0:02

Based on the best selling novel, Tin house publishers proudly presents, the dramatic audio

0:09

edition left behind.

0:17

It's not an audio book. And it's not

0:20

a film series. Directly between these media lies the medium of

0:25

audio drama. Such as 144

0:28

episodes about the end of days? Based on the best selling novels, how did

0:33

Gap digital working with Tin dale House publishers,

0:36

proudly present the dramatic audio edition of

0:40

left behind Speculative fiction like no other genre

0:55

reflects the creativity of God. If you look at the scriptures, you're gonna

0:59

have to see that God you is imagination more than rational discourse.

1:05

We are supposed to be image bearer for

1:09

a vastly creative god. Reading fantastical fiction opened a portal in my

1:16

imagination for a place other than just a

1:19

materialistic world. I experienced the gospel story with the mind

1:23

of someone who loved adventure and loved the

1:26

idea of life conquering darkness.

1:28

We're wired for stories that reflect how we

1:32

see the world in ways that are true

1:34

The story is either pointing to christ or

1:37

it's pointing to our need for christ. Welcome back to Lower haven studios for fantastical

1:44

truth, the podcast from lori dot com, which

1:47

we explore, Fantastical stories, bo God's glory. I'm

1:51

S Burnett burnett the publisher of Laura Haven an author of a new science fiction adventure

1:56

novel releasing it next year from Enclave publishing

1:59

and I did not even know that this episode was on my bucket list. And yes,

2:03

you are definitely welcome here unless you are

2:06

literally nikola nikolai because this is episode 02:19,

2:10

how did gap digital turn left behind

2:13

into a cinematic audio drama.

2:16

And we're gonna be joined today by Todd

2:19

Bust the engineer of that awesome series.

2:23

We're also going to discover how the left

2:25

behind audio drama turned me into a stand

2:28

because I did not even imagine when I

2:31

was first reading those first 3 left behind

2:33

books, that it could turn into a dramatic

2:36

audio edition. And again, this is different from an

2:39

audiobook book. A fact that his still, I

2:42

checked to this day, escaped the, Amazon

2:46

classification system. You start looking for the dramatic

2:48

audio, you find the audiobook and vice versa.

2:50

They need to categorize these things. The same

2:53

thing for Spotify or any of the other podcast feeds you need a complete separate section

2:58

that's labeled audio drama. Why shouldn't audio drama

3:01

be even more popular now in the days of podcast guys. We used to get these

3:05

things on Cds. I still have Zach. I

3:07

still have 12 of the 4 Cd packs.

3:11

Wonderful packaging for the left behind audio draw

3:13

and then also the left behind kids audio

3:15

drama. They had 1 too. We'll talk about

3:17

it in our next episode, but I'm probably

3:20

gonna be bouncing off the walls here just because I love this series. I probably wouldn't

3:24

be even be doing this if it wasn't for audio drama, and the left behind audio

3:29

series that came along right when I needed to kind of a level up to my

3:32

audio drama interest. Steven I was just talking

3:35

with someone yesterday, about the whole concept of audio drama, and

3:39

it was really funny. He's like, oh, yeah. My dad used to talk to me about

3:43

these old time radio theater programs that kind

3:45

of what an audio drama is I'm like,

3:48

it is kind of a niche thing isn't it? It's not something that you hear normally.

3:53

It's not just a movie with the screen

3:56

off, and it's not simply an audiobook, and it's

3:59

not a podcast. It's something like all 3 of those things

4:03

combined into something even better. I really got

4:06

into audio dramas though, Stephen in 20 20

4:08

during the whole pandemic dark times. When I

4:12

just had to get out of my house as often as I could, and I went

4:14

on these long walks. And I found all these different audio dramas,

4:19

1 really cool 1 called, have you ever

4:21

heard of the left right game? It's like a paranormal mystery

4:25

story, and it was based off of a

4:27

reddit post, and someone, you know, kept going

4:30

with that and then it turned into this audio drama, and now apparently it's gonna be

4:34

coming to Netflix Amazon Prime. Another 1 that Listening to just now is

4:39

called Lime. It's like a Sci 5 mystery

4:43

and it's, like an investigative reporter, hot on

4:45

the trail of all these weird disappearance.

