Forevergreen: Behind The Story

1 00:00:00.450 --> 00:00:03.730 Real life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with 2 00:00:03.730 --> 00:00:07.130 intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the 3 00:00:07.130 --> 00:00:09.050 saints and impact our culture. 4 00:00:09.350 --> 00:00:11.270 Hey everybody, we are in store for a 5 00:00:11.270 --> 00:00:11.870 great treat. 6 00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:13.410 I'm so excited about this. 7 00:00:13.570 --> 00:00:15.070 You're going to be excited about it. 8 00:00:15.430 --> 00:00:17.350 We are gonna take you behind the scenes 9 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:20.550 to an amazing, I'm gonna call it a 10 00:00:20.550 --> 00:00:24.370 technology parable that is worthy of that title 11 00:00:24.370 --> 00:00:28.330 and so, so articulate regarding the gospel. 12 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:30.230 Let's find out what we're talking about. 13 00:00:32.350 --> 00:00:34.770 You can get the outlines of this podcast 14 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:38.730 by going to Jackhibbs.com/podcast. 15 00:00:39.430 --> 00:00:42.030 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and 16 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:44.290 encourages you to live a more fulfilled life 17 00:00:44.290 --> 00:00:46.390 in Christ, then make sure you leave us 18 00:00:46.390 --> 00:00:47.990 one of those five star ratings. 19 00:00:48.590 --> 00:00:51.630 To us, that's like saying amen or yes, 20 00:00:51.950 --> 00:00:54.350 then that rating will encourage others to listen. 21 00:00:54.980 --> 00:00:57.110 Now open your hearts to what God's word 22 00:00:57.110 --> 00:00:58.110 has to say to you. 23 00:00:58.690 --> 00:01:00.010 Here is Jack Hibbs. 24 00:01:00.950 --> 00:01:03.250 Well, hey everybody, we are super excited. 25 00:01:03.410 --> 00:01:04.970 I gotta tell you, you're gonna be excited. 26 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:06.310 I am super excited. 27 00:01:06.570 --> 00:01:09.010 I think that the 68 year old guy, 28 00:01:09.570 --> 00:01:12.210 since I saw this short film became a 29 00:01:12.210 --> 00:01:13.410 nine year old all over again. 30 00:01:13.810 --> 00:01:16.970 We're gonna be speaking to Jeremy Spears and 31 00:01:16.970 --> 00:01:23.250 Nathan Engelhardt regarding the remarkable creation of something 32 00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:24.470 that I've never seen before. 33 00:01:24.710 --> 00:01:26.770 I mean, this is in the realm of 34 00:01:26.770 --> 00:01:28.450 illustration and communication. 35 00:01:29.550 --> 00:01:31.210 This is my opinion. 36 00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:34.330 It just transcends so many things that you 37 00:01:34.330 --> 00:01:34.870 have seen. 38 00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:38.870 But these two men, for example, Nathan, he's 39 00:01:38.870 --> 00:01:42.370 an animation supervisor who has worked on films 40 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:46.830 such as Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6. 41 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:48.390 My grandkids love that. 42 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:53.810 Zootopia, Frozen 2, Encanto, Rio, and so much 43 00:01:53.810 --> 00:01:54.170 more. 44 00:01:55.070 --> 00:01:56.950 He has been, that is Nathan has been, 45 00:01:57.370 --> 00:02:00.590 he has written and directed the Oscar nominated 46 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:03.390 animated short film, Forevergreen, which is what 47 00:02:03.390 --> 00:02:05.950 we're gonna be talking about today, which is 48 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.370 his directorial debut, quite frankly. 49 00:02:09.690 --> 00:02:13.070 And then also Jeremy Spears is an award 50 00:02:13.070 --> 00:02:15.190 winning story artist. 