Pastor Greg Laurie announced Tuesday, Jan. 23, that the first episode of his new cartoon series, “The Adventures of Ben Born Again & Yellow Dog,” will release soon. Laurie has had an affinity for drawing ever since he was young and says the cartoons will be “entertaining and evangelistic.”
“I am excited to announce that my cartoon character, Ben Born Again and his buddy, YellowDog, are now animated and our first cartoon is coming very soon!” Laurie said Tuesday morning in a video post. “The first one is titled, ‘The Bridge Is Out.’ These cartoons will be both entertaining and evangelistic. I think you are going to like them. Here is a sneak peek.”
I am excited to announce that my cartoon character, Ben Born Again and his buddy, YellowDog
are now animated and our first cartoon is coming very soon!
The first one is titled, “The Bridge Is Out”.
These cartoons will be both entertaining and evangelistic.
I think you are going… pic.twitter.com/9S3sjnIC1a— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) January 23, 2024
RELATED: Pastor Greg Laurie Gives the Gospel to Thousands Attending March for Life
The sneak peek shows the character Ben Born Again standing with a skateboard near a beachfront and introducing himself and his buddy, Yellow Dog. Ben Born Again explains that he’s been born again, a concept described in John 3. Yellow Dog doesn’t know what John 3 is or what being “born again” means, and Ben Born Again says his friend will have to “wait for our next adventure” to find out.
Greg Laurie’s Dream Is ‘Finally Happening’
Greg Laurie is the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, a church with multiple locations based in Riverside, California. He is the founder of Harvest Crusades, and his life was dramatized in the recent movie “Jesus Revolution.”
In July 2023, Laurie shared that he had rediscovered his art, which “played a huge role in my development.” The pastime allowed him some relief from the loneliness he felt as a child growing up with a mother who was a “raging alcoholic” and who was married and divorced seven times. Drawing “helped me get away from the crazy life that was happening around me and to connect with something bigger than myself and my circumstances,” Laurie said.
After becoming a follower of Jesus as a teenager, Laurie wondered how his Christian beliefs related to his art. He answered that question by developing a cartoon strip called “Living Water” as a way of communicating his faith.
“This was actually my first venture into large scale communication of my faith,” said Laurie. “Ultimately, over a million of these little books went all around the world. I was realizing that God could use this artwork that I’d worked on my whole life to tell a bigger story.”
“Living Water” is the origin of Ben Born Again, who Laurie says “is probably a caricature of me.” Animating his characters has been one of his dreams, one that is now “finally happening!”
RELATED: Greg Laurie Recalls Details of His ‘Groovy’ Marriage That ‘Jesus Revolution’ Left Out
