{"id":6741,"date":"2024-01-25T12:28:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T06:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/25\/greg-lauries-new-animated-series-to-premiere-this-spring\/"},"modified":"2024-01-25T12:28:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T06:58:30","slug":"greg-lauries-new-animated-series-to-premiere-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/25\/greg-lauries-new-animated-series-to-premiere-this-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Laurie’s new animated series to premiere this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
By Ryan Foley<\/a>, Christian Post Reporter
<\/source><\/picture>
Greg Laurie’s animated series “The Adventures of Ben Born Again & Yellow Dog” is scheduled to premiere this spring. <\/span> | Screenshot: X\/Greg Laurie<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A prominent Evangelical pastor is launching a new cartoon series based on a character he first created several years ago that he hopes will serve as both a source of entertainment and education about Christianity and the Bible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> posted on X Tuesday, Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in California, announced, \u201cmy cartoon character, Ben Born Again and his buddy, YellowDog are now animated and our first cartoon is coming very soon!\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurie, 71, vowed that \u201cthese cartoons will be both entertaining and evangelistic\u201d and shared a \u201csneak peek\u201d from the first episode of the forthcoming series, which is titled \u201cThe Bridge Is Out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 52-second clip features the main characters, including the anthropomorphic Yellow Dog, introducing themselves at the beach. The main character indicated that his name is a play on words, reflecting the fact that he has \u201cbeen born again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

I am excited to announce that my cartoon character, Ben Born Again and his buddy, YellowDog
are now animated and our first cartoon is coming very soon!
The first one is titled, \u201cThe Bridge Is Out\u201d.
These cartoons will be both entertaining and evangelistic.
I think you are going\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/9S3sjnIC1a<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) January 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The animated series, scheduled for release in spring 2024<\/a>, is produced by Trilogy Animation.<\/a> Trilogy Animation describes its mission as to \u201ctell purpose-driven stories that are inspirational and fun.\u201d Other productions from the animation company include \u201cVeggieTales,\u201d \u201cEarth to Eden,\u201d \u201cJay Jay the Jet Plane\u201d and \u201cTutenstein.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laurie first unveiled the characters in a video<\/a> published last year, recalling how \u201cdrawing and art played a huge role\u201d in his tumultuous childhood during the 1960s. He said, \u201cI just opened this portfolio up that\u2019s been sitting in my closet forever, and it contained a bunch of my old artwork that I haven\u2019t seen for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pastor said he had wanted to become a cartoonist and, at one point, corresponded with Charles Schulz, who spearheaded the legendary \u201cPeanuts\u201d comic strip. After coming to Christ and taking an art class in high school, Laurie submitted a comic strip titled \u201cLiving Water\u201d that he saw as an effective way to integrate his passion for art with his newfound faith.<\/p>\n

He noted in a 2020 Facebook video<\/a> that he developed the comic strip as an evangelistic tract as a teenager, over 1 million copies of which had been distributed around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I developed a character in the ‘Living Water’ tract, he didn\u2019t really have a name,\u201d Laurie added. \u201cThis character eventually became a little guy I\u2019ve been drawing since then named Ben Born Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurie identified Ben as \u201ca caricature probably of me,\u201d adding \u201cI decided I would tell my stories through Ben.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis took a lot longer than I thought it would take but it was a lot of fun,” he said. “I would hope that when people see this animation, it\u2019s not just kids that like it, it\u2019s people of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to tell these little stories but they have a heavenly meaning,\u201d he added. \u201cI want to reach people with humor but then they have something bigger to say. Through \u2018The Adventures of Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog,\u2019 we feel like we can take animation and sort of turn it on its head with something they haven\u2019t seen before: an animated cartoon that has a wholesome, good, family-oriented message but even more, a message of the Gospel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video included footage of Laurie collaborating with an animator to digitize his character. It concluded with an animated version of Ben Born Again appearing on screen with the pastor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Adventures of Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog\u201d is far from Laurie\u2019s first venture into mass media. Last year, the film \u201cJesus Revolution,\u201d which tells the story of Laurie\u2019s conversion and is based on an autobiography<\/a> of the same name penned by Laurie, became a surprise hit and brought in more than $50 million <\/a>at the box office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laurie\u2019s Harvest Christian Fellowship<\/a> has grown from a home-based Bible study featuring 30 people to a community with more than 15,000 members spread across multiple campuses in southern California and Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Laurie received a Pillar Award for narrative from the Museum of the Bible at a ceremony<\/a> last year, which is reserved for \u201cthose who have brought the stories of the Bible to life through cultural mediums.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, Laurie cited \u201cJesus Revolution\u201d as a way to \u201creach unexpected people in unexpected places with an unexpected message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a film on Netflix, you\u2019re … on Delta Airlines as \u2018Jesus Revolution\u2019 has been playing or on other platforms like Apple and Amazon, you reach people that would not necessarily go to church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus did not say the whole world should go to church, but He did say the church should go to the whole world, so we\u2019re always looking for creative ways to get to people,\u201d Laurie added. \u201cA lot of times as Christians, we want to isolate from culture, but in reality, we need to permeate and infiltrate culture with the message of the Gospel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Free<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n

Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST<\/strong> newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n