Today we wanted to give you a sneak peek into a new Lifeway product releasing in June 2011 — Theo. You may have already seen a preview of Theo in your VBS catalog or at the Kids Ministry Conference, but we wanted to start giving you a few more details about our first video based curriculum!
Is your children’s ministry looking for a small group curriculum to go deeper with your kids? Theo the Animated Theologian offers a rare combination — packaging rich theological content with high entertainment value. Making the biblical content come alive through fun, age appropriate Bible curriculum that revolves around the Bible stories imbedded in each episode of Theo.
The first volume, focusing on foundations of faith, releases June 1, 2011, and offers 4 sessions on the topics of faith, obedience, forgiveness, and the armor of God. It also features a bonus session "Good News!" that is evangelistic. Succeeding volumes of Theo will follow in the fall and winter of 2011.
Help your kids grow in grace with Theo!
Check out this preview video of Theo’s "Good News!"
Theo’s Good News – Premiere Video! from Lifeway VBS on Vimeo.
After you check out "Good News," we\’d love to hear what you think about Theo!
I love it!!!! Can’t wait!!! I always have a video playing while everyone is checking in for VBS – this will be perfect to use while we are waiting to get started!!!
Wow that was awesomely entertaining! Haha Well done!
It was wonderful and catchy. Would like it to not have the elderly woman get hit by a car though–or at least not seem like she was killed.
Love it still and will order!!! Thank you.
This is a great video and looks to be a great series. I have somewhat of a concern about the comment that this is age appropriate and this is for Grades 1-6. Will there be other videos for 5th & 6th graders? I am not sure preteens will take this seriously.
The message is of course solid theologically. However, the format is a bit dated and old fashioned for children. The opening song is slow and lacks the necessary umph to catch and keep a child’s attention.
I agree with James above. While the theology is solid it looks like it was created in the 1980s or 90s. I do think this is beautfully animated I’m just not sure that kids today will be drawn to it.
My children watched the video after me and they were asking to watch it again. We have sung Amazing Grace as a family so they loved the opening song. They seemed very interested—they are ages 6 and 4 (boys).
I thought the video was wonderful!! It was clear, interesting and attractive!! I have grandson who is 4 and has not been taught the Gospel since his parents are still unsaved. I would love to obtain these videos for him. Thank You so much, Carol
Okay….here are my thoughts. I watched the video, some RED flags went up. I thought, “Well, maybe I am being to critical” So, I let my 11 year old granddaughter watch it…she had the same reaction.
Here it is:
First: Why does the Professor omit “Saved a wretch like me” in the song
Second: The soft sale of “sin”. Sin is more than missing the mark in a person life. It is eternal destruction, a child is capable of knowing that and it makes the entire Truth more viable and urgent
Third: She did not like the mice interaction..diffused the message
Fourth: It is “fuzzy” theologically…this could apply to several religious organizations that do not believe Jesus is God Incarnate. I realize this is only a clip and possibly it would go into it further, however what she saw did not fully connect the true gospel.
We are losing our young people in record numbers. Why? First of all we need to make VERY clear the sacrifice of Christ…children are very able to understand it. A good book to read on this is “Already Gone” by Ken Ham.
Sorry, for this harsh review, but our children’s future is at stake.
Thanks so much for your encouraging words! Whitestone Media produces the videos. We are thankful to be partnering with them to produce teaching plans for churches and small groups. You can check out their site at http://www.theocartoons.com
Thanks for the note! We have an official title for our Theo teaching plans for churches and small groups that will accompany the videos. Theo: Foundations of Faith will release June 1, 2011.
Thank you for your note! We are partnering with the folks at Whitestone Media (theocartoons.com) and producing teaching plans around each episode. The first DVD-ROM Theo: Foundations of Faith releases June 1 and includes 4 episodes and teaching plans for those, plus 1 bonus episode and video (the one you just saw on this site).
Thanks for your note! We officially are releasing the curriculum for 1st grade and up. My preteen loved the videos too and watched with his little brother but the animation probably does fall most squarely for 1st-4th graders. The curriculum will definitely be written for churches to use with preteens as well.
Appreciate your feedback! As it stands right now, videos run a maximum of 10 minutes. There will be lots of fun activities and learning experiences for the kids as part of the teaching plans sure to hit kids at many different learning preferences.
The animation of Theo is certainly a classic animation style but there will be even variation within each episode. Each session aside from this bonus session will also include a “Shoebox Bible Theater” that will feature another animation style that is engaging. Can’t wait for you to see that as well.
Thanks for your comments! I mentioned in a comment to James as well about the Shoebox Bible Theater that is about half of each episode and not featured in this bonus one. In a few months, we will be able to release the first Shoebox Bible Theater sample as well. We will be launching a lifeway.com/theo site around April. Stay tuned!
Great! Love that you are enjoying the music so much too. Theo sings portions of a hymn in almost every episode.
Whitestone Media will be releasing Theo videos on their own. You can check out their site theocartoons.com.
We will begin selling the small group teaching plans June 1 (the first four plus the bonus session on the Good News) released as Theo: Foundations of Faith. There will be one DVD-ROM that will include all 5 sessions and all 5 videos together.
Theo: Foundations of Salvation will release on September 1, 2011.
Theo: Foundations of the Christian Life will release on December 1, 2011.
We are definitely writing our small group/church teaching plans to build upon and go deeper into the topics brought up in each short Theo episode. So we will have 50 minutes to explore these topics related to sin and salvation. Can’t wait for you to check it out! Theo: Foundations of Faith releases June 1, 2011.
In our media driven world we live in, this is the kind of tools we can use to reach the children in our churches. I would like to see something a little less adolescent for the preteens. I think this is well done and easily understood. Great job LifeWay!
I believe the talking mice are a distraction. The gospel is true! I don’t like any fantasy like talking mice to associated with it. I am sad.
I enjoyed the clip. Just wondering if the invitation to salvation has more specific instruction on how one is saved such as the prayer of salvation. Is this meant to be done by the teacher after watching the video?