4:48

And I think they've also adapted that. I think it was on Facebook

4:53

video oddly enough years ago.

4:56

And so this is a a really fun genre because of all the places it can

5:01

go. I know another way that people adapt

5:03

these is turning them into, like, animated videos

5:05

and that sort of thing, but it it really is its own medium.

5:10

And it's something really fun

5:12

to listen to when it's done right by an expert audio engineer. So

5:17

I'm I'm really looking forward to listening to

5:20

Todd and in how he put this series

5:23

together and just all the little tips of

5:25

what makes this kind of format work really

5:27

well. Well, so far, we've had a 1 or 2 episodes about another famous probably the

5:32

most famous, Christian made audio drama, Adventures Odyssey,

5:36

which this year celebrates the release of its

5:38

1 thousandth episode, and I think they're having their first

5:41

land based fan convention in Colorado Springs, Colorado

5:45

08:09 9 5, but there are many other

5:47

Christian audio dramas as well. There was the whole lot focus on the family radio. A

5:51

They series, which did the chronicles of Na

5:54

and a bunch of other Cs Lewis stories as well as simply classic literature and some

5:58

original productions too I remember audio dramas called

6:01

Down Gilead Lane. There was something about frogs

6:04

from the Chuck Olson. I think if I

6:06

remember right, and then there is jungle jam

6:08

also by Phil La who's been on the podcast twice before. Phil episode about Odyssey specifically

6:14

was episode 100 if you wanna go back

6:16

and listen to that. But now we're gonna hear from a colleague of fills in that

6:20

industry. It was also done sam commodity production,

6:22

but has been on the cutting edge from

6:25

the cassettes to digital from the analog to

6:27

digital transfer in the 19 nineties and then

6:30

partly that into, drama production. First off, however,

6:34

at lori dot com, we explore not just

6:36

amazing Christian made dramas, but amazing Christian made

6:39

fantastic. Novels and every Friday, we have a

6:41

review of a new 1. You can check the website and see what we've recently recommended

6:46

as a great summer read or you can

6:48

subscribe free and get that info delivered straight

6:51

to your inbox whenever we publish it. We'll

6:53

also send you the invitation code for the Lore haven Guild our Castle in the cloud

6:57

on Discord, where we enjoy monthly book quests

7:00

into the best Christian made fantastical novels

7:04

that we can find. That includes many novels from our top sponsor

7:08

enclave publishing, which is celebrating

7:11

realm makers and sending nearly 2 dozen authors

7:14

to the realm conference, Oasis family media owns Enclave publishing as well

7:19

as member companies Sky Turtle Press and Oasis

7:22

Audio Realm as a Christian led Riders conference in

7:26

Saint. Louis this year on the weekend of July 18 through twentieth.

7:29

That weekend authors will get to meet fans

7:31

and friends starting with Thursday evening when we celebrate the

7:35

book release of the nightmare virus by

7:38

future podcast, guest, nadine Brand, She will be at that event, signing books,

7:43

and for more information, you can visit realm

7:45

maker's dot com. We look forward to seeing you there.

7:48

Gonna post a complete list of all the authors that are on the docket from Enclave,

7:51

which, now this year includes yours truly, and

7:54

a couple of other newcomers whose book titles

7:56

can't even yet reveal, like Angie Dickinson and

8:00

Mari Arrest. That'll be in the show notes for episode

8:03

219 that link or you can go to lord

8:06

haven dot com slash podcast.

8:09

Well, going on the road means you get

8:12

to enjoy some can sessions, and I like

8:14

to lead with this leftover concession, get it. That is for the people

8:19

who come here specifically because, hey, I heard

8:21

there was an end time discussion, well I

8:23

know the correct end times view. Chances are

8:26

you do, and we probably summarized it fairly

8:28

in episode 216, which was our episode about times debating. But

8:33

the rest of the 5 episodes in this series, we are celebrating the left behind series

8:37

And today, we're focusing on the left behind

8:40

audio dramas. As I mentioned, it's often badly

8:42

confused with audiobooks books, but I cannot state

8:44

this clearly enough, and you'll hear samples later

8:47

on in this episode of this high production

8:50

cinematic streaming series that just has 1 work.

