel and the story of the Bible and really help people connect with it, I think that's a great way to reach more people. So it doesn't even have to be within the church or working for a church. It's really just about helping more people see and retain that information. And so I love that you said that, that it's a. It's all about just helping more people find out.

Carl Barnhill [00:24:26]:

It is. Yeah. And so our company, Church Visuals, we only serve churches and ministries now. Could we go and do commercials? Yeah. Could we earn more money doing corporate work? Yes. A lot more. Why have we chosen to do this one? Because the church needs it. The church needs high quality visuals because we're competing with the Disney's, the Hulus, the Netflix.

Carl Barnhill [00:24:52]:

Yes. We are competing with them. And so if your kid sees a YouTube video, that's one quality, then they go to church and it is really bad, sad quality. Yeah. They're not going to be as engaged as they. As they would be. Right, right. And so we've dedicated to spend 100% of our efforts at the church and working with ministries.

Carl Barnhill [00:25:14]:

So we work with ministries like Awanade or seeds and Yancey and doorposts and answers in Genesis and folks like that. So your kids may be seeing some of our work. If you're in a. If they have a curriculum at their church or a vbs, we're helping ministries like that, like, make stuff really not cool for the sake of being cool. It is cool, but really communicate the gospel. We want to see. We want to help ministry leaders see salvation and discipleship in your kids. If you're a.

Carl Barnhill [00:25:44]:

If you're a parent listening, it's not just entertain or babysitting your kids.

Christen Clark [00:25:49]:

Right.

Carl Barnhill [00:25:50]:

With a cool video. That's not the point. The point is, how can we make the Bible come alive so that their faith comes alive so that they live for Jesus.

Christen Clark [00:25:59]:

Yeah. Amen. I'm excited about that. That's good. And I think we, like you said, we got to keep competing against. There's so many other great visuals out there. So we have to make sure that we're doing the very best we can and keeping that attention there. So that's really good.

Christen Clark [00:26:15]:

Well, Carl, this has been so fun. I've loved talking with you about this. I think it's awesome. And it's so funny because almost every guest that is doing something they're really passionate about, they're like, kind of started when I was a kid. So I love that you said that, too, at the beginning of the interview. You're like, this. I've been doing this a while.

Carl Barnhill [00:26:31]:

Yeah. And I would say that I had people in my life that I can name, my parents one, but other people in my life that encouraged me to pursue things like radio and. And allowed me to play with things and mess up and be on the church team, where, like, when I was a teenager, I was helping produce huge church productions, and the staff members would let me and get me involved. And so I would say, if you are a kid, get involved and step into those things, because it might be what God's calling you to do in the future.

Christen Clark [00:27:09]:

That's right.

Carl Barnhill [00:27:10]:

And if you're a parent or a leader listening, don't shy away, like you were mentioning, to help with social media, kids helping with social media. Like, don't shy away from kids coming in and teenagers coming in to help in areas. They'll have great ideas. Let them. Because I am a product of people believing in me, and now God's called me to this, and this is what I do full time as a living helping churches and ministries all over the world.

Christen Clark [00:27:39]:

Absolutely. And I'm a product of that. My husband is. I know lots of people who. Somebody just gave us a chance when we were too young to probably do the things that we did, but we did, and. And that's where we are today. So thanks for sharing that. All right, Carl, before I let you go, I always ask my guests to tell me a memory from when they were a kid.

Christen Clark [00:27:57]:

So, uh, what memory you want to share with us today?

Carl Barnhill [00:27:59]:

I had this guy, uh, his name was Todd Jenkins. Maybe I was a teenager by then, preteen. But I started dabbling in. Radio was a big thing until it was not. And then video kind of took over. So, uh, but I was really into radio, so he helped me and gave me. He worked at two different radio stations. He was a, like a volunteer at our church, and he gave me some old gear, like some, like, little switchers and.

Carl Barnhill [00:28:31]:

And stuff, and actually gave it to me. And I could set up a radio station, a real radio station, out of my bedroom. Okay. Now, it would go maybe, like, two or 3 miles, right? And so I would have a switcher and a transmitter. And do you remember back in the day we had, like, those, like, portable cd players that, like, set on the stabilizer? You could. You remember that? Okay, so I would have, like, my two little Cd portable cd players, and I could listen in, and I could, like, fade one song into the other and a little microphone that I could kind of talk between the songs. Those are funny stories. So I could take it mobile, too.

Carl Barnhill [00:29:10]:

Oh, wow. I could take this cd player and the transmitter and everything and put it in my car. And so we would. I would be with friends, and we would, like, look over into another car, or, like, when somebody got into their car, kind of peek in and look at their radio station. Okay, I got it. It's 96.8. And then when they drove away, follow them and crank into their radio station and start playing what we want to play or talk to them.