51 00:02:15.670 --> 00:02:17.230 And you're gonna see why in a moment. 52 00:02:17.230 --> 00:02:20.870 And he has helped create beloved characters and 53 00:02:20.870 --> 00:02:24.850 stories for such films as Zootopia 2, Encanto, 54 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:28.310 Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Frozen. 55 00:02:28.750 --> 00:02:30.910 And in his free time, he creates unique 56 00:02:30.910 --> 00:02:33.810 wooden sculptures, which I hope he'll show us 57 00:02:33.810 --> 00:02:35.350 something like that today. 58 00:02:35.950 --> 00:02:40.850 And in his whittling workshop, his latest passion 59 00:02:40.850 --> 00:02:44.630 and project is directing the Oscar nominated animated 60 00:02:44.630 --> 00:02:47.330 short film, Forevergreen as well. 61 00:02:47.710 --> 00:02:50.150 Gentlemen, welcome to our quick podcast together. 62 00:02:50.290 --> 00:02:51.650 I know that you guys are up against 63 00:02:51.650 --> 00:02:54.230 a hard stop as I am, but welcome 64 00:02:54.230 --> 00:02:55.410 to our show. 65 00:02:55.930 --> 00:02:58.350 And just for those who are not familiar, 66 00:02:58.810 --> 00:03:03.190 when I saw your short film, I was 67 00:03:03.190 --> 00:03:03.870 captivated. 68 00:03:04.230 --> 00:03:06.150 I don't even remember how I found it, 69 00:03:06.290 --> 00:03:07.190 how it came to me. 70 00:03:07.250 --> 00:03:08.450 Maybe you guys sent it to me, I 71 00:03:08.450 --> 00:03:08.810 don't know. 72 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:11.270 I sent it out to everybody that I 73 00:03:11.270 --> 00:03:13.850 knew, not knowing if I was to do 74 00:03:13.850 --> 00:03:14.390 that or not. 75 00:03:14.390 --> 00:03:15.710 I just did it. 76 00:03:16.190 --> 00:03:17.470 I just did it. 77 00:03:17.890 --> 00:03:21.310 And then on the next day at church 78 00:03:21.310 --> 00:03:24.350 before service began, I just said, play it. 79 00:03:24.410 --> 00:03:25.610 I want everybody to see this. 80 00:03:25.750 --> 00:03:28.170 And I tell you, we got flooded with 81 00:03:28.170 --> 00:03:30.610 comments from people across the United States. 82 00:03:30.830 --> 00:03:32.010 What a work this is. 83 00:03:32.470 --> 00:03:35.490 Can you guys tell us, take us back 84 00:03:35.490 --> 00:03:39.430 into the creativity of it, how you guys 85 00:03:39.430 --> 00:03:40.450 came about doing this? 86 00:03:40.610 --> 00:03:42.770 Because what a gospel presentation. 87 00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:46.070 And here's what's awesome too about it. 88 00:03:46.130 --> 00:03:47.630 It's not only a gospel presentation. 89 00:03:48.370 --> 00:03:53.630 It's actually a word of discipleship to believers 90 00:03:53.630 --> 00:03:55.590 who think they have just fallen too far 91 00:03:55.590 --> 00:03:57.970 away and God cannot bring them back. 92 00:03:58.210 --> 00:03:59.810 So can you guys just go off on 93 00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:00.030 this? 94 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:02.010 Because I just wanna hear from you. 95 00:04:02.130 --> 00:04:03.570 Our audience wants to hear from you. 96 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:04.950 What a great work this is. 97 00:04:05.050 --> 00:04:05.470 Thank you. 98 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:07.770 Well, first of all, thank you for having 99 00:04:07.770 --> 00:04:08.410 us on. 100 00:04:08.610 --> 00:04:10.090 It's such an honor to be on this 101 00:04:10.090 --> 00:04:10.730 with you, pastor. 102 00:04:10.730 --> 00:04:13.290 And gosh, it's been a quite a journey 103 00:04:13.290 --> 00:04:14.330 for both Jeremy and I. 104 00:04:14.510 --> 00:04:17.269 We started this journey about six years ago 105 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:20.110 and I think around September, 2019, right before 106 00:04:20.110 --> 00:04:20.490 COVID. 