8:53

They didn't actually film anything with cameras. They

8:56

just recorded everything, who then supplies the visuals for this storytelling

9:01

you do. I ever since the twenties radio

9:04

drama has been a theater of the mind, and that tradition continues now 100 years later,

9:09

that doesn't mean it's not intense. Audio drama

9:12

can actually be very intense. I'd say even

9:15

more than the books, and that does call

9:17

for some discernment because I still remember to this day, a very

9:21

vivid portrayal about what happens to...

9:24

Let's just say the, the the the literal

9:27

Rendition in the left behind series of the woman riding the beast when the antichrist decides

9:31

that the Babylon religion is no longer useful to him they

9:35

do some various things with an ice sculpture and take him out. He he got what's

9:39

coming to him and the audio rendition that was quite visceral. So might not be for

9:44

kids, but there is a kids left behind audio drama 2 that we will talk about

9:48

in our next episode, by the way, you can find as of this recording, the first

9:52

48 left behind episodes on Spotify

9:55

and in our last episode 218 that we

9:58

actually spoke with Chris Fa. We'll name check

10:00

him a few times in this episode because He actually c wrote the adaptation for almost

10:05

all of the left behind audio drama series,

10:08

we're approaching that from 2 different angles. You

10:10

know, something I really appreciate about audio dramas

10:13

is that it's just as fun for my kids to listen to these in a long

10:17

car ride. Than it is to watch, you

10:19

know, a movie or something, which is great

10:21

because a couple of my kids get motion sickness. And so they really can't

10:26

or shouldn't be watching Netflix or a Dvd or something

10:30

like that. But as you said Steven, it, it's like

10:32

a film, but you supply the visuals And

10:35

I think I know why this isn't always

10:38

popular with people. It's because

10:40

it really depends on the acting. It also

10:42

depends on whether or not The story was written with audio in mind

10:47

or whether it was just sort of tacked on at the end. There was General market

10:52

Sci f series Really liked called sleeping giants.

10:55

It was definitely made for audio because the

10:58

entire book is a series of interviews, like like transcripts

11:03

or recordings or first person like narration as

11:06

their discovering this robot and trying to bring

11:09

it back to life. And so the entire book is just dialogue.

11:13

It was perfect is an audio drama. They

11:15

hired all different actors for all the different roles. A couple actors kinda rep some of

11:20

the same roles. I loved it. And then the second book happened

11:25

where they had a lot of different actors.

11:29

Including 1 actress that fans seem to universally

11:33

dislike because it it sounded like a a much

11:36

older person, it was supposed to be a child.

11:39

And she'd grown up on another planet, and it she sound like she was from the

11:42

bronx. So it was just a total mismatch of

11:46

casting. And then in the third book, they got

11:48

still a different actress and then

11:51

They brought back another actress for a different

11:53

part, but she played a different character and

11:55

was so confusing. I couldn't even finish the third book. Just

11:59

said forget it. You've totally lost me. And I also think

12:04

some of the writing in the third book, I don't think it the story knew where

12:07

it was going. But that is not gonna be the case

12:11

today. I've listened to the left behind cinematic

12:14

audiobooks very recently and man. I have a

12:17

huge fan of those So buckle up everyone. Well, you don't need

12:21

to buckle up to write in as our next guest is, I hear a voice made

12:26

4 radio announcing his arrival, and I think

12:29

he's the only 1 in this particular race. So I'm throwing up the doors to welcome

12:32

him now. Todd Be has just rolled into the studio

12:40

on his 12 speed bike. It has been a while since we

12:44

talked about this left behind legacy series gave

12:46

us a chance to reconnect after very long

12:49

time ago, When Todd, I was a But of I don't... What what was I...

12:53

I don't even know if you remember I was a studio Ga fly. I actually visited

12:57

the studio once and I think interrupted do

12:59

you guys lunch from Ar, but he was

13:01

very kind to gave us a tour, my touring group there around the the wheaton

13:05

campus, but welcome to Laurie Studios.

