Butch Hartman, a former Nickelodeon kids’ show creator, has launched a Bible-based series, “The Garden,” for children’s safe viewing.
Butch Hartman
He is known to be a successful master craftsman of the Nickelodeon kids’ show, “The Fairly OddParents.” It is one of Nickelodeon’s most successful children’s series. And now, Butch and his wife, Julieann, want to focus on creating Scripture-based children’s series.
“Our point is to get Scripture as early into the hearts of children as we can,” Butch told The Christian Post.
They just released the 40-episode animated series “The Garden.” It also features an app and a companion Bible with images of the series’ characters based on the events in the Bible. Available on PureFlix, Yippee, and Christian Cinema are the first six episodes.
“The Garden”
Characters Lenny the lion and Lucy the lamb take center stage in “The Garden.” Together, they reside in a garden where everything lovely flourishes and have everyday access to God. They refer to God as “the boss,” who appears to them as a rainbow, speaks to them, and assigns them tasks.
Children are helped in the memorization of Biblical scriptures by songs that are used to share the verses.
Julieann explained that “kids are learning how to go to God and to talk to God themselves.”
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The Inspiration of “The Garden”
Butch and Julieann discuss the need for reaching kids with the life-changing message of the Gospel in “The Garden” series. This is according to a Q&A with The Christian Post.
Buth said in the interview, “I became a Christian in the year 2000, and I had already been in the Hollywood industry for about nine years at that point. When I met Jesus Christ, my whole heart changed, and I wanted to start making things for Him. I [had] just sold “The Fairly OddParents.” It wasn’t a Christian show, obviously; I couldn’t make it a Christian show [on Nickelodeon], but I could inject maybe some Christian values into it — love and family and things like that. But all through the years, I really wanted to make something for the Christian audience.”
While Julieann explained why children need access to this type of content, “These kids have been traumatized by so much from COVID to all of the shootings that are going on. I mean, they are traumatized. They’ve got to go somewhere and we don’t want them to go on medication. We don’t want that to get to the point where, at 5 years old, they’re having to take anti-anxiety medication when they’ve got Jesus who can be their advocate; Jesus is their comforter and their Father.”
Read the full interview HERE.
God Loves the Children
Time and again in the Bible, we read how Jesus drew the children to Himself. At one point, He even admonished His disciples to be like “children” and encouraged believers to have a childlike faith.
The children are God’s treasures. We owe it to them to lead them closer to the Lord. Thank God He raised up creative minds like the Hartman couple to create a biblically-sound series catering to children.
The Garden Children’s Bible, which had its debut on Saturday at the Museum of the Bible, was also produced by the Hartmans in collaboration with Harper-Collins. Parents can download “The Garden” as an app as well. The “The Garden” soundtrack” has also been published by Capital Records. Click HERE for more details on this cartoon and other programming updates.
Header image: Butch and Julieann Hartman [The Christian Post]. Website, 2 April 2023, https://www.christianpost.com/news/former-nickelodeon-kids-show-creator-launches-the-garden-series.html
Reference: The Christian Post