107 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:23.410 So this is sort of our COVID project 108 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:25.850 while we were all in lockdown that we 109 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:26.910 worked a lot on. 110 00:04:27.430 --> 00:04:32.570 And so we, Jeremy and I, we had 111 00:04:32.570 --> 00:04:34.670 a desire to use our gifts for the 112 00:04:34.670 --> 00:04:37.690 Lord and had an opportunity to do that 113 00:04:37.690 --> 00:04:39.890 with this film to tell a story about 114 00:04:39.890 --> 00:04:44.230 unmerited grace and a kind of love that 115 00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:48.350 is, you know, forever, a forever kind of 116 00:04:48.350 --> 00:04:48.710 love. 117 00:04:49.610 --> 00:04:52.190 And so we desired to, you know, set 118 00:04:52.190 --> 00:04:52.930 off on that journey. 119 00:04:53.270 --> 00:04:56.570 And we, this film was actually made by 120 00:04:56.570 --> 00:05:00.470 200 volunteers, everyone in their free time. 121 00:05:00.590 --> 00:05:02.370 And so no one got paid. 122 00:05:02.490 --> 00:05:04.890 We did this in our nights, our weekends, 123 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:06.450 holidays. 124 00:05:07.470 --> 00:05:09.270 And after six years, you know, that's a 125 00:05:09.270 --> 00:05:11.310 long time to do that to make a 126 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:12.410 12 minute short film. 127 00:05:12.550 --> 00:05:14.870 But so finally being at this point now 128 00:05:14.870 --> 00:05:17.130 where we're able to unveil it and share 129 00:05:17.130 --> 00:05:18.630 it with the world, we're just, we couldn't 130 00:05:18.630 --> 00:05:19.830 be more excited, so. 131 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:21.690 Wow, amazing. 132 00:05:21.810 --> 00:05:23.570 Yeah, I just wanted to say the same. 133 00:05:23.670 --> 00:05:26.190 It's an honor to get to speak with 134 00:05:26.190 --> 00:05:28.110 you today and thanks for having us on. 135 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:29.310 I'm Jeremy, by the way. 136 00:05:29.350 --> 00:05:30.230 I don't know if our names are gonna 137 00:05:30.230 --> 00:05:31.590 be at the bottoms, but just letting you 138 00:05:31.590 --> 00:05:31.850 know. 139 00:05:33.210 --> 00:05:35.390 And so, yeah, it's just, it's such a 140 00:05:35.390 --> 00:05:37.870 treat to get to start sharing about this 141 00:05:37.870 --> 00:05:38.110 film. 142 00:05:38.470 --> 00:05:40.430 Nathan and I, when we started on it, 143 00:05:40.730 --> 00:05:43.310 I think it was that slow reveal that 144 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:45.450 God would kind of go, hey guys, by 145 00:05:45.450 --> 00:05:46.710 the way, you could do this with this 146 00:05:46.710 --> 00:05:46.930 short. 147 00:05:47.050 --> 00:05:48.470 Oh, and you could do this with this 148 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:49.870 and you could do, and it was just 149 00:05:49.870 --> 00:05:53.910 this continual, just sort of standing back in 150 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:56.110 awe at what the Lord was doing in 151 00:05:56.110 --> 00:05:57.050 our lives personally. 152 00:05:57.830 --> 00:05:59.710 And then also just along the way on 153 00:05:59.710 --> 00:06:00.950 the making of this film. 154 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:02.930 And I just wanted to say just kind 155 00:06:02.930 --> 00:06:04.870 of how briefly how we got started. 156 00:06:05.430 --> 00:06:07.370 Nathan and I, we've been pals for years. 157 00:06:07.570 --> 00:06:09.930 We've worked together on many projects, as you've 158 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:10.150 heard. 159 00:06:11.110 --> 00:06:13.270 And so we kind of had this one 160 00:06:13.270 --> 00:06:16.390 lunch one day where I had just had 161 00:06:16.390 --> 00:06:21.390 my fourth child, our little guy, Rhett, who's 162 00:06:21.390 --> 00:06:22.030 now six. 163 00:06:22.530 --> 00:06:23.650 Lo and behold, six years. 