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Real life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with

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intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the

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saints and impact our culture.

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Hey everybody, we are in store for a

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great treat.

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I'm so excited about this.

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You're going to be excited about it.

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We are gonna take you behind the scenes

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to an amazing, I'm gonna call it a

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technology parable that is worthy of that title

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and so, so articulate regarding the gospel.

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Let's find out what we're talking about.

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You can get the outlines of this podcast

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by going to Jackhibbs.com/podcast.

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Today, if this podcast lifts you up and

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encourages you to live a more fulfilled life

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in Christ, then make sure you leave us

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one of those five star ratings.

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To us, that's like saying amen or yes,

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then that rating will encourage others to listen.

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Now open your hearts to what God's word

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has to say to you.

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Here is Jack Hibbs.

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Well, hey everybody, we are super excited.

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I gotta tell you, you're gonna be excited.

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I am super excited.

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I think that the 68 year old guy,

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since I saw this short film became a

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nine year old all over again.

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We're gonna be speaking to Jeremy Spears and

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Nathan Engelhardt regarding the remarkable creation of something

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that I've never seen before.

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I mean, this is in the realm of

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illustration and communication.

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This is my opinion.

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It just transcends so many things that you

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have seen.

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But these two men, for example, Nathan, he's

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an animation supervisor who has worked on films

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such as Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6.

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My grandkids love that.

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Zootopia, Frozen 2, Encanto, Rio, and so much

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more.

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He has been, that is Nathan has been,

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he has written and directed the Oscar nominated

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animated short film, Forevergreen, which is what

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we're gonna be talking about today, which is

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his directorial debut, quite frankly.

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And then also Jeremy Spears is an award

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winning story artist.

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And you're gonna see why in a moment.

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And he has helped create beloved characters and

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stories for such films as Zootopia 2, Encanto,

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Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Frozen.

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And in his free time, he creates unique

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wooden sculptures, which I hope he'll show us

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something like that today.

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And in his whittling workshop, his latest passion

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and project is directing the Oscar nominated animated

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short film, Forevergreen as well.

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Gentlemen, welcome to our quick podcast together.

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I know that you guys are up against

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a hard stop as I am, but welcome

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to our show.

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And just for those who are not familiar,

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when I saw your short film, I was

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captivated.

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I don't even remember how I found it,

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how it came to me.

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Maybe you guys sent it to me, I

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don't know.

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I sent it out to everybody that I

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knew, not knowing if I was to do

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that or not.

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I just did it.

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I just did it.

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And then on the next day at church

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before service began, I just said, play it.

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I want everybody to see this.

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And I tell you, we got flooded with

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comments from people across the United States.

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What a work this is.

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Can you guys tell us, take us back

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into the creativity of it, how you guys

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came about doing this?

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Because what a gospel presentation.

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And here's what's awesome too about it.

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It's not only a gospel presentation.

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It's actually a word of discipleship to believers

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who think they have just fallen too far

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away and God cannot bring them back.

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So can you guys just go off on

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this?

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Because I just wanna hear from you.

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Our audience wants to hear from you.

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What a great work this is.

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Thank you.

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Well, first of all, thank you for having

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us on.

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It's such an honor to be on this

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with you, pastor.

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And gosh, it's been a quite a journey

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for both Jeremy and I.

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We started this journey about six years ago

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and I think around September, 2019, right before

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COVID.

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So this is sort of our COVID project

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while we were all in lockdown that we

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worked a lot on.

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And so we, Jeremy and I, we had

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a desire to use our gifts for the

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Lord and had an opportunity to do that

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with this film to tell a story about

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unmerited grace and a kind of love that

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is, you know, forever, a forever kind of

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love.

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And so we desired to, you know, set

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off on that journey.

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And we, this film was actually made by

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200 volunteers, everyone in their free time.

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And so no one got paid.

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We did this in our nights, our weekends,

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holidays.

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And after six years, you know, that's a

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long time to do that to make a

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12 minute short film.

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But so finally being at this point now

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where we're able to unveil it and share

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it with the world, we're just, we couldn't

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be more excited, so.

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Wow, amazing.

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Yeah, I just wanted to say the same.

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It's an honor to get to speak with

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you today and thanks for having us on.

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I'm Jeremy, by the way.

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I don't know if our names are gonna

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be at the bottoms, but just letting you

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know.

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And so, yeah, it's just, it's such a

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treat to get to start sharing about this

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film.

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Nathan and I, when we started on it,

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I think it was that slow reveal that

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God would kind of go, hey guys, by

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the way, you could do this with this

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short.

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Oh, and you could do this with this

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and you could do, and it was just

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this continual, just sort of standing back in

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awe at what the Lord was doing in

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our lives personally.

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And then also just along the way on

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the making of this film.

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And I just wanted to say just kind

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of how briefly how we got started.

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Nathan and I, we've been pals for years.

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We've worked together on many projects, as you've

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heard.

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And so we kind of had this one

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lunch one day where I had just had

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my fourth child, our little guy, Rhett, who's

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now six.

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Lo and behold, six years.

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And Nathan was like, he's been working on

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a tree idea based on the Three Trees

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storybook, if you've heard of that picture.

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Great.

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And he basically said, Jeremy, what if you

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helped me direct this film?

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What if we worked on it together and

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do your thing?

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I'm a story guy.

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He's an animator.

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Between the two of us, we could probably

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make something.

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And so I went off for a couple

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of weeks and kind of did the thing

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that I'm used to doing, which is you

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take an idea and you pull it apart

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and it's like a car.

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You pull the pieces apart and then you

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look at everything and you kind of know

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how to put it back together, but you

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just want to see, is there things that

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maybe we don't need or maybe we need

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to add to get this car really, really

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moving?

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So anyways, that's what I did.

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In that process, I came across this image

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of a, spoiler alert, if you haven't seen

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the film, there's a tree that had fallen

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across a divide and it was a big,

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giant redwood tree and there's a waterfall behind

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it.

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And I saw that image and a little

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bit of background is I had for years

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been encouraged to be more outspoken with my

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faith, to share it in a visual way

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is always the goal that we do in

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story.

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We always try to tell a story visually.

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And I saw that image and it was

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like a lightning bolt moment where it was

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like, okay, that's the story.

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I saw, I had been, so just to

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show you a little wood carving, this is,

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let me get it adjusted in the frame.

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This is this bear that I had been

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carving back in 2018, 2019.

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I made a bunch of these, reproduced them

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and sold them.

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And so I was deep in bear country

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at the time.

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And I thought, okay, if there's a tree

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that had fallen across the divide, that could

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represent what Christ did for us, that it's

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kind of the classic Bible tract image of

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God on one side, man on the other,

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a divide and there's a cross in between

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that is the bridge to safety.

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And I thought, okay, well, what would the

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character be that could be running across this

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fallen tree?

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And I was like, oh, what about a

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bear?

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So I came back to Nathan and I

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pitched him sort of a fixed up version

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of the story that he'd been working on.

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And he's like, oh, that's nice.

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And I said, but I have one more

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thing that I gotta, I just wanna show

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you this.

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No hard feelings, I just wanna, and so

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I showed him the second idea and we

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got to, I got to that image and

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Nathan goes, stop.

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He's like, just hold on a second.

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This is crazy.

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Nathan, you wanna take over?

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Well, what was funny was that I had

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just drawn that same image.

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And so this was sort of a, because

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I had a coworker and was just sharing

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the gospel with them and they had asked

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why the cross.

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And so I was like, well, let me

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draw it.

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Why?

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And here's the God, man, the sin that

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divides us and then that bridge that crosses

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and you see that it reveals the cross

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and he was like, oh, whoa, oh, okay.

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And I had a great conversation like, oh

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yeah, hang on to that because the enemy

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will try to snatch that away and told

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him the parable of the four soils.

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And so, and gave him a Bible.

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And so it was just, it was a

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cool moment but what Jeremy didn't mention was

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during that time when I had invited him

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in on that, I had, it started as

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an adaptation but then it had evolved to

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one tree and it was kind of inverse

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where the tree had something to learn as

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opposed to a bear.

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And so, and there was elements, spiritual elements

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and I was wrestling through a couple of

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things and it may sound silly to some,

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but should we have verses on fantasy?

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Should we show Christ?

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Things like that that are, maybe for some

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people, they're not convicted or by, but for

273
00:10:19.550 --> 00:10:20.990
me, I just, I hadn't thought about that

274
00:10:20.990 --> 00:10:22.550
or the responsibility of that before.

275
00:10:22.770 --> 00:10:25.030
And so I was really going through that

276
00:10:25.030 --> 00:10:27.230
and just, I didn't wanna bring any disrepute

277
00:10:27.230 --> 00:10:30.290
upon the name of our Lord or the

278
00:10:30.290 --> 00:10:31.310
scripture or whatever.

279
00:10:31.490 --> 00:10:34.010
And so, I mean, I was really distraught

280
00:10:34.010 --> 00:10:36.030
about this and it was right around the

281
00:10:36.030 --> 00:10:37.730
time I was inviting Jeremy in and I

282
00:10:37.730 --> 00:10:40.070
had prayed, I said, Lord, even if you

283
00:10:40.070 --> 00:10:42.890
give Jeremy a completely different idea, just make

284
00:10:42.890 --> 00:10:43.850
that plain to me.

285
00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:46.270
I don't have to be the guy.

286
00:10:46.410 --> 00:10:48.670
I don't have to have that spark of

287
00:10:48.670 --> 00:10:49.270
the idea.

288
00:10:51.050 --> 00:10:53.390
And so Jeremy went off, did his thing,

289
00:10:53.470 --> 00:10:55.310
but that's what I was praying while he

290
00:10:55.310 --> 00:10:56.230
was going away.

291
00:10:56.650 --> 00:10:58.630
And then in that same little two week

292
00:10:58.630 --> 00:11:01.090
period, I had that witnessing opportunity where I

293
00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:01.910
drew that thing.

294
00:11:02.050 --> 00:11:03.710
So now let's fast forward to that moment.

295
00:11:04.270 --> 00:11:05.370
Jeremy pitches this thing.

296
00:11:05.470 --> 00:11:06.550
I see that drawing.

297
00:11:06.690 --> 00:11:09.950
I'm like, I just drew that thing and

298
00:11:09.950 --> 00:11:12.090
it was sitting on my desk and he

299
00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:13.690
goes, I know about it.

300
00:11:13.690 --> 00:11:14.610
I was like, wait, what?

