Popular 'Paws and Tales' Radio Drama Comes to Video
by Allie Martin
November 16, 2004
(AgapePress) - A well known pastor has partnered with a Christian film studio to release a series of animated 3-D episodes teaching children biblical principles.Several years ago, Chuck Swindoll's radio ministry, Insight for Living, began producing a weekly children's drama called Paws and Tales. Now that series is being released in VHS and DVD video format. The first episode of Paws and Tales, the Animated Series is titled "Seeing the Unseen."
Cliff McDowell is president of Providential Pictures, the company that will produce the video series. He believes there is void in the Christian retail market -- one that the Paws and Tales series could fill perfectly. "We've seen the success of VegiTales over the past 10 years and what they've done," he says, "and we really knew that there was a demand for this sort of product."
In his own informal research, McDowell saw some products that could be called "family friendly," but which simply did not offer what he believed many Christian families would be seeking for their children. He says he made this discovery "just by myself going into Christian bookstores and seeing some secular products there."
The head of Providential Pictures says what he saw on those store shelves was often "family friendly and whatnot, and that is okay, but I also saw that there was a need and a niche for what we wanted to do and what we wanted to accomplish."
What the first episode of the Paws and Tales series attempts to do, McDowell says, is engage kids in an entertaining story that introduces biblical concepts and principals in a dramatic way. Meanwhile, he notes, "There's also a really important lesson being learned."
In "Seeing the Unseen," McDowell explains, "a group of kids that belong to a club go out on a camping adventure. There's one character that's with them, and he is not a believer. And he basically asks the question, 'How can you believe in something that you don't see?'"
As the story unfolds, the makers of the video series are hoping children will not only be entertained, but will also grow in their faith and their understanding of the Bible. "Seeing the Unseen" is available in Christian bookstores across North America, and can also be purchased from the Paws and Tales website. Episode two in the new video series will be released next year.