Christen Clark [00:29:39]:

Is this illegal?

Carl Barnhill [00:29:41]:

It probably was. It was. It was 30 years ago. So come find me.

Christen Clark [00:29:45]:

That's probably why it's illegal.

Carl Barnhill [00:29:47]:

Now the. My bedroom one, you could find a station that nobody was on.

Christen Clark [00:29:52]:

Yeah.

Carl Barnhill [00:29:52]:

And kind of do that now, following people around that, that was a. And taking over their radio station in.

Christen Clark [00:29:57]:

Their car, you're like, you need a little Jesus music. I will send you a little bit.

Carl Barnhill [00:30:01]:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's some Twila Paris right here. Boom.

Christen Clark [00:30:06]:

You need some Stephen Kirk. You need some point of grace, a.

Carl Barnhill [00:30:08]:

Little DC talk action. Cause I'm a Jesus freak, and you need to be, too, right?

Christen Clark [00:30:13]:

That's how we share the gospel. Illegally. Well, Carl, this has been so fun. I love talking with you, and I'm thankful for you and the things you're doing for the church. I think it's great. Tell our listeners where they can find more about you and Church Visuals.

Carl Barnhill [00:30:27]:

Sure. Churchvisuals.com is our website, and if you or your student, kid or interested in anything in media space, feel free to email me. My email is carl@churchvisuals.com. If you're into any. Anything like this, media or arts or anything and want to know where to go. How do I get my kid to where? Shoot me an email. Carl@churchvisuals.com.

Christen Clark [00:30:50]:

That'S great. That's insider information. They can check that out. Well, thank you so much for being here today. Keep up the good work.

Carl Barnhill [00:30:57]:

Thank you, Christen.

Christen Clark [00:31:06]:

I just love that I got to talk to Carl today, and I think it's so interesting that he started out by saying you don't have to be good at just one thing. Like you can try out sports or music or other creative things or technical things and computer design. You don't have to be good at one thing and you don't have to be good at whatever your friends are good at. You can be interested in a lot of things and later that'll help you to figure out what you're going to do. I love that Carl said that he had people that encouraged him by helping him see things he was really good at, even when he didn't realize it. Like that friend that said, hey, I don't think you're passionate about this. I think you need to go over here and do this stuff with video. And he was right.

Christen Clark [00:31:44]:

He also gave some great tips if you want to work for a company like Church Visuals one day it would be so important to have the knowledge in motion graphics and graphic design and video, get the opportunities to practice and do lots of different things and try different things, even if it's just for fun or no one will see it or it might not be the best quality at the beginning. The more you learn and practice, the better you will be. Carl also reminded us that visuals are so important in the Bible and for the church today. Visuals help people learn and remember more and remember it longer if you show more than you speak. Carl and his team are passionate about discipleship and making the Bible come alive so that our faith can come alive so that we will live for Jesus. I just love that. If you like to learn more about Carl and his team and all the amazing things that they get to do, head over to churchvisuals.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.

Christen Clark [00:32:44]:

So here is my friend Claire. "My name is Claire and today I will be sharing my favorite verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son and whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16" great Job Claire. I love that verse two. John 316 is one of the best. I'm so glad you have it memorized. Well, if you would like to be like Claire and be on the show as well and share your favorite bible verse or a song or a joke or something fun that you learned from a book or a movie, just head over to my website, collidekidspodcast.com and click the tab that says kids only.

Christen Clark [00:33:32]:

You can record audio right there or you can send us a video and we will put you on the YouTube channel too. And while you're at the website, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter if you have not done that already. There's lots of good content there for you each month where I tell you about upcoming episodes, as well as other fun family activities and information that you will want to know. And if you're on social media, I would love for you to follow us on Facebook at the Collide Kids Podcast or on Instagram @collidekidspod and share today's episode with someone that might need to hear it. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, Collide Kids Podcast. That's easy to remember where you can watch the full length interview for today's episode. You know, a great way to support this podcast is to leave a rating and a review on whatever podcast app you're using. When you do that, it really does help other people find out about the show, and I always love reading that and hearing what you think about it.

Christen Clark [00:34:22]:

You can also share the episode with friends and family and let them know why you and your family like to listen. And anytime you think about it, I always appreciate your prayer support as well. Well, I hope you guys have a great week. I hope you get to enjoy the autumn and that you join us next week for another episode of the Collide Kids Podcast. And in case no one has told you today, I would love to be the first to remind you that God loves you so much. Thanks for listening.