301
00:11:14.970 --> 00:11:17.030
I was like, come on, let's come in.

302
00:11:17.330 --> 00:11:18.470
I wanna show you the drawing.

303
00:11:18.870 --> 00:11:20.070
And he goes, I saw it.

304
00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:21.290
And he goes, what do you mean you

305
00:11:21.290 --> 00:11:21.750
saw it?

306
00:11:22.050 --> 00:11:23.590
And so if you wanna take over again.

307
00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:25.090
No, no, I just wanted to make sure

308
00:11:25.090 --> 00:11:26.610
it was like, yeah, I had gone down

309
00:11:26.610 --> 00:11:28.490
the day before to just talk to you

310
00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:30.230
about something, I don't know.

311
00:11:30.410 --> 00:11:32.110
And I was like, or maybe like, hey,

312
00:11:32.130 --> 00:11:33.490
I'm gonna pitch you the stuff tomorrow or

313
00:11:33.490 --> 00:11:33.670
whatever.

314
00:11:34.010 --> 00:11:36.190
And I saw that on his desk and

315
00:11:36.190 --> 00:11:38.050
I just, I was like, this is crazy.

316
00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:40.230
And one of his friends was in the

317
00:11:40.230 --> 00:11:42.790
office there and I was like, Ryan, this

318
00:11:42.790 --> 00:11:43.330
is crazy.

319
00:11:43.330 --> 00:11:46.470
I just drew this drawing and it's now

320
00:11:46.470 --> 00:11:47.450
it's here in front of me.

321
00:11:47.590 --> 00:11:48.910
And so it was in that moment that,

322
00:11:49.210 --> 00:11:52.250
as a showman, as a storyteller, I waited

323
00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:52.930
for my moment.

324
00:11:53.010 --> 00:11:54.850
Cause I was like, okay, I think I

325
00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:55.310
got him.

326
00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:57.950
I think I can show him this drawing

327
00:11:57.950 --> 00:11:59.210
and maybe he'll react.

328
00:11:59.410 --> 00:12:02.850
And sure enough, it was God really, honestly,

329
00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:06.130
like it was the clarification that we both

330
00:12:06.130 --> 00:12:06.710
needed to go.

331
00:12:06.810 --> 00:12:10.390
Okay, go, go do this crazy thing.

332
00:12:10.910 --> 00:12:12.650
And it kind of, there was no turning

333
00:12:12.650 --> 00:12:14.550
back at that point because like, I think

334
00:12:14.550 --> 00:12:16.450
when God asks you to do something, I

335
00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:18.030
truly believe that he set it on our

336
00:12:18.030 --> 00:12:18.950
hearts to do this.

337
00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:19.530
No doubt.

338
00:12:20.310 --> 00:12:22.470
So that, yeah, so that's the story.

339
00:12:22.610 --> 00:12:22.890
There you go.

340
00:12:23.510 --> 00:12:24.970
Yeah, it was a huge answer to prayer

341
00:12:24.970 --> 00:12:25.790
for me too.

342
00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:27.390
You know, it was, it felt like there

343
00:12:27.390 --> 00:12:29.130
was permission to go and do this thing

344
00:12:29.130 --> 00:12:31.230
and felt like the Lord's hand was behind

345
00:12:31.230 --> 00:12:31.490
it.

346
00:12:31.650 --> 00:12:34.630
And I mean, we always call him, we

347
00:12:34.630 --> 00:12:36.550
don't have an executive producer title on there

348
00:12:36.550 --> 00:12:38.250
because we always give credit to the Lord.

349
00:12:38.250 --> 00:12:40.630
He's our executive producer and has always been

350
00:12:40.630 --> 00:12:43.430
leading the project and providing for the project.

351
00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:46.330
And, you know, we were very prayerful over

352
00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:46.850
the project.

353
00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.170
And so it was just so amazing to

354
00:12:49.170 --> 00:12:51.530
have that be the beginning of the project.

355
00:12:51.590 --> 00:12:53.870
And we just set sail off that.

356
00:12:54.010 --> 00:12:55.990
And both Jeremy and I then started to

357
00:12:55.990 --> 00:12:57.810
build off of the, you know, the foundation

358
00:12:57.810 --> 00:12:59.930
that Jeremy had given and brought in other

359
00:12:59.930 --> 00:13:01.630
components, the prodigal son thing.

360
00:13:01.830 --> 00:13:03.510
And yeah, and then got to where we

361
00:13:03.510 --> 00:13:03.930
are today.

362
00:13:04.730 --> 00:13:05.930
It's so amazing.

363
00:13:06.170 --> 00:13:07.150
And you know what's great?

364
00:13:07.150 --> 00:13:09.950
One of you mentioned earlier, a spoiler alert.

365
00:13:10.550 --> 00:13:13.190
We don't have to worry about spoiler alerts

366
00:13:13.190 --> 00:13:16.590
with this because I've watched it five or

367
00:13:16.590 --> 00:13:17.350
six times.

368
00:13:17.430 --> 00:13:20.930
And every single time it has drawn me

369
00:13:20.930 --> 00:13:24.010
deeper into some of the things that you

370
00:13:24.010 --> 00:13:27.750
guys have tucked away knowingly or unknowingly as

371
00:13:27.750 --> 00:13:29.350
treasures for the believer.

372
00:13:29.730 --> 00:13:32.790
This is something that it's not like, and

373
00:13:32.790 --> 00:13:35.990
I'm not putting down any other illustration, but,

374
00:13:36.290 --> 00:13:40.490
you know, I remember way, way back before

375
00:13:40.490 --> 00:13:42.330
you guys were probably born, I think Pixar

376
00:13:42.330 --> 00:13:45.990
started out with an old man playing chess

377
00:13:45.990 --> 00:13:46.690
in the park.

378
00:13:48.150 --> 00:13:50.330
And that was, you know, that was pretty,

379
00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:51.150
it was awesome.

380
00:13:51.270 --> 00:13:52.450
We all loved it, but it was pretty

381
00:13:52.450 --> 00:13:52.750
simple.

382
00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:54.630
There was no, you know, there wasn't anything

383
00:13:54.630 --> 00:13:56.150
where I needed to watch it again and

384
00:13:56.150 --> 00:13:57.770
again and again, other than it was cute.

385
00:13:58.630 --> 00:14:01.830
This, what you've done, this is not only

386
00:14:01.830 --> 00:14:06.070
beautiful, but there's that mystique of the animation

387
00:14:06.070 --> 00:14:06.930
that you use.

388
00:14:07.090 --> 00:14:11.270
It's almost kind of, oh, I'm not an

389
00:14:11.270 --> 00:14:14.170
artist, but it's almost kind of like paper

390
00:14:14.170 --> 00:14:17.550
cuttings or like you said, the wood carvings.

391
00:14:18.650 --> 00:14:22.330
But there is, I mean, I noticed that,

392
00:14:22.790 --> 00:14:25.650
uh-oh, when the crows showed up, uh

393
00:14:25.650 --> 00:14:28.210
-oh, my heart went, uh-oh, birds, not

394
00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:28.490
good.

395
00:14:28.610 --> 00:14:29.650
Something's gonna go wrong.

396
00:14:30.130 --> 00:14:31.750
And so I got anxious.

397
00:14:32.150 --> 00:14:34.030
And then you see the little guy, the

398
00:14:34.030 --> 00:14:36.330
bear being lured away.

399
00:14:36.650 --> 00:14:39.630
And then he comes to his, the prodigal

400
00:14:39.630 --> 00:14:41.690
son, you know, pot of gold, so to

401
00:14:41.690 --> 00:14:44.590
speak, an abandoned campsite with a bunch of

402
00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:45.350
trash.

403
00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.110
And he thinks he's just inherited, you know,

404
00:14:48.130 --> 00:14:48.790
the lottery.

405
00:14:49.870 --> 00:14:52.450
And it was, it's just so deep.

406
00:14:53.030 --> 00:14:55.550
And so my question to you guys is,

407
00:14:56.210 --> 00:14:58.410
for those who are now going to watch

408
00:14:58.410 --> 00:15:01.810
it, they're seeing this broadcast, they're gonna go

409
00:15:01.810 --> 00:15:02.330
watch it.

410
00:15:03.110 --> 00:15:04.530
Take us behind the scenes.

411
00:15:04.970 --> 00:15:06.210
Who is this little bear?

412
00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.310
And what about the tree?

413
00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:14.930
Expressions, please talk to me about the expressions,

414
00:15:15.410 --> 00:15:17.290
the eyes, the emotions.

415
00:15:18.150 --> 00:15:19.110
Talk to me about that.

416
00:15:19.170 --> 00:15:22.010
Take me behind into your heart as to

417
00:15:22.010 --> 00:15:24.270
what these little things represent.

418
00:15:25.310 --> 00:15:25.870
Sure.

419
00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:27.390
Jeremy, you want me to take that?

420
00:15:27.390 --> 00:15:29.110
Yeah, go for it.

421
00:15:29.290 --> 00:15:29.770
Cool.

422
00:15:31.390 --> 00:15:33.610
So Jeremy is an incredible woodcarver.

423
00:15:33.770 --> 00:15:34.790
You've seen his stuff.

424
00:15:35.090 --> 00:15:39.230
And so early on, you know, we, I

425
00:15:39.230 --> 00:15:41.810
mean, there was already trees and wood, of

426
00:15:41.810 --> 00:15:43.310
course, and he's a woodcarver.

427
00:15:43.410 --> 00:15:44.950
And so that seemed like a pretty easy

428
00:15:44.950 --> 00:15:46.030
putting it together.

429
00:15:46.030 --> 00:15:47.290
But you don't want to just do a

430
00:15:47.290 --> 00:15:51.010
cool aesthetic style for no narrative reason, right?

431
00:15:51.030 --> 00:15:53.570
You want the visual style of any film

432
00:15:54.050 --> 00:15:56.750
to kind of grow out of the narrative

433
00:15:56.750 --> 00:15:57.830
and the storytelling.

434
00:15:58.290 --> 00:16:01.110
So it's one thing to have a cool

435
00:16:01.110 --> 00:16:03.790
idea, but you really want it to resonate

436
00:16:03.790 --> 00:16:05.630
also on the character level.

437
00:16:06.450 --> 00:16:07.770
And that's what we tried to do with

438
00:16:07.770 --> 00:16:08.330
Forevergreen.

