Rusty Benson
AFA Journal associate editor
September 2014 – When Cinderella sang the lyrics in the classic Disney movie Cinderella, they sounded so right. So noble. So American.
A dream is a wish your heart makes …
If you keep on believing,
the dream that you wish will come true.
Add to such lofty sentiments a healthy measure of old fashioned ambition, a strong Christian motivation and a solid business plan, and such a dream is guaranteed to bring God’s blessing … right?
In the early 1990s, Phil Vischer (left in photo above) thought so, as Veggie Tales, his animated children’s series, was rising to world acclaim in the Christian entertainment business. By 1997, the creative young animator from the Midwest sat at the helm of a media empire that threatened to challenge Hollywood’s best. More significant to Vischer, he was positioned to achieve his most lofty goal: to become “the Christian Walt Disney.”
But then, the unthinkable happened. Vischer’s own magic kingdom, Big Idea, Inc., began to crumble from the inside, largely due to his own overblown ambition. The fall was hard. The damage was great. Vischer’s glorious dream lay in pieces.
Why didn’t God intervene? And how would the Lord manage without Veggie Tales’ Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber? How would the children of the world hear the gospel if Vischer didn’t achieve his BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal – a popular business anacronym of the time and used in Vischer’s book Me, Myself and Bob)?
In a recent interview with AFA Journal, Vischer shared the life-changing lessons that God taught him through the fall of Big Idea. The story is told in detail in Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables, published by Nelson Books and available at local and online booksellers.
AFA Journal: Phil, pretend you are attending an “AA” type meeting and it’s your turn to tell your story. How would you finish this sentence: “Hello, my name is Phil, and I’m a recovering … ”
Phil Vischer: Dreamaholic. I don’t mean that coming up with ideas or brainstorming is bad, but what is bad is believing that you need to make certain dreams come true in order to be happy. A dreamaholic believes so strongly he needs to build this or change that, that his dream becomes his identity. It’s what I call dreamaholism. In my life, my dream became my identity. I lost sight of God and what He has created me to be.
AFAJ: As a kid what were your three favorite non-Disney cartoons? Did they influence your work?
PV: The early 1970s had a lull in cartoon making because the networks were mainly doing live action shows. I was attracted to the earlier low-budget, wacky cartoon shows like Rocky and Bullwinkle with its subversive sense of humor and The Pink Panther. In fact the dialect of Pa Grape from Veggie Tales was based on the Ant and the Aardvark, which was part of The Pink Panther show. The aardvark was voiced by comedian Jackie Mason, and I used that kind of Brooklyn Jewish voice for Pa Grape. My other favorite was Schoolhouse Rock. From that cartoon, I learned that you can use animation to teach things. And that’s certainly a lot of what I’ve done.
AFAJ: Are Christians who make their living being creative any more susceptible than others to allowing their dreams to become what you call “false lovers?”
PV: Highly imaginative people are more prone to imagining alternate versions of the future and becoming very emotionally attached to them. Some of the most content people are likely tradesmen who just enjoy the work of their hands. I need to be more like that.
AFAJ: These days do you ever feel the tug of big dreams and worldly ambition? If so, how do you recognize and check that?
PV: I try to keep in mind the difference between focusing on outcomes and focusing on obedience. I regularly ask God: “What have you given me to do today, and am I doing it?” And if I am using my gifts in a God-pleasing direction, then I rest at the end of the day and I don’t worry about whether it impacted one person or a million people. That’s God’s business. And that’s hard for many of us because we live in a culture that is always asking how much have you done, how much do you have or how many zeros are at the end of your numbers?
AFAJ: So, it sounds like you have made progress in being satisfied in God.
PV: Most days and in general, I’m pretty close to being able to say that, but there are always moments when you find yourself emotionally invested in a specific project or a specific outcome. And it’s not always at work. Sometimes it has to do with my children. If we don’t learn to let go of these outcomes and give them over to God for better or worse, we can live a life of disappointment and dissatisfaction and end up bitter because nothing went as we hoped it would.
AFAJ: Is there a connection between the lessons you learned with the failure of Big Idea and your current children’s animation series, What’s In The Bible?
PV: Veggie Tales really turned into my pursuit of my ambition to change the world and to be the next Walt Disney. I couldn’t let go of it, and finally God said, “Alright, I’m not going to save you from yourself. I’m going to let your mistakes have their consequences.”
Initially, I thought I had been left with nothing and that life was ruined. All my dreams were gone, but what it really left me with was the freedom to say, “God, I’m a storyteller. Now what stories would you want me to tell?” So I returned to my gifting rather than my ambition.
What came out of that was a desire to do a better job at explaining the Bible to kids. That’s the aim of What’s In The Bible? It isn’t about building a media company and not even about changing the world, to use a broad overly-dramatic description. It’s simply about creating a tool that families can use to pass on their faith to their kids. Whether a hundred families use it or ten million use it is none of my business. I’m just called to make the tool. 
Phil today
Phil Vischer is now 48 years old and has started over. He chose the name Jellyfish Labs for his new company because jellyfish can’t propel themselves, rather they are carried along by the current. Likewise, Jellyfish Labs is carried along by the current of God’s direction. There is no long term business plan, unless God sends one, Phil says. JellyFish Labs has produced a number of projects including the 13-part DVD curriculm What’s In the Bible? Learn more at jellyfishlabs.com.
Phil also continues to be involved in Veggie Tales through its current owner, Classic Media.
Since 2012, Phil has hosted a weekly podcast that regularly ranks in the top 100. According to his website, discussions on the podcast generally center around “pop culture, media, theology and the fun, fun, fun of living a thoughtful Christian life in an increasingly post-Christian culture.” The podcast can be seen at Vischer’s website, downloaded from iTunes or viewed on YouTube.