164 00:06:25.530 --> 00:06:27.770 And Nathan was like, he's been working on 165 00:06:27.770 --> 00:06:30.830 a tree idea based on the Three Trees 166 00:06:30.830 --> 00:06:33.350 storybook, if you've heard of that picture. 167 00:06:33.870 --> 00:06:34.010 Great. 168 00:06:34.710 --> 00:06:38.110 And he basically said, Jeremy, what if you 169 00:06:38.110 --> 00:06:39.970 helped me direct this film? 170 00:06:40.030 --> 00:06:41.890 What if we worked on it together and 171 00:06:41.890 --> 00:06:42.670 do your thing? 172 00:06:42.750 --> 00:06:43.670 I'm a story guy. 173 00:06:44.150 --> 00:06:45.130 He's an animator. 174 00:06:45.170 --> 00:06:46.650 Between the two of us, we could probably 175 00:06:46.650 --> 00:06:47.470 make something. 176 00:06:48.290 --> 00:06:50.350 And so I went off for a couple 177 00:06:50.350 --> 00:06:52.650 of weeks and kind of did the thing 178 00:06:52.650 --> 00:06:54.370 that I'm used to doing, which is you 179 00:06:54.370 --> 00:06:56.870 take an idea and you pull it apart 180 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:58.910 and it's like a car. 181 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:01.170 You pull the pieces apart and then you 182 00:07:01.170 --> 00:07:02.690 look at everything and you kind of know 183 00:07:02.690 --> 00:07:03.850 how to put it back together, but you 184 00:07:03.850 --> 00:07:05.450 just want to see, is there things that 185 00:07:05.450 --> 00:07:07.230 maybe we don't need or maybe we need 186 00:07:07.230 --> 00:07:09.610 to add to get this car really, really 187 00:07:09.610 --> 00:07:09.870 moving? 188 00:07:10.030 --> 00:07:11.810 So anyways, that's what I did. 189 00:07:12.230 --> 00:07:15.030 In that process, I came across this image 190 00:07:15.030 --> 00:07:17.650 of a, spoiler alert, if you haven't seen 191 00:07:17.650 --> 00:07:20.790 the film, there's a tree that had fallen 192 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:22.110 across a divide and it was a big, 193 00:07:22.190 --> 00:07:25.270 giant redwood tree and there's a waterfall behind 194 00:07:25.270 --> 00:07:25.490 it. 195 00:07:26.190 --> 00:07:30.310 And I saw that image and a little 196 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:32.270 bit of background is I had for years 197 00:07:32.270 --> 00:07:35.930 been encouraged to be more outspoken with my 198 00:07:35.930 --> 00:07:37.750 faith, to share it in a visual way 199 00:07:37.750 --> 00:07:39.930 is always the goal that we do in 200 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:40.230 story. 201 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:42.010 We always try to tell a story visually. 202 00:07:42.430 --> 00:07:44.010 And I saw that image and it was 203 00:07:44.010 --> 00:07:45.690 like a lightning bolt moment where it was 204 00:07:45.690 --> 00:07:47.670 like, okay, that's the story. 205 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:49.950 I saw, I had been, so just to 206 00:07:49.950 --> 00:07:52.370 show you a little wood carving, this is, 207 00:07:52.450 --> 00:07:54.290 let me get it adjusted in the frame. 208 00:07:54.290 --> 00:07:56.410 This is this bear that I had been 209 00:07:56.410 --> 00:07:59.350 carving back in 2018, 2019. 210 00:08:00.130 --> 00:08:02.750 I made a bunch of these, reproduced them 211 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:03.370 and sold them. 212 00:08:03.950 --> 00:08:06.610 And so I was deep in bear country 213 00:08:06.610 --> 00:08:07.350 at the time. 214 00:08:08.090 --> 00:08:10.150 And I thought, okay, if there's a tree 215 00:08:10.150 --> 00:08:12.170 that had fallen across the divide, that could 216 00:08:12.170 --> 00:08:15.770 represent what Christ did for us, that it's 217 00:08:15.770 --> 00:08:17.730 kind of the classic Bible tract image of 218 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:20.170 God on one side, man on the other, 219 00:08:20.270 --> 00:08:22.210 a divide and there's a cross in between 220 00:08:22.210 --> 00:08:23.870 that is the bridge to safety. 