439
00:16:08.490 --> 00:16:11.370
So, you know, we wanted it to make

440
00:16:11.370 --> 00:16:13.290
it feel like in this sort of Genesis

441
00:16:13.290 --> 00:16:16.090
One kind of way where, you know, God

442
00:16:16.090 --> 00:16:18.390
making man in his own image, we wanted

443
00:16:18.390 --> 00:16:20.750
to have it look like the tree, the

444
00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:23.250
bear could have been carved from the tree

445
00:16:23.250 --> 00:16:26.370
so that when they're together in frame, they

446
00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:27.690
just, they go together.

447
00:16:28.510 --> 00:16:31.430
And that whole side is sort of, that

448
00:16:31.430 --> 00:16:35.130
they're on is sort of this handcrafted world

449
00:16:35.130 --> 00:16:37.350
and very stylized.

450
00:16:37.510 --> 00:16:39.910
But, you know, when the bear then goes

451
00:16:39.910 --> 00:16:43.510
prodigal and is sitting in the materials that

452
00:16:43.510 --> 00:16:47.150
is vacuum form plastics and, you know, steel

453
00:16:47.150 --> 00:16:49.490
wool and all these other man-made materials,

454
00:16:50.470 --> 00:16:54.050
he, it will look, there'll be a juxtaposition

455
00:16:54.690 --> 00:16:58.110
with that antithetical material that it will feel

456
00:16:58.110 --> 00:16:59.490
subliminally wrong.

457
00:16:59.730 --> 00:17:01.310
Like you don't want the bear to be

458
00:17:01.310 --> 00:17:02.450
sitting in that pile of trash.

459
00:17:02.530 --> 00:17:04.089
You wanna be sitting in the wooden loving

460
00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:05.950
arms of that benevolent tree.

461
00:17:06.130 --> 00:17:08.390
And so I think that was very intentional

462
00:17:08.390 --> 00:17:11.750
and we even did a little stop motion

463
00:17:11.750 --> 00:17:12.170
nod.

464
00:17:12.410 --> 00:17:14.550
So that's sort of the animation technique that

465
00:17:14.550 --> 00:17:16.510
both Jeremy and I, we love stop motion

466
00:17:16.510 --> 00:17:16.990
animation.

467
00:17:17.650 --> 00:17:21.190
Studios like Aardman or Rankin Bass, those old

468
00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:24.670
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, special Christmas specials

469
00:17:24.670 --> 00:17:25.270
that you remember.

470
00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:29.470
They had a kind of a nostalgic look

471
00:17:29.470 --> 00:17:31.850
to them and we were very much inspired

472
00:17:31.850 --> 00:17:32.450
by that.

473
00:17:32.730 --> 00:17:36.290
And so, but in CG, since this wasn't

474
00:17:36.290 --> 00:17:40.170
stop motion, you know, really what we wanted

475
00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:41.970
to do is if we had all the

476
00:17:41.970 --> 00:17:43.210
time in the world was to have Jeremy

477
00:17:43.210 --> 00:17:45.670
carve a unique wood carving for every frame

478
00:17:45.670 --> 00:17:47.450
of animation, but that would have taken forever.

479
00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:49.990
It would have taken, yeah, a hundred years.

480
00:17:49.990 --> 00:17:50.770
So, yeah.

481
00:17:51.510 --> 00:17:53.730
So we use the power of technology and

482
00:17:53.730 --> 00:17:56.470
the computers and we had an incredible team

483
00:17:56.470 --> 00:17:59.470
that helped us build a stop motion like

484
00:17:59.470 --> 00:18:03.130
texture system that helped it make it look

485
00:18:03.130 --> 00:18:04.590
like it was stop motion.

486
00:18:05.310 --> 00:18:07.490
And really what's cool about that is that

487
00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:10.690
it was, they're the only characters that oscillate

488
00:18:10.690 --> 00:18:13.950
like that and have that look like it's

489
00:18:13.950 --> 00:18:15.910
a unique wood carving for every frame animation.

490
00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:18.970
And it almost serves as a heartbeat for

491
00:18:18.970 --> 00:18:22.190
those characters and it serves many purposes, but

492
00:18:22.190 --> 00:18:24.270
they're the only two characters that do that.

493
00:18:25.190 --> 00:18:27.670
And when the tree is in the area

494
00:18:27.670 --> 00:18:31.190
that we call Death Valley, after sacrificing himself,

495
00:18:32.970 --> 00:18:37.610
you really feel that the tree, after kind

496
00:18:37.610 --> 00:18:39.530
of being trained the whole short up until

497
00:18:39.530 --> 00:18:41.690
that point, that that is kind of the

498
00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:44.490
life heartbeat of the character and then it

499
00:18:44.490 --> 00:18:48.230
being completely still next to this very slow

500
00:18:48.230 --> 00:18:52.090
oscillating texture of the bear, hopefully that will

501
00:18:52.090 --> 00:18:53.250
hit harder visually.

502
00:18:53.570 --> 00:18:55.570
And so we're always as filmmakers looking for

503
00:18:55.570 --> 00:18:59.990
those opportunities to say something specific with our

504
00:18:59.990 --> 00:19:03.850
animation, with our lighting, with our effects and

505
00:19:03.850 --> 00:19:04.870
the sound design.

506
00:19:05.050 --> 00:19:10.250
Every part of the film, those 200 volunteers,

507
00:19:10.550 --> 00:19:13.130
you can't highlight them enough that they brought

508
00:19:13.130 --> 00:19:18.150
their masterful craft to the table to like

509
00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:21.470
a beautiful mosaic, everyone putting their piece of

510
00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:23.390
the tile to create kind of the big

511
00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:25.510
frame of the film.

512
00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:28.190
Yeah, and I wanna jump in too and

513
00:19:28.190 --> 00:19:30.970
you had mentioned this specifically and I'm so

514
00:19:30.970 --> 00:19:33.690
glad you noticed all those details because for

515
00:19:33.690 --> 00:19:35.210
all of us that worked on it so

516
00:19:35.210 --> 00:19:37.030
hard and again, each one of those 200

517
00:19:37.030 --> 00:19:39.250
people, some of them would work on just

518
00:19:39.250 --> 00:19:40.950
the crow or they'd work on just the

519
00:19:40.950 --> 00:19:43.130
texture of the crow or the animation of

520
00:19:43.130 --> 00:19:43.470
the crow.

521
00:19:44.110 --> 00:19:46.830
So knowing that it communicated and that it

522
00:19:46.830 --> 00:19:49.430
was the effects of the crow, they had

523
00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:51.630
some dust particles and so I wanted to

524
00:19:51.630 --> 00:19:53.090
talk about this for a second because I

525
00:19:53.090 --> 00:19:55.290
think this is, we geek out about this

526
00:19:55.290 --> 00:20:01.410
as animators but with those crows, there's a

527
00:20:01.410 --> 00:20:03.910
fun little story of again, just how you

528
00:20:03.910 --> 00:20:06.510
get stuck on an idea and it's like,

529
00:20:06.530 --> 00:20:08.230
what is that solution gonna be?

530
00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:10.450
And it was a prayerful moment.

531
00:20:10.450 --> 00:20:12.270
I literally was like, Lord, just give us

532
00:20:12.270 --> 00:20:12.730
the answer.

533
00:20:12.870 --> 00:20:14.870
What should these crows be made of?

534
00:20:15.830 --> 00:20:17.770
And we knew they were gonna be the

535
00:20:17.770 --> 00:20:21.490
tempters, they were gonna be this alluring figure

536
00:20:22.790 --> 00:20:24.790
that lets the audience know that that's where

537
00:20:24.790 --> 00:20:25.170
he's heading.

538
00:20:25.250 --> 00:20:26.530
They can actually fly over to the other

539
00:20:26.530 --> 00:20:26.850
side.

540
00:20:27.050 --> 00:20:28.430
A good friend of mine, Don Doherty is

541
00:20:28.430 --> 00:20:31.130
actually the one who came up with, he's

542
00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:32.410
like, you should have it be crows.

543
00:20:32.590 --> 00:20:33.990
So there's just like all these people adding

544
00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:36.230
these little things in and we just go,

545
00:20:36.330 --> 00:20:37.330
oh my goodness, that's it.

546
00:20:37.550 --> 00:20:39.990
Well, I'm sitting around in a campfire, we

547
00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:41.870
had gone on a family road trip to

548
00:20:41.870 --> 00:20:44.310
Yellowstone and I'm looking at all these rocks

549
00:20:44.310 --> 00:20:45.230
and different things around.

550
00:20:45.330 --> 00:20:47.370
I'm like, okay, maybe this black rock or

551
00:20:47.370 --> 00:20:50.090
this could be the texture of this crow,

552
00:20:50.170 --> 00:20:51.350
it could be an organic thing.

553
00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:55.850
And then I go down to the campfire

554
00:20:55.850 --> 00:20:58.250
the next morning after just really thinking about

555
00:20:58.250 --> 00:20:59.910
this a lot and I look in the

556
00:20:59.910 --> 00:21:02.650
fire and there's a burnt piece of wood

557
00:21:02.650 --> 00:21:04.670
and I pick it up and I just

558
00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:07.410
kind of rotate it in the glistening from

559
00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:09.890
the sun and it has that sort of

560
00:21:09.890 --> 00:21:13.830
multicolor even that a oily wing of a

561
00:21:13.830 --> 00:21:14.290
crow has.

562
00:21:14.930 --> 00:21:16.710
And I just, I flipped out.

563
00:21:16.910 --> 00:21:18.950
I sent Nathan a quick video of it

564
00:21:18.950 --> 00:21:20.790
and I'm like, dude, we got the crow.

565
00:21:21.170 --> 00:21:23.930
And so, and it works thematically that it's

566
00:21:23.930 --> 00:21:26.790
this character that has been over there.

567
00:21:26.950 --> 00:21:28.590
It's been messing around in stuff that it

568
00:21:28.590 --> 00:21:30.810
shouldn't be and that trash is not where

569
00:21:30.810 --> 00:21:34.670
they're supposed to be and that they're sort

570
00:21:34.670 --> 00:21:37.910
of a representation of what you could become

571
00:21:37.910 --> 00:21:39.850
if you let yourself get burned by the

572
00:21:39.850 --> 00:21:40.090
fire.

573
00:21:40.270 --> 00:21:42.190
And so it just, it was this just

574
00:21:42.190 --> 00:21:43.170
epiphany moment.

575
00:21:43.350 --> 00:21:45.450
You know, again, like it felt like, oh,

576
00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:46.050
that's a gift.

