Archive: February 2010
Do You Know What’s in the Bible?
Who translated the Vulgate?
What IS the Vulgate?
Can you name Noah’s 3 sons? What about Noah’s wife?
What does “Genesis” mean?
How many books are in the New Testament? The Old? Both?
Did the answers to those questions pop into your head as soon as you read them? Did you have to stop and think? Did you know all? Some? None?
What’s in the Bible? aims to confront the growing crisis of Bible illiteracy within the Church. It’s more than a DVD series; it’s a movement aimed at our children and their families, at churches and pastors … at Christians who know Bible stories, but may not know all that much about the Bible itself.
We want to test your Bible knowledge, with questions like the ones we’ve listed above. Are you up for the challenge? Here’s how it works:
- Go to Facebook and click the “sweepstakes” tab or Twitter
- Enter the sweepstakes
- Take the 8 question quiz to see if you know What’s in the Bible? (all of the questions are from DVD 1 & 2)
- Tell as many of your friends as you can!
We will announce TEN winners of a special AUTOGRAPHED DVD on Monday, Feb. 22!
Have fun!
A Few Friendly Reviews
What a great weekend we had!
Our team spent Friday out in Colorado Springs and Denver meeting with some people who are VERY EXCITED about What’s in the Bible? and hopefully we’ll be able to announce some things soon. Let’s just say that important people are catching the vision for our series, and we truly believe that it will make an impact on the Church and the next generation.
While we were gone, we had several people review our DVDs on their respective blogs. Here is what some of them had to say …
“What the What’s in the Bible videos do is teach children about the word of God- literally from cover to cover. I can tell already that they’re not planning to take the easy route. In the first two videos, they took on issues like ‘Why does the Catholic Bible have more books?’ and ‘Was the world created in 7 literal days?’- I have to admit I held my breath, just waiting to see HOW IN THE WORLD they were going to do it. The answers were perfectly, beautifully, excellently addressed, focusing not on the details of the stories but the Author of them. I found myself smiling, nodding, and WAIT FOR IT…. learning! (…) If you have elementary- aged children, you can’t afford not to add these videos to your library. This is not a paid endorsement… but it is an endorsement by a girl who, after 19 years of studying, teaching, and ministering to kids thinks these DVDs are pretty much the the coolest thing she’s seen in a really long time.”
“I’m here to tell you that Vischer’s newest show is AMAZING! What’s In The Bible tackles the mission that is long overdue: to create a kid’s video series to really take children through the Bible. All of it. Not just Genesis, Exodus, and then Jesus. Everything. … The best way I can describe it would be a Christian version of The Muppet Show.”
Children’s Ministry and Culture
“The goal of these videos is to help kids understand the structure of the Bible, its overarching message, and to give kids a comfort level that will let them dive in on their own. I watched the disc with my kindergarten and fifth-grade boys. In spite of their age differences, they were both hooked on it. (…) I loved the diversity of the puppets. There’s a priest in a collar, a doughty Sunday School teacher, and an African American preacher. Much attention went into making sure these videos would appeal to children in a variety of cultures and faith traditions.”
I’m a little bit hoarse …
… because I spent four hours in a room with an 80 year-old Sunday School teacher. Well, okay, she’s a puppet. Named Sunday School Lady. I’m filming scenes for the third “What’s in the Bible?” DVD, and I had to cover about 20 pages of script with Sunday School Lady yesterday, which left me a little hoarse. (It’d be more fun if it left me with a little horse, but it never works out that way.)
The third DVD was a real challenge to write, because it covers Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Whee! What fun! No wonder we tend to skip those books when we write Sunday School lessons. (“Let’s see… we’re done with the exodus – what’s next? Jesus!”) But we managed to write through them, and it’s interesting stuff! Three different animators are hard at work on the animated portions, and I’m locked away in the studio with the puppets. The original songs are produced and done, just waiting for the puppets to lip-sync their way through them like Milli Vanilli (who were also puppets, weren’t they?).
When you start out by saying, “We’re going to walk your kids ALL the way through the Bible!” it doesn’t really dawn on you at the time that you’ve just committed to walking kids ALL the way through the Bible. Even the hard parts. Even Leviticus, for heaven sake! But so we are, and so we shall! And we’ll all learn a thing or two in the process! (Yes, even me. I confess I hadn’t spent a ton of time in the book of Leviticus – until now. Leviticus and I have become very well acquainted. First name basis.)
This third DVD will be in stores this summer, with the fourth coming in the Fall. We’re flying!
Well, I need to drink some tea and get back in the studio… it’s “Clive and Ian” day. (Ian is convinced the “Levites” are the folks who make his blue jeans. Clive has to set him straight on that one.)
Only 3 weeks until launch time! Stay tuned for more news…
A Great Review!
We just received a great review from Kelsey Shade at CBA Retailers+Resources, the Christian Bookseller Association‘s official magazine. Since it is a trade-only publication, we thought we’d share her review with you here!
“From Phil Vischer, the man who made vegetables talk (and sing and dance and tell Bible stories), comes an engaging new series that walks kids through the entire Bible. What’s in the Bible? springs from Vischer’s passion to reverse the trend of biblical illiteracy in the church. Unlike previous efforts to retell Bible stories, this 13-part DVD series explains the Bible – from Genesis to Revelation – in a format that’s humorous and entertaining for children and adults alike.
In the Beginning and Let My People Go! – the first two volumes in the series respectively – will release in March from Jellyfish Labs and Tyndale Kids, and retail for $14.99 each. In the Beginning introduces Buck Denver and his friends as they share how the first 11 chapters of Genesis set up the rest of the Bible – and all of life. In Let My People Go! Buck Denver and friends travel through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses to show children that they can always count on God and trust in His promises. The entertaining cast of characters explains what’s in the Bible, how it’s organized, who wrote it, and what it’s all about; Vischer accomplishes this by using an engaging format and a mix of animation, puppets, live action, and music.
The first episode in this series is entertaining, but a few of the characters don’t seem fully developed. Fortunately, the rest more than make up for that. Vischer does an amazing job combining different media and modes of entertainment to provide knowledge on a topic we all think we know but could always learn more about. What’s in the Bible? may be a little over the heads of very young children, but it’s a great teaching tool for kids to learn some important information. It’s also enjoyable, entertaining, and educational for adults.”
Thanks, Kelsey!
