Telling the complete story of VeggieTales would require much more time than we have before us tonight. Since this is Yale, I decided to craft a shorter version of the story, using very large words. Remembering though that I was kicked out of Bible College before I'd had a chance to learn many very large words, I concluded that my only remaining option was to tell the story simply, using simple words, and chance the consequences.

The world doesn't learn about God by watching Christian movies. The world learns about God by watching Christians.

Fairly early in life, I noticed my brain was weird. By that I mean that I noticed it had a way of looking at normal things from a slightly twisted angle - just twisted enough that it often made me chuckle.

VeggieTales is something that, on paper, makes no sense at all. It is a series of children's videos where limbless, talking vegetables act out Bible stories. Try raising money with that pitch.

The messages our kids receive from teachers, coaches--and even, with the best intentions, from us - can push them toward pride or despair...toward self-righteousness or self-hatred.

I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, 'Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,' or, 'Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!' But that isn't Christianity, it's morality.

If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you - the dream or him.