577
00:21:46.170 --> 00:21:46.550
Thank you.

578
00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:47.410
Thank you, Lord.

579
00:21:47.810 --> 00:21:48.610
I love it.

580
00:21:48.710 --> 00:21:49.570
Yeah, really cool.

581
00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:49.930
I love it.

582
00:21:50.250 --> 00:21:52.130
You guys, one of the scenes, I don't

583
00:21:52.130 --> 00:21:54.090
know if people picked up on it but

584
00:21:54.090 --> 00:21:56.570
it just grabbed my heart, which is why

585
00:21:56.570 --> 00:21:59.090
I do believe this one scene I'm gonna

586
00:21:59.090 --> 00:21:59.690
bring up.

587
00:22:01.290 --> 00:22:04.590
In the short time of the film that

588
00:22:04.590 --> 00:22:05.770
was shown to our church.

589
00:22:05.810 --> 00:22:07.530
So we showed it at all three services.

590
00:22:08.670 --> 00:22:11.110
And so you're looking at, you know, roughly

591
00:22:11.110 --> 00:22:14.130
2,500 to 3,000 people per service.

592
00:22:14.910 --> 00:22:16.850
As soon as it came on, there was

593
00:22:16.850 --> 00:22:17.430
silence.

594
00:22:19.770 --> 00:22:23.330
And how an animation can put smiles.

595
00:22:23.730 --> 00:22:25.190
We heard, we saw smiles.

596
00:22:25.450 --> 00:22:26.430
We heard laughter.

597
00:22:29.410 --> 00:22:31.950
We heard a gasp.

598
00:22:32.210 --> 00:22:33.030
It was remarkable.

599
00:22:33.030 --> 00:22:35.170
What it was doing to, you know, at

600
00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:37.130
least like a beta test, you know, you're

601
00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:39.490
talking about thousands of people in a matter

602
00:22:39.490 --> 00:22:42.750
of a few hours seeing this thing.

603
00:22:42.990 --> 00:22:44.650
And I almost wish we could have had

604
00:22:44.650 --> 00:22:47.510
like a, you know, a response by the

605
00:22:47.510 --> 00:22:49.670
audience type of poll.

606
00:22:50.070 --> 00:22:51.710
It was off the charts amazing.

607
00:22:52.010 --> 00:22:54.590
And so, but this is one of the

608
00:22:54.590 --> 00:22:58.030
things that the first sighted, the first time

609
00:22:58.030 --> 00:23:01.210
I saw it grabbed me and it moved

610
00:23:01.210 --> 00:23:02.690
me to emotion.

611
00:23:03.090 --> 00:23:03.850
And it was this.

612
00:23:04.870 --> 00:23:11.130
The tenderness, the tenderness, and yet the sovereignty

613
00:23:11.130 --> 00:23:17.690
of God where the bear is enjoying creation.

614
00:23:18.590 --> 00:23:21.170
The tree is looking down at him, kind

615
00:23:21.170 --> 00:23:23.110
of parenting him.

616
00:23:23.850 --> 00:23:27.670
And the porcupine goes by.

617
00:23:28.490 --> 00:23:31.810
And the bear is curious about the porcupine.

618
00:23:32.770 --> 00:23:35.130
And you would think that the tree would

619
00:23:35.130 --> 00:23:37.610
intervene before he ever got near the porcupine.

620
00:23:38.330 --> 00:23:44.450
But the tree willingly turns instead of rescuing

621
00:23:44.450 --> 00:23:48.710
him from this pain, you could see the

622
00:23:48.710 --> 00:23:51.990
tree say, I'm gonna go through this pain

623
00:23:51.990 --> 00:23:52.490
with you.

624
00:23:52.570 --> 00:23:54.210
I'm not gonna stop you because you've got

625
00:23:54.210 --> 00:23:55.210
to learn from it.

626
00:23:56.010 --> 00:23:58.510
And as soon as you get that needle

627
00:23:58.510 --> 00:24:01.230
in your nose, I'm gonna be here to

628
00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:01.950
comfort you.

629
00:24:03.250 --> 00:24:05.510
But man, that ministered to me about the

630
00:24:05.510 --> 00:24:06.230
heart of our God.

631
00:24:06.570 --> 00:24:09.470
Sometimes we've got our minds set on things

632
00:24:10.430 --> 00:24:13.050
that we're not gonna let it go.

633
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:16.490
And the Lord will say, all right, if

634
00:24:16.490 --> 00:24:19.450
that's what you wanna do, let's see how

635
00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:20.090
this turns out.

636
00:24:20.130 --> 00:24:21.110
You're gonna learn from this.

637
00:24:21.310 --> 00:24:23.270
And he, of course, he's crying.

638
00:24:23.270 --> 00:24:25.930
He's got that one needle sticking out of

639
00:24:25.930 --> 00:24:28.430
his nose and there's the compassion of God

640
00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:30.090
who pulls it out of his nose.

641
00:24:30.350 --> 00:24:32.290
And it was just so moving for me

642
00:24:32.290 --> 00:24:34.930
about the character of God that just blew

643
00:24:34.930 --> 00:24:35.610
my mind.

644
00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:39.390
Yeah, those kinds of things are this.

645
00:24:39.910 --> 00:24:41.470
I don't know how you guys, in fact,

646
00:24:41.530 --> 00:24:43.950
I told our staff, I said, I don't

647
00:24:43.950 --> 00:24:46.910
know how these guys packed so much biblical

648
00:24:46.910 --> 00:24:51.250
truth in such an attractive way that no

649
00:24:51.250 --> 00:24:52.610
one, I don't care who you are.

650
00:24:52.610 --> 00:24:54.470
I don't care what your worldview is.

651
00:24:54.890 --> 00:24:56.010
I don't care if you're an atheist.

652
00:24:56.670 --> 00:25:00.150
You cannot see this film without relating to

653
00:25:00.150 --> 00:25:02.470
it because everybody's the bear.

654
00:25:03.590 --> 00:25:05.590
Well, can I, I wanna jump on that

655
00:25:05.590 --> 00:25:08.870
because so that is tremendous.

656
00:25:09.270 --> 00:25:11.790
I love that you pointed to that moment

657
00:25:11.790 --> 00:25:14.650
because that's one of our, we've just enjoyed

658
00:25:14.650 --> 00:25:18.090
that so much making that moment and everyone

659
00:25:18.090 --> 00:25:18.550
involved.

660
00:25:19.190 --> 00:25:23.450
But we have actually had multiple people and

661
00:25:23.450 --> 00:25:27.470
these are people that have completely different ways

662
00:25:27.470 --> 00:25:28.750
of probably thinking about things.

663
00:25:28.890 --> 00:25:29.410
We don't know.

664
00:25:29.470 --> 00:25:31.010
We don't know where everyone's heart's at, but

665
00:25:31.010 --> 00:25:33.770
they actually come to us and say, hey,

666
00:25:33.910 --> 00:25:35.770
I want you to know that we need

667
00:25:35.770 --> 00:25:38.530
more of this kind of content, that I

668
00:25:38.530 --> 00:25:40.850
love this, but I'm an atheist.

669
00:25:42.390 --> 00:25:44.510
You can tell that there's this kind of

670
00:25:44.510 --> 00:25:47.490
moment of like, they have to explain that

671
00:25:47.490 --> 00:25:50.970
to us to say, I love what you

672
00:25:50.970 --> 00:25:51.770
are all doing.

673
00:25:52.090 --> 00:25:54.630
This needs to exist.

674
00:25:55.470 --> 00:25:57.890
And what a confirming thing that that has

675
00:25:57.890 --> 00:25:58.170
been.

676
00:25:58.330 --> 00:26:00.570
And it's been multiple times, Nathan, that we

677
00:26:00.570 --> 00:26:04.770
have had people have been speaking into it

678
00:26:04.770 --> 00:26:05.130
that way.

679
00:26:05.290 --> 00:26:08.130
And I also just want to say that

680
00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:12.510
first and foremost, because when you spend so

681
00:26:12.510 --> 00:26:15.930
much time on something, it needs to be

682
00:26:15.930 --> 00:26:16.610
worth it.

683
00:26:16.830 --> 00:26:18.150
It needs that, you know, for you to

684
00:26:18.150 --> 00:26:21.610
invest your personal time like this and to

685
00:26:21.610 --> 00:26:22.630
sacrifice your time.

686
00:26:23.290 --> 00:26:27.090
But we knew that our walk with God,

687
00:26:27.250 --> 00:26:31.450
what Jesus did for us, taking our place

688
00:26:31.450 --> 00:26:33.630
and paying our fine the way that he

689
00:26:33.630 --> 00:26:37.010
did, that each of us had a personal

690
00:26:37.010 --> 00:26:40.370
story of that journey where we were that

691
00:26:40.370 --> 00:26:44.650
knucklehead bear and we went away, we disregarded,

692
00:26:45.030 --> 00:26:46.930
even for the smallest of things, even for

693
00:26:46.930 --> 00:26:49.370
a bag of chips, like everyone can know

694
00:26:49.370 --> 00:26:50.330
what a bag of chips is.

695
00:26:50.630 --> 00:26:51.870
And that's why it was just like, it

696
00:26:51.870 --> 00:26:54.130
was such a enjoyable thing when you found

697
00:26:54.130 --> 00:26:56.310
these sort of this imagery that could kind

698
00:26:56.310 --> 00:26:59.830
of be something to bring people together and

699
00:26:59.830 --> 00:27:01.510
go, oh, I know exactly what that is.

700
00:27:01.630 --> 00:27:02.210
I have that.

701
00:27:02.250 --> 00:27:03.690
Because what you're saying is exactly right.

702
00:27:03.750 --> 00:27:04.710
We are all that bear.

703
00:27:07.750 --> 00:27:09.990
And Nathan and I, it was our personal

704
00:27:09.990 --> 00:27:12.830
journey to walk people through a beat by

705
00:27:12.830 --> 00:27:16.790
beat version of when you fall away and

706
00:27:16.790 --> 00:27:20.310
you realize that you get to the end

707
00:27:20.310 --> 00:27:22.250
of yourself and you say, there's nothing else

708
00:27:22.250 --> 00:27:22.970
that I can do.

709
00:27:23.790 --> 00:27:25.030
And so here's this bear on the edge

710
00:27:25.030 --> 00:27:27.730
of that cliff and he's still holding on.