221 00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:25.910 And I thought, okay, well, what would the 222 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:29.230 character be that could be running across this 223 00:08:29.230 --> 00:08:30.310 fallen tree? 224 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:32.010 And I was like, oh, what about a 225 00:08:32.010 --> 00:08:32.270 bear? 226 00:08:32.669 --> 00:08:35.789 So I came back to Nathan and I 227 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:38.710 pitched him sort of a fixed up version 228 00:08:38.710 --> 00:08:41.230 of the story that he'd been working on. 229 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:43.510 And he's like, oh, that's nice. 230 00:08:43.730 --> 00:08:45.270 And I said, but I have one more 231 00:08:45.270 --> 00:08:46.750 thing that I gotta, I just wanna show 232 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:47.210 you this. 233 00:08:47.630 --> 00:08:50.210 No hard feelings, I just wanna, and so 234 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:53.030 I showed him the second idea and we 235 00:08:53.030 --> 00:08:56.390 got to, I got to that image and 236 00:08:56.390 --> 00:08:57.870 Nathan goes, stop. 237 00:08:57.950 --> 00:08:59.710 He's like, just hold on a second. 238 00:08:59.810 --> 00:09:00.630 This is crazy. 239 00:09:01.370 --> 00:09:02.330 Nathan, you wanna take over? 240 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:06.710 Well, what was funny was that I had 241 00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:08.650 just drawn that same image. 242 00:09:09.150 --> 00:09:11.810 And so this was sort of a, because 243 00:09:11.810 --> 00:09:14.470 I had a coworker and was just sharing 244 00:09:14.470 --> 00:09:16.270 the gospel with them and they had asked 245 00:09:16.270 --> 00:09:17.290 why the cross. 246 00:09:17.950 --> 00:09:19.410 And so I was like, well, let me 247 00:09:19.410 --> 00:09:19.970 draw it. 248 00:09:20.130 --> 00:09:20.430 Why? 249 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:22.950 And here's the God, man, the sin that 250 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:24.850 divides us and then that bridge that crosses 251 00:09:24.850 --> 00:09:26.630 and you see that it reveals the cross 252 00:09:26.630 --> 00:09:29.070 and he was like, oh, whoa, oh, okay. 253 00:09:29.650 --> 00:09:31.270 And I had a great conversation like, oh 254 00:09:31.270 --> 00:09:33.430 yeah, hang on to that because the enemy 255 00:09:33.430 --> 00:09:35.050 will try to snatch that away and told 256 00:09:35.050 --> 00:09:36.270 him the parable of the four soils. 257 00:09:36.850 --> 00:09:39.510 And so, and gave him a Bible. 258 00:09:39.850 --> 00:09:41.890 And so it was just, it was a 259 00:09:41.890 --> 00:09:45.030 cool moment but what Jeremy didn't mention was 260 00:09:45.030 --> 00:09:47.030 during that time when I had invited him 261 00:09:47.030 --> 00:09:50.750 in on that, I had, it started as 262 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:52.450 an adaptation but then it had evolved to 263 00:09:52.450 --> 00:09:54.930 one tree and it was kind of inverse 264 00:09:54.930 --> 00:09:56.750 where the tree had something to learn as 265 00:09:56.750 --> 00:09:57.630 opposed to a bear. 266 00:09:59.130 --> 00:10:03.430 And so, and there was elements, spiritual elements 267 00:10:03.430 --> 00:10:05.970 and I was wrestling through a couple of 268 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:08.270 things and it may sound silly to some, 269 00:10:09.030 --> 00:10:12.850 but should we have verses on fantasy? 270 00:10:13.210 --> 00:10:14.330 Should we show Christ? 271 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:16.790 Things like that that are, maybe for some 272 00:10:16.790 --> 00:10:19.550 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.