Introducing The Adventures of Ben Born Again & YellowDog! Based off my “Living Water” comic strip, this cartoon presents the gospel in a kid-friendly, understandable way.

Growing up with an alcoholic mother who was married and divorced seven times, I was really lonely as a kid. Drawing and art played a huge role in my development—it was a place for me to escape. It helped me get away from the crazy life that was happening around me and connect with something bigger than myself and my circumstances.

That’s why this project is really close to my heart. I’m excited to announce that my cartoon character, Ben Born Again, and his buddy, YellowDog, are now animated and our first episode is now available on our app! You can expect wholesome, fun stories with a heavenly message. Watch the trailer below . . .

The Story Behind Ben Born Again

In 1964, I created one of my first drawings. I made a Christmas card for my mother saying, “We wish you a merry Christmas.” This was around the time I started corresponding with Charles Schulz, and I was amazed he wrote me back!

My sole goal in life up to that point was to be a professional cartoonist. It’s all I wanted to do. 

Fast forward and I’m a brand new believer in my art class, and the teacher says the assignment for the month is to make a cartoon strip. Well, I did cartoon strips all the time! But now I was a believer, so I thought, “Is there a way to express my faith through artwork?” So I came up with this idea to do a cartoon strip called “Living Water.” 

This was actually my first venture into large-scale communication of my faith. 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.

I developed a character in the “Living Water” tract, and this character eventually became a little guy named Ben Born Again. Ben has blonde hair and is probably a caricature of me. I decided to tell my stories through him. 

My Goal With This Animation

I’m really excited about this. It took a lot longer than I thought, but it was a lot of fun.

When people see this animation, I hope it isn’t just kids that will like it but people of all ages. I want to tell these little stories that have a deeper, spiritual meaning. I want to reach people with humor but then have something bigger to say.

 Play Episode

Through The Adventures of Ben Born Again & YellowDog, we feel like we can take animation and sort of turn it on its head with something not seen before: an animated cartoon that has a wholesome, good, family-oriented message—but even more, the message of the gospel.

—

Learn more about Ben Born Again at the official site.

“Living Water” tract