711
00:27:27.810 --> 00:27:30.730
He's still holding on to his precious things.

712
00:27:31.530 --> 00:27:34.470
And he looks across the way and now

713
00:27:34.470 --> 00:27:35.590
he's desperate, right?

714
00:27:36.250 --> 00:27:37.710
And he goes, all right, I'm gonna make

715
00:27:37.710 --> 00:27:40.550
the choice and I'm gonna, and, but it's

716
00:27:40.550 --> 00:27:42.850
only because of, it's only because of the

717
00:27:42.850 --> 00:27:47.870
tree's generosity, falling across, blowing the smoke away

718
00:27:47.870 --> 00:27:49.250
so that he can take a breath.

719
00:27:49.690 --> 00:27:52.690
He looks up and only because the flame

720
00:27:52.690 --> 00:27:57.470
gets on the tree, he took upon himself

721
00:27:57.470 --> 00:27:58.050
the flame.

722
00:27:58.990 --> 00:28:00.610
And so now, not only has he uprooted

723
00:28:00.610 --> 00:28:02.610
himself, there's no way back, but he's taken

724
00:28:02.610 --> 00:28:03.270
on the flame.

725
00:28:04.010 --> 00:28:06.610
And it's in that moment that the animator,

726
00:28:06.990 --> 00:28:12.710
this wonderful guy, Brendan Gottlieb, animated this shot,

727
00:28:12.990 --> 00:28:15.670
which it's him looking up and sort of

728
00:28:15.670 --> 00:28:17.570
having this moment of like, oh my goodness,

729
00:28:18.190 --> 00:28:19.370
this is what I've done.

730
00:28:20.070 --> 00:28:21.690
And he looks down at his trash and

731
00:28:21.690 --> 00:28:24.050
he tosses it away.

732
00:28:24.630 --> 00:28:28.730
And that is the beat by beat version

733
00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:30.110
of how you truly get saved.

734
00:28:30.330 --> 00:28:32.850
You don't save yourself, there's nothing we can

735
00:28:32.850 --> 00:28:33.110
do.

736
00:28:33.330 --> 00:28:35.810
That it is God reaching to us and

737
00:28:35.810 --> 00:28:37.430
we have to let go of our sin,

738
00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:39.490
reach up and be saved.

739
00:28:40.370 --> 00:28:42.270
Yeah, I'm gonna talk a lot about that.

740
00:28:42.450 --> 00:28:45.670
Jeremy, yeah, what, I just wanna stick in

741
00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:47.170
there at this moment with what you, I'm

742
00:28:47.170 --> 00:28:48.130
just afraid I'll forget.

743
00:28:48.690 --> 00:28:53.130
Jeremy, what you just said, another captivating moment

744
00:28:53.130 --> 00:28:54.930
for me is I was looking at the

745
00:28:54.930 --> 00:28:59.170
face of the tree when all of this

746
00:28:59.170 --> 00:29:01.170
processing was going on with the little bear

747
00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:04.330
and when the bear gets on the tree's,

748
00:29:04.750 --> 00:29:08.370
let's say belly, right, on his belly and

749
00:29:08.370 --> 00:29:14.470
the cost where the scripture says that Jesus,

750
00:29:14.810 --> 00:29:16.390
for the joy that was set before him,

751
00:29:17.050 --> 00:29:20.550
endured the cross, despising its shame, offering himself,

752
00:29:20.770 --> 00:29:24.930
sacrificing himself, that the face on the tree

753
00:29:24.930 --> 00:29:28.430
has got, I don't even know how to

754
00:29:28.430 --> 00:29:29.990
say it, I lack the English.

755
00:29:30.530 --> 00:29:35.370
The eyes are full of compassion and yet

756
00:29:35.370 --> 00:29:40.830
sacrifice and there is a type of a

757
00:29:40.830 --> 00:29:44.710
smile on that part of the bark of

758
00:29:44.710 --> 00:29:47.650
its mouth where it is saying, clearly it

759
00:29:47.650 --> 00:29:53.130
is saying, because this has happened, this is

760
00:29:53.130 --> 00:29:54.390
what I'm doing for you.

761
00:29:54.950 --> 00:29:58.230
It's costing my life, but I'm so happy

762
00:29:58.230 --> 00:30:00.350
to do that so that you can carry

763
00:30:00.350 --> 00:30:01.330
on your life.

764
00:30:03.070 --> 00:30:06.570
And basically, the thought was do this in

765
00:30:06.570 --> 00:30:10.070
remembrance of me because at the end, I

766
00:30:10.070 --> 00:30:12.770
see the bear living his life in the

767
00:30:12.770 --> 00:30:16.070
offspring of the tree, doing this in remembrance

768
00:30:16.070 --> 00:30:19.990
of the sacrifice and it was just so,

769
00:30:20.750 --> 00:30:22.610
you know what, I'm not a prophet, but

770
00:30:22.610 --> 00:30:25.170
I gotta tell you, I've spent years in

771
00:30:25.170 --> 00:30:29.810
Russia witnessing evangelism in Europe and we used

772
00:30:29.810 --> 00:30:33.130
to do, of course, skits that were beyond

773
00:30:33.130 --> 00:30:36.190
language so we would act out things to

774
00:30:36.190 --> 00:30:37.470
communicate the gospel.

775
00:30:38.450 --> 00:30:42.390
And I just believe that this film is

776
00:30:42.390 --> 00:30:46.390
going to go so international for ministries to

777
00:30:46.390 --> 00:30:54.180
use because you guys so perfectly articulated beyond

778
00:30:54.180 --> 00:31:01.080
the gospel, the gospel, restoration, commitment, discipleship, love,

779
00:31:01.280 --> 00:31:04.660
sacrifice, sovereignty, choice matters.

780
00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:08.200
There's an evil world that's on fire but

781
00:31:08.200 --> 00:31:09.820
there's a way to live again.

782
00:31:10.360 --> 00:31:12.160
I just believe, I mean, I'm telling you

783
00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:13.760
right now, if we were heading out right

784
00:31:13.760 --> 00:31:15.560
now to anywhere in the world with a

785
00:31:15.560 --> 00:31:18.300
mission team, I would be asking you guys,

786
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.540
can we take the film and show it

787
00:31:20.540 --> 00:31:22.720
to the streets of Paris or Moscow because

788
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.880
I'm telling you, it is gonna be a

789
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:29.640
spiritual home run even if somebody's deaf, they

790
00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:31.100
don't even have to be able to hear

791
00:31:31.100 --> 00:31:32.720
to get the gospel.

792
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:33.920
It is truly remarkable.

793
00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:37.640
I want everybody, listen, team, everybody, you've got

794
00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:39.640
to watch this time and time again and

795
00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:41.680
get it out into the eyes and the

796
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:44.500
ears of everybody you know.

797
00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:49.380
So tell me, I'm curious, what's behind the

798
00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:50.000
porcupines?

799
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:53.200
Is there anything I've missed about the porcupines?

800
00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:54.840
I mean, that's just incredibly beautiful.

801
00:31:54.860 --> 00:31:55.540
They're cute and adorable.

802
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:56.520
What can you miss?

803
00:31:56.520 --> 00:31:57.080
They're cute and adorable.

804
00:31:57.380 --> 00:31:57.740
They're perfect.

805
00:31:58.780 --> 00:32:00.980
Yeah, I did wanna circle back to something

806
00:32:00.980 --> 00:32:02.460
you said pastor there is that it was

807
00:32:02.460 --> 00:32:04.840
so very much intentional.

808
00:32:05.060 --> 00:32:07.140
Jeremy and I, I mean, we really fought

809
00:32:07.140 --> 00:32:10.640
long and hard about what the, again, this

810
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.640
isn't the gospel but it is a picture

811
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:16.440
of that unmerited grace, right?

812
00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:18.800
Of what Christ did for us.

813
00:32:18.800 --> 00:32:20.280
So there's a Christ likeness.

814
00:32:21.040 --> 00:32:24.120
And so, but we, even though, even that

815
00:32:24.120 --> 00:32:26.460
being the case we did think about the

816
00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:29.760
theological ramifications of what a visual would convey,

817
00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:30.680
right?

818
00:32:30.800 --> 00:32:33.400
If the bear climbed up, you know, the

819
00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:35.240
tree on his own it could be construed

820
00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:36.860
as works righteousness, for example.

821
00:32:37.360 --> 00:32:39.920
Right, and so if you, and if the

822
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:42.160
tree didn't push him, you know, like the

823
00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:44.900
running across, you know, it's there's a sanctification

824
00:32:44.900 --> 00:32:45.840
kind of piece of that.

825
00:32:45.840 --> 00:32:48.200
You know, that's like, it's not all of

826
00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:48.780
us, right?

827
00:32:48.820 --> 00:32:51.400
It's us and the Lord working together after

828
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:53.000
you were saved and justified.

829
00:32:53.300 --> 00:32:55.800
And so there's an element of, you even

830
00:32:55.800 --> 00:32:57.540
see the tree that gives him a shove.

831
00:32:57.720 --> 00:32:59.760
Like it's not like, it's even at the

832
00:32:59.760 --> 00:33:01.740
very end before he makes a jump, he's

833
00:33:01.740 --> 00:33:02.480
not gonna make it.

834
00:33:02.560 --> 00:33:03.940
And you can sort of see the animator

835
00:33:03.940 --> 00:33:07.260
added a little flick to the trunk that

836
00:33:07.260 --> 00:33:08.520
actually helped him get up there.

837
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:11.380
All these things were very much intentional where

838
00:33:11.380 --> 00:33:15.360
we could say this act was all the

839
00:33:15.360 --> 00:33:16.520
tree not the bear.

840
00:33:16.740 --> 00:33:19.600
And that's to parallel, you know, the allegory

841
00:33:19.600 --> 00:33:22.000
of it's all the Lord that does the

842
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:23.400
work and it's not us.

843
00:33:23.600 --> 00:33:26.560
So anyways, just, I mean, I think you're

844
00:33:26.560 --> 00:33:27.360
right.

845
00:33:27.660 --> 00:33:29.500
And we're so happy that you picked up

846
00:33:29.500 --> 00:33:31.240
on all that because it was things that

847
00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:33.760
were very much intentional and trying to make

848
00:33:33.760 --> 00:33:36.520
sure, because when you have a visual there's

849
00:33:36.520 --> 00:33:38.780
a lot of responsibility and making sure you're

850
00:33:38.780 --> 00:33:40.760
saying the correct thing that you wanna say.

851
00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:42.960
And then to be able to layer in

852
00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.400
all the other, you know things like discipleship

853
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:46.000
and everything else.

854
00:33:46.820 --> 00:33:48.880
So hopefully follow suit as well.

855
00:33:49.120 --> 00:33:50.580
But so we're just, so I just wanna

856
00:33:50.580 --> 00:33:52.160
make a quick comment on that and just

857
00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:54.520
how happy I am to hear that.

858
00:33:54.820 --> 00:33:55.880
So, so good.

859
00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:59.780
And there's one little quick thing that we've

860
00:33:59.780 --> 00:34:01.340
experienced just now that the film is out

861
00:34:01.340 --> 00:34:02.120
there and getting seen.

862
00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:05.000
So we're getting lots of wonderful comments and

863
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.780
they're coming from all different angles but one

864
00:34:07.780 --> 00:34:10.600
of the ones that I particularly and Nathan

865
00:34:10.600 --> 00:34:14.320
and I particularly enjoying seeing is ones where,

866
00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:15.840
where people are watching it.

867
00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:17.780
They're sticking through all the way to the

868
00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:20.580
end and then they write their review and

869
00:34:20.580 --> 00:34:23.380
they say, they say that bear did not

870
00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:24.560
deserve that.

871
00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:26.780
That bear does not deserve that.

872
00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:28.340
That bear does, and they keep, it's like

873
00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:29.980
the same comment.

874
00:34:30.980 --> 00:34:33.580
And, and I, it's just like, it's so

875
00:34:33.580 --> 00:34:35.980
encouraging because that is why we made the

876
00:34:35.980 --> 00:34:39.260
film was to if there's any perfect tee

877
00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:41.620
up to a conversation, it's that.

878
00:34:41.620 --> 00:34:44.080
It's saying, yep, you're right.

879
00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:45.540
You are right.

880
00:34:45.659 --> 00:34:46.800
We don't deserve that.

881
00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:49.540
And let me, let's talk about that.

882
00:34:49.659 --> 00:34:51.540
You know, I know I don't deserve that.

883
00:34:51.620 --> 00:34:53.360
Like I'm a, I'm the chief of sinners,

884
00:34:53.520 --> 00:34:53.840
you know.

885
00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.620
And let me tell you about my experience.

886
00:34:56.740 --> 00:34:59.300
And it's just like, to me, if, if

887
00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:01.180
this short could help as you're talking about

888
00:35:01.180 --> 00:35:03.320
getting, getting out into the world if it

889
00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:06.540
could just help Christians in general just be

890
00:35:06.540 --> 00:35:08.360
more open with their faith and sharing their

891
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:09.960
faith that would be amazing.

892
00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:11.760
But we also know that it can also

893
00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:15.460
communicate and baffle people that watch it.

894
00:35:15.580 --> 00:35:17.880
Like they don't understand like how that does,

895
00:35:18.120 --> 00:35:19.280
that's undeserved.

896
00:35:19.500 --> 00:35:21.960
And then again, maybe someone will be able

897
00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:24.160
to come alongside them and say, yeah, well,

898
00:35:24.180 --> 00:35:25.160
let's talk about that.

899
00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:27.160
You know, so it's just really encouraging.

900
00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:28.120
So yeah.

901
00:35:28.220 --> 00:35:30.160
Yep, to all that, I would say this,

902
00:35:31.180 --> 00:35:33.680
what you guys have done is truly anointed

903
00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:35.120
and inspired by the Lord.

904
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:37.360
And the one of the, there's many evidences

905
00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:41.780
to this but one of them is that

906
00:35:41.780 --> 00:35:51.000
you see a presentation of truth delivered

907
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:56.320
for a child profound enough to cause a

908
00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:59.420
crowd of thousands to break a tear or

909
00:35:59.420 --> 00:36:01.180
laugh or gasp.

910
00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:07.190
And you guys know that in the making

911
00:36:07.190 --> 00:36:09.230
of movies or anything like that, you're gonna

912
00:36:09.230 --> 00:36:10.250
target an audience.

913
00:36:10.530 --> 00:36:11.970
We're gonna target this audience.

914
00:36:12.610 --> 00:36:14.770
This transcends that and only the Lord can

915
00:36:14.770 --> 00:36:17.710
do that because you've got an old man

916
00:36:17.710 --> 00:36:20.350
and you've got a little kid getting it

917
00:36:20.890 --> 00:36:23.170
that is just absolutely so powerful.

918
00:36:25.610 --> 00:36:28.170
And one of the things that, and I

919
00:36:28.170 --> 00:36:30.370
think you alluded to this earlier but I

920
00:36:30.370 --> 00:36:34.310
just wanna make sure you talked about that

921
00:36:34.310 --> 00:36:35.350
it's not of works.

922
00:36:35.550 --> 00:36:36.690
He made the sacrifice.

923
00:36:37.250 --> 00:36:38.710
Did I read this right?

924
00:36:39.130 --> 00:36:43.470
That at the part where the tree decides,

925
00:36:44.170 --> 00:36:45.630
I'm gonna lay down my life.

926
00:36:46.530 --> 00:36:47.870
Am I reading it right?

927
00:36:47.910 --> 00:36:49.370
When you see him kind of like, I

928
00:36:49.370 --> 00:36:51.410
gotta get myself out of this earth.

929
00:36:51.990 --> 00:36:52.870
Is that true?

930
00:36:53.090 --> 00:36:53.990
Is that what was going?

931
00:36:54.210 --> 00:36:55.450
Yeah, he's trying to uproot himself.

932
00:36:56.390 --> 00:36:57.270
Uproot himself.

933
00:36:57.970 --> 00:36:58.390
Yeah.

934
00:36:58.610 --> 00:36:59.770
Just so powerful.

935
00:37:00.330 --> 00:37:03.190
Yeah, well, let me just respond quickly to

936
00:37:03.190 --> 00:37:04.950
the thing you just said, which was, I

937
00:37:04.950 --> 00:37:07.650
mean, this is loosely based off the prodigal

938
00:37:07.650 --> 00:37:11.730
son story as we mentioned before, but the

939
00:37:11.730 --> 00:37:14.510
whole this resonates with everyone thing.

940
00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:19.250
I mean, everyone is either a parent or

941
00:37:19.250 --> 00:37:21.250
as a child of a parent, right?

942
00:37:21.530 --> 00:37:24.630
And so everyone, and so there was a

943
00:37:24.630 --> 00:37:28.550
universality and Jesus, he is the master storyteller.

944
00:37:29.190 --> 00:37:30.510
And so, I mean, he knew what he

945
00:37:30.510 --> 00:37:31.070
was doing.

946
00:37:31.070 --> 00:37:36.290
And so it's, in that culture, what that

947
00:37:36.290 --> 00:37:38.810
meant to ask for an early inheritance and

948
00:37:38.810 --> 00:37:41.890
to then go and squander that.

949
00:37:42.030 --> 00:37:45.610
I mean, people haven't changed since 2000 years

950
00:37:45.610 --> 00:37:45.850
ago.

951
00:37:45.990 --> 00:37:47.730
I mean, there's still selfishness.

952
00:37:47.850 --> 00:37:49.190
There's still evil in the world.

953
00:37:49.330 --> 00:37:52.070
There's still people who hate one another.

954
00:37:52.930 --> 00:37:55.310
And so I think everyone can resonate or

955
00:37:55.310 --> 00:37:57.670
take something away from it because there's a

956
00:37:57.670 --> 00:38:00.270
universal, as you said, there's universal truths that

957
00:38:00.270 --> 00:38:03.090
are just embedded in life that God has

958
00:38:03.090 --> 00:38:07.910
given us, whether it's familial or spiritual or

959
00:38:07.910 --> 00:38:09.150
environmental or whatever.

960
00:38:09.190 --> 00:38:11.930
There's so many different layers, I think, to

961
00:38:11.930 --> 00:38:12.210
this.

962
00:38:12.470 --> 00:38:14.770
And our desire was always from the beginning

963
00:38:15.200 --> 00:38:17.410
to have this be a feast that everyone

964
00:38:17.410 --> 00:38:20.470
can enjoy, that it can resonate with everyone,

965
00:38:20.570 --> 00:38:23.470
but then can also have great deep conversations

966
00:38:23.470 --> 00:38:24.870
afterwards, as Jeremy said.

967
00:38:25.010 --> 00:38:26.990
So, yeah, I just wanted to point at,

968
00:38:26.990 --> 00:38:29.090
Jesus, the master storyteller.

969
00:38:29.850 --> 00:38:31.850
And I think that's a good part in

970
00:38:31.850 --> 00:38:34.250
why this resonates across the board.

971
00:38:35.490 --> 00:38:37.830
Well, and I have to, I wanna jump

972
00:38:37.830 --> 00:38:38.550
on that real quick.

973
00:38:38.910 --> 00:38:41.150
And it was so, it was just encouraging

974
00:38:41.150 --> 00:38:44.350
to us, again, to go to all of

975
00:38:44.350 --> 00:38:46.930
these friends that we've worked with for years

976
00:38:46.930 --> 00:38:48.430
at Disney.

977
00:38:48.590 --> 00:38:50.690
And even there was folks outside of Disney

978
00:38:50.690 --> 00:38:51.930
that worked on this with us.

979
00:38:52.090 --> 00:38:55.330
And it was just this thing of like,

980
00:38:55.330 --> 00:38:57.630
we had a chance to share, but say,

981
00:38:58.030 --> 00:39:00.050
we understand that we all don't have the

982
00:39:00.050 --> 00:39:02.590
same, we don't come from the same places

983
00:39:03.230 --> 00:39:06.130
in our spiritual walks or in our whatever.

984
00:39:06.790 --> 00:39:08.930
But it was just really cool to see

985
00:39:08.930 --> 00:39:11.630
everyone coming together and saying, we all agree

986
00:39:11.630 --> 00:39:14.250
on this is an important thing to say,

987
00:39:14.470 --> 00:39:17.170
and that we're willing to put our free

988
00:39:17.170 --> 00:39:19.630
time into this thing, which was just, again,

989
00:39:19.830 --> 00:39:22.050
it was, we just, we can't love up

990
00:39:22.050 --> 00:39:24.790
on our crew enough and thank them for

991
00:39:24.790 --> 00:39:27.050
all that they gave to help bring this

992
00:39:27.050 --> 00:39:27.790
thing to life.

993
00:39:27.930 --> 00:39:29.810
So it really, it's all on them.

994
00:39:30.190 --> 00:39:31.210
So, so good.

995
00:39:31.570 --> 00:39:35.090
You know, I think the word disarming would

996
00:39:35.090 --> 00:39:35.950
be a good word.

997
00:39:36.550 --> 00:39:42.750
That this delivery of truth, you cannot find

998
00:39:42.750 --> 00:39:43.690
fault with it.

999
00:39:44.470 --> 00:39:45.150
Think about it.

1000
00:39:45.490 --> 00:39:50.550
What would somebody possibly have angst with this

1001
00:39:50.550 --> 00:39:51.110
presentation?

1002
00:39:51.610 --> 00:39:54.730
And then disarming.

1003
00:39:54.970 --> 00:39:56.770
It's almost as though you could show it.

1004
00:39:56.930 --> 00:39:59.710
Somebody, one of you guys mentioned how hateful

1005
00:39:59.710 --> 00:40:00.410
the world is.

1006
00:40:00.930 --> 00:40:04.310
It's almost like, gosh, can I show you

1007
00:40:04.310 --> 00:40:06.210
this before you go off and do your

1008
00:40:06.210 --> 00:40:06.830
hatred?

1009
00:40:07.270 --> 00:40:07.910
Watch this.

1010
00:40:08.410 --> 00:40:09.510
It's so disarming.

1011
00:40:09.850 --> 00:40:11.430
I mean, who's gonna walk away from this

1012
00:40:11.430 --> 00:40:14.250
beautifully presented, you know, just call it an

1013
00:40:14.250 --> 00:40:17.030
animated cartoon for the most basic way.

1014
00:40:17.510 --> 00:40:18.790
It's, what do I wanna watch that for?

1015
00:40:18.790 --> 00:40:21.450
Just give it 15 or 12 minutes, whatever

1016
00:40:21.450 --> 00:40:22.090
the length of it is.

1017
00:40:22.090 --> 00:40:22.930
Just watch this.

1018
00:40:23.630 --> 00:40:24.870
It's so disarming.

1019
00:40:25.450 --> 00:40:27.310
It's like, who can find fault with this?

1020
00:40:27.930 --> 00:40:31.230
It's just, ah, it's just so good.

1021
00:40:31.430 --> 00:40:32.930
And I think, yeah.

1022
00:40:33.230 --> 00:40:34.930
I think that's the power of storytelling though,

1023
00:40:34.950 --> 00:40:35.150
right?

1024
00:40:35.270 --> 00:40:39.190
I think stories have a way of conveying

1025
00:40:39.190 --> 00:40:42.450
deep survival information, as Brian McDonald would say.

1026
00:40:42.870 --> 00:40:44.790
I think that's a, it's a really neat

1027
00:40:44.790 --> 00:40:49.650
thing just to be able to tell a

1028
00:40:49.650 --> 00:40:51.750
story, to have someone get sucked in.

1029
00:40:51.950 --> 00:40:54.550
And then again, without feeling too preachy or

1030
00:40:54.550 --> 00:40:58.110
anything like that, but you're able to entertain,

1031
00:40:58.590 --> 00:41:00.090
but then also have a POV.

1032
00:41:00.590 --> 00:41:02.930
And I mean, again, that's exactly what the

1033
00:41:02.930 --> 00:41:05.270
prophet Nathan did to David, right?

1034
00:41:05.350 --> 00:41:08.210
Which was, you know, he's confronting him in

1035
00:41:08.210 --> 00:41:11.210
the cinema with Bathsheba, and he's telling him

1036
00:41:11.210 --> 00:41:14.190
a little story about, you know, this guy

1037
00:41:14.190 --> 00:41:15.510
stole this little lamb.

1038
00:41:15.870 --> 00:41:17.510
And you know, Dave's like, he's into the

1039
00:41:17.510 --> 00:41:18.010
story.

1040
00:41:18.430 --> 00:41:20.250
And he's like, that man must pay.

1041
00:41:20.370 --> 00:41:22.410
And he's like, that man is you, right?

1042
00:41:22.490 --> 00:41:26.070
There's something about story that it's so disarming,

1043
00:41:26.390 --> 00:41:28.190
especially when you're invested in it.

1044
00:41:28.530 --> 00:41:33.150
And that layer, that veneer of storytelling sometimes

1045
00:41:33.150 --> 00:41:37.950
can help you to see like David was

1046
00:41:37.950 --> 00:41:40.290
able to see the truth about yourself.

1047
00:41:41.650 --> 00:41:44.510
And I think that's always, I think what

1048
00:41:44.510 --> 00:41:47.550
any filmmaker would try to convey is that

1049
00:41:47.550 --> 00:41:49.210
message that's underneath.

1050
00:41:49.950 --> 00:41:53.290
But again, done in an artful, non-preachy

1051
00:41:53.290 --> 00:41:55.650
sort of entertaining way that, and when you

1052
00:41:55.650 --> 00:41:57.350
do that, it will always come across as

1053
00:41:57.350 --> 00:41:59.050
truthful and sincere.

1054
00:41:59.410 --> 00:42:00.810
And I think people can pick up on

1055
00:42:00.810 --> 00:42:01.070
that.

1056
00:42:01.570 --> 00:42:03.810
And there's one last thing off of that

1057
00:42:03.810 --> 00:42:04.950
is the pine cone.

1058
00:42:05.990 --> 00:42:08.450
That, you know, there's just truth in nature,

1059
00:42:08.450 --> 00:42:11.070
in our world, you know, as we understand

1060
00:42:11.070 --> 00:42:12.210
everything around us.

1061
00:42:12.790 --> 00:42:15.450
So a pine cone for those giant Sequoia

1062
00:42:15.450 --> 00:42:19.170
redwoods, it needs fire, it needs heat for

1063
00:42:19.170 --> 00:42:21.850
it to break open, for the seals to

1064
00:42:21.850 --> 00:42:24.590
get undone and for it to replant.

1065
00:42:25.470 --> 00:42:27.290
And there was just something that, again, it

1066
00:42:27.290 --> 00:42:28.790
was like all those little things, those little

1067
00:42:28.790 --> 00:42:29.370
details.

1068
00:42:29.950 --> 00:42:31.210
There's one last thing I was gonna share

1069
00:42:31.210 --> 00:42:34.950
is Joe Sutphin, who's this amazing illustrator, a

1070
00:42:34.950 --> 00:42:36.470
friend of ours that worked on the film.

1071
00:42:38.170 --> 00:42:40.490
He watched the very first pass of this

1072
00:42:40.490 --> 00:42:41.970
and we used to not have the tree.

1073
00:42:42.910 --> 00:42:45.430
The tree regrew, but it was the bear

1074
00:42:45.430 --> 00:42:46.530
planting the tree.

1075
00:42:47.290 --> 00:42:48.950
And, you know, basically just saying, oh, I'm

1076
00:42:48.950 --> 00:42:50.090
gonna plant mini trees.

1077
00:42:50.830 --> 00:42:52.890
And the tree never really had, it was

1078
00:42:52.890 --> 00:42:53.450
just a tree.

1079
00:42:54.270 --> 00:42:56.810
And what was so cool is Joe goes,

1080
00:42:57.090 --> 00:42:58.910
and the bear used to look over the

1081
00:42:58.910 --> 00:43:00.110
edge and the tree was just gone.

1082
00:43:00.250 --> 00:43:01.550
He fell away and he never got a

1083
00:43:01.550 --> 00:43:01.790
moment.

1084
00:43:01.790 --> 00:43:06.030
And Joe goes, guys, I think Christ would

1085
00:43:06.030 --> 00:43:07.390
be smiling back at us.

1086
00:43:07.570 --> 00:43:09.190
I think that he would be happy.

1087
00:43:09.310 --> 00:43:11.010
He would be happy to take this upon

1088
00:43:11.010 --> 00:43:11.410
himself.

1089
00:43:12.070 --> 00:43:15.230
And you pointed at this earlier, Pastor, but

1090
00:43:15.230 --> 00:43:18.550
it was just like this great, again, everyone

1091
00:43:18.550 --> 00:43:22.470
adding these little details to help you feel

1092
00:43:22.470 --> 00:43:25.050
all the right things that Nathan was, you

1093
00:43:25.050 --> 00:43:26.010
know, you're just talking about there.

1094
00:43:27.090 --> 00:43:29.670
It's all that stuff that adds up, you

1095
00:43:29.670 --> 00:43:29.850
know.

1096
00:43:29.850 --> 00:43:30.770
So good.

1097
00:43:31.070 --> 00:43:34.030
You guys have produced, if I might be

1098
00:43:34.030 --> 00:43:40.650
so bold, you guys have produced, created a

1099
00:43:40.650 --> 00:43:41.850
modern day parable.

1100
00:43:42.110 --> 00:43:46.150
The word parabolic, Jesus obviously spoke in parables.

1101
00:43:46.270 --> 00:43:47.670
What a lot of people don't realize is

1102
00:43:47.670 --> 00:43:51.370
that the Jewish scholars will tell you that

1103
00:43:51.370 --> 00:43:57.090
the Hebrew form of bringing a message that

1104
00:43:57.090 --> 00:44:00.930
was taught by a rabbi would be that

1105
00:44:00.930 --> 00:44:02.770
message or that doctrine given.

1106
00:44:03.070 --> 00:44:04.450
It could have been an hour or two

1107
00:44:04.450 --> 00:44:09.170
hour long message, but it's always ended with

1108
00:44:09.170 --> 00:44:11.990
a parable, which causes all of the truth

1109
00:44:11.990 --> 00:44:15.730
and the doctrine that was preceding the moment

1110
00:44:15.730 --> 00:44:18.290
of the parable, which is the bow on

1111
00:44:18.290 --> 00:44:21.410
top to make it technicolor.

1112
00:44:21.950 --> 00:44:25.350
So notice when it says Jesus sat down

1113
00:44:25.350 --> 00:44:27.970
and taught them saying, notice most of Jesus's

1114
00:44:27.970 --> 00:44:30.430
teaching is wrapped up in a parable.

1115
00:44:30.910 --> 00:44:35.350
And that parable is the postmark of a

1116
00:44:35.350 --> 00:44:36.390
tremendous message.

1117
00:44:36.990 --> 00:44:39.110
So what you guys have done, you've taken

1118
00:44:39.110 --> 00:44:42.830
the reality of a tremendous message and you

1119
00:44:42.830 --> 00:44:45.330
in the modern day technology to modern day

1120
00:44:45.330 --> 00:44:49.150
eyes, you have so perfectly honored the very

1121
00:44:49.150 --> 00:44:53.830
nature of Jesus's teachings of parabolic delivery to

1122
00:44:53.830 --> 00:44:57.230
para, para means to be alongside and bolic

1123
00:44:57.230 --> 00:45:00.290
is to cast, to cast alongside truth and

1124
00:45:00.290 --> 00:45:03.070
let the receiver decide on what to do.

1125
00:45:03.170 --> 00:45:05.410
That's why when a parable is given, some

1126
00:45:05.410 --> 00:45:08.310
receive and some don't, the parable actually judges

1127
00:45:08.310 --> 00:45:09.410
the listener.

1128
00:45:10.190 --> 00:45:12.250
God doesn't even judge the listener.

1129
00:45:12.950 --> 00:45:16.650
They choose to accept his very, very graphic

1130
00:45:16.650 --> 00:45:17.990
truth or reject it.

1131
00:45:18.330 --> 00:45:21.450
And it's a remarkable thing because God invented

1132
00:45:21.450 --> 00:45:24.790
parabolic teaching and you and I first hear

1133
00:45:24.790 --> 00:45:27.250
about that in Genesis 1, 1, where in

1134
00:45:27.250 --> 00:45:29.290
the beginning, God created.

1135
00:45:30.050 --> 00:45:32.010
And so you guys have honored the Lord.

1136
00:45:32.330 --> 00:45:33.710
You've honored biblical doctrine.

1137
00:45:34.310 --> 00:45:38.630
Your creativity is so Christ-like and like

1138
00:45:38.630 --> 00:45:40.370
you said, but not preachy.

1139
00:45:40.910 --> 00:45:42.610
And I don't think Jesus is preachy.

1140
00:45:43.770 --> 00:45:44.790
It's just beautiful.

1141
00:45:44.910 --> 00:45:46.650
You guys, I can't, with the few seconds

1142
00:45:46.650 --> 00:45:48.590
I have left, what can you tell us?

1143
00:45:48.650 --> 00:45:49.250
What's next?

1144
00:45:49.350 --> 00:45:51.690
I'm sure everybody's, I'm dying to find out,

1145
00:45:51.690 --> 00:45:53.050
hey, what are you gonna do in the

1146
00:45:53.050 --> 00:45:53.810
next six years?

1147
00:45:54.890 --> 00:45:55.850
This is amazing.

1148
00:45:55.970 --> 00:45:56.950
We have to have more.

1149
00:45:58.270 --> 00:45:59.350
Well, I'll just jump in.

1150
00:46:00.570 --> 00:46:03.530
Again, as we walk by faith, as we

1151
00:46:03.530 --> 00:46:06.350
take those steps, we're just asking the Lord

1152
00:46:06.350 --> 00:46:07.550
to keep directing our steps.

1153
00:46:07.870 --> 00:46:10.650
We've met so many wonderful people, including yourself

1154
00:46:10.650 --> 00:46:12.090
throughout all this process.

1155
00:46:12.450 --> 00:46:14.910
And it really feels like, I think God

1156
00:46:14.910 --> 00:46:17.050
has said it on our hearts that it'd

1157
00:46:17.050 --> 00:46:19.390
be great to make more content like this.

1158
00:46:20.290 --> 00:46:23.910
That just tells things that are true that

1159
00:46:23.910 --> 00:46:26.530
people could come around and enjoy together.

1160
00:46:26.810 --> 00:46:29.310
Whatever walk of life you're from, those are

1161
00:46:29.310 --> 00:46:30.430
the things that I think are on Nathan

1162
00:46:30.430 --> 00:46:30.870
and I.

1163
00:46:31.150 --> 00:46:32.070
That's on our hearts.

1164
00:46:32.550 --> 00:46:34.190
Through these six years, we've had a lot

1165
00:46:34.190 --> 00:46:36.770
of conversations about what could be next, what

1166
00:46:36.770 --> 00:46:37.310
could be next.

1167
00:46:37.470 --> 00:46:40.210
And we're just really enjoying this moment right

1168
00:46:40.210 --> 00:46:40.450
now.

1169
00:46:40.710 --> 00:46:42.970
Keep saying like, it's like popping the popcorn,

1170
00:46:43.250 --> 00:46:45.690
sitting back and just enjoying watching the Lord

1171
00:46:45.690 --> 00:46:46.930
work this out.

1172
00:46:47.410 --> 00:46:49.130
And I think that he'll bring the right

1173
00:46:49.130 --> 00:46:49.930
people along.

1174
00:46:50.570 --> 00:46:53.950
But again, just see what he has for

1175
00:46:53.950 --> 00:46:54.970
us is really exciting.

1176
00:46:55.390 --> 00:46:58.930
Yeah, I will say the Bible is a

1177
00:46:58.930 --> 00:47:01.050
big book and there's a lot of amazing

1178
00:47:01.050 --> 00:47:01.510
truth.

1179
00:47:02.190 --> 00:47:04.090
And this is just one story of many.

1180
00:47:04.690 --> 00:47:07.410
And so I think that that excites us

1181
00:47:07.410 --> 00:47:10.190
and Lord willing, there'll be other opportunities.

1182
00:47:10.790 --> 00:47:11.750
Yeah, so good.

1183
00:47:12.790 --> 00:47:16.170
Jeremy Spears and Nathaniel Englehart, you guys have

1184
00:47:16.170 --> 00:47:17.870
just opened my eyes.

1185
00:47:18.430 --> 00:47:21.130
And Jesus said in Matthew 11, for us

1186
00:47:21.130 --> 00:47:23.350
to enter the kingdom of heaven, we have

1187
00:47:23.350 --> 00:47:24.330
to become like children.

1188
00:47:24.490 --> 00:47:25.570
And that's exactly what he meant.

1189
00:47:25.830 --> 00:47:28.270
Not childish, childlike.

1190
00:47:28.830 --> 00:47:30.250
And you guys have taken us there in

1191
00:47:30.250 --> 00:47:31.450
this remarkable work.

1192
00:47:31.570 --> 00:47:35.050
I'm encouraging everybody to click on or to

1193
00:47:35.050 --> 00:47:37.930
tap on what you see provided for you

1194
00:47:37.930 --> 00:47:39.010
to watch it for yourself.

1195
00:47:40.430 --> 00:47:42.450
But it's been an incredible joy.

1196
00:47:42.450 --> 00:47:44.150
I look forward to seeing what's coming forth

1197
00:47:44.150 --> 00:47:46.590
from you guys and very, very proud of

1198
00:47:46.590 --> 00:47:46.870
you.

1199
00:47:47.310 --> 00:47:50.250
And anything that we can do to help

1200
00:47:50.250 --> 00:47:51.370
you along the way, I don't think you

1201
00:47:51.370 --> 00:47:52.910
need our help, but if you want somebody

1202
00:47:52.910 --> 00:47:54.470
to just jump up and down and shout

1203
00:47:54.470 --> 00:47:56.950
about how great it is, here I am,

1204
00:47:57.070 --> 00:47:57.950
send me.

1205
00:47:58.990 --> 00:48:00.630
Well, we do, we need prayer.

1206
00:48:01.170 --> 00:48:01.750
We need prayer.

1207
00:48:02.030 --> 00:48:04.490
We said that this film has been powered

1208
00:48:04.490 --> 00:48:06.490
by prayer and we would like that to

1209
00:48:06.490 --> 00:48:06.870
continue.

1210
00:48:07.010 --> 00:48:09.370
So anyone watching it can pray for the

1211
00:48:09.370 --> 00:48:10.870
project and that the Lord's will will be

1212
00:48:10.870 --> 00:48:11.190
done.

1213
00:48:11.590 --> 00:48:12.790
And that it would get out there and

1214
00:48:12.790 --> 00:48:14.250
it would spark many great conversations.

1215
00:48:14.710 --> 00:48:15.850
And that is the prayer we pray to.

1216
00:48:15.870 --> 00:48:18.570
And I would say, my hope too, and

1217
00:48:18.570 --> 00:48:20.750
I know Nathan is like, we would hope

1218
00:48:20.750 --> 00:48:22.990
that people would hear, again, the things that

1219
00:48:22.990 --> 00:48:27.110
we've talked about on this hour together, hopefully

1220
00:48:27.110 --> 00:48:29.110
you hear the story of how this film,

1221
00:48:29.410 --> 00:48:33.990
how it was orchestrated, not by us, we're

1222
00:48:33.990 --> 00:48:36.910
just tools here, but it's just, I hope

1223
00:48:36.910 --> 00:48:39.410
you're inspired and I hope you go, hey,

1224
00:48:39.610 --> 00:48:42.470
there's something that, whatever you do for a

1225
00:48:42.470 --> 00:48:44.470
living that you'll go, there's something more that

1226
00:48:44.470 --> 00:48:45.470
I could do for the Lord.

1227
00:48:45.790 --> 00:48:49.170
And so I really hope that it just

1228
00:48:49.170 --> 00:48:50.430
sparks good conversation.

1229
00:48:51.050 --> 00:48:53.310
Please help us again, yes, by prayer, but

1230
00:48:53.310 --> 00:48:56.330
share the film, share the story, now that

1231
00:48:56.330 --> 00:48:58.790
you've heard it, share it out there and

1232
00:48:58.790 --> 00:49:02.270
just hopefully you're encouraged as we are to

1233
00:49:02.270 --> 00:49:04.370
see the reactions that everyone's having.

1234
00:49:04.570 --> 00:49:05.910
So thank you so much.

1235
00:49:06.430 --> 00:49:09.170
Amazing, Jeremy and Nathan, thank you so much.

1236
00:49:09.230 --> 00:49:09.810
God bless you guys.

1237
00:49:09.810 --> 00:49:10.770
Thanks for taking the time.

1238
00:49:11.550 --> 00:49:12.790
Thank you for having us again.

1239
00:49:13.250 --> 00:49:14.170
You bet, thank you.

1240
00:49:18.620 --> 00:49:21.200
This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all

1241
00:49:21.200 --> 00:49:24.240
the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported.

1242
00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:27.100
Will you consider partnering with us through a

1243
00:49:27.100 --> 00:49:27.740
special gift?

1244
00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:32.200
Go to Jackhibbs.com to learn more and

1245
00:49:32.200 --> 00:49:33.080
stay connected.