13:08

Oh, man. This is exciting. Yeah. It... We

13:10

had so many people coming through the studio during the left behind era. I do recall

13:15

you though specifically because you forgot to put

13:17

order into the guest box. So I'll get

13:20

that from you at some point. On, that

13:22

probably Went bankrupt. And. I'll, I will I

13:25

will send that I'll will send that over with the, cash app or something.

13:30

There you go. Yeah. With the interest and

13:32

inflation included. What was left behind? Like, 5

13:35

years ago, 6 years ago. I you know,

13:38

here's the issue here. Glory appearing, the 12

13:41

volume released 20 years ago in 20 o

13:45

4. Wow. Yeah. So Jesus returned 20 years ago,

13:49

We are now in the millennial reign by the way, and it is glorious indeed. Yep.

13:53

Yeah. Not quite, I think every times position

13:56

would agree that that's not exactly the true

13:58

position, But, Todd, you had a life before

14:01

left behind and the left behind dramatic audio

14:04

series. I mentioned if you could just give us a quick bio and then, tell us

14:08

what led you to biblical truth and

14:11

This line of work. Yeah. I was as a kid fascinated with

14:15

anything with buttons, so it was either gonna be a recording studio or a 07:47

14:19

cockpit, both of which I had posters of

14:21

up on my wall as a kid. By god's providence, I ended up in radio,

14:26

was mixing live sound, led to radio, led to radio production, led

14:31

to drama production, spent 16 years with Moody

14:34

broadcasting. During that time, built up my own

14:36

business, and a 96 was to take it

14:39

independent, was sitting at my desk in a

14:42

small office 1 morning thinking. Hearing a lot about this left behind thing,

14:47

and and we went to work developing that as a series, and that really was life

14:51

changing. It's It's a retrospective for you guys

14:54

who listened to a lot of drama pretty pivotal. I got allowed me to use

14:58

that series to, build a business,

15:01

employ a lot of actors expose a lot of people to the gospel

15:04

through the process and do some storytelling telling where the leash was

15:10

taken off, and I was allowed run free with creative process. So the leash was taken

15:15

off, and I have listened to the entire

15:18

audio drama several times through, actually, I know

15:20

you've listened to it more because you've had to stay up late,

15:23

doing the mix on 144

15:27

episodes, not a hundred 44000, but a hundred

15:29

44, 12 episodes based on 12... It listen to a thousand

15:33

times. So I think it's about right. You know I that would editor. I've never really

15:38

landed on the prophetic number of episodes. Thank

15:41

you, Steven That. 12 in terms well, once

15:44

you see these very book of revelation type

15:46

numbers. You you can't un them. And then you realize we... We we in revelations Why

15:51

your studio is called Gap digital. And it

15:54

is in the Chicago area, which, of course

15:57

is setting to a vast amount of the left

16:00

behind storyline, how did Gap digital specifically get started and

16:04

you were doing mixes for adventures odyssey, radius

16:07

at, like, what are some of the other projects that y'all worked on in and around

16:11

the same time? Yeah. I started actually

16:14

back in the eighties back when the core of the Earth still cooling.

16:18

With a little company called Gordon audio productions,

16:21

and people say Gordon, and I say, yes.

16:24

Because nobody has ever asked me to spell Gordon, which is not necessarily the case with

16:29

my last name, so I just used Gordon

16:31

or audio productions, but then, through

16:35

an amazing set of circumstances was working for Ron Hut producing his program.

16:41

The armed forces network approached him and said,

16:43

we have an opportunity to air your program.

16:46

He said great. He said it's 30 minutes. I said, oh, when we have a 60

16:50

minute program. He came to me and said

16:52

what would it take to cut our 60 minute program down, which had a lot of

16:55

drama. It was weekly with kids, kids doing

16:57

drama, actors doing drama. There's a lot of

16:59

drama production in it. So we were already sitting the groundwork for that. So what would

17:03

it take to cut the 60 down to

17:06

30. Now, this was on 2 inch tape. This was all punch edits. This was all

17:10

analog production in Studio b at Moody broadcasting, and

17:14

I said, well, I'm doing about 80 hours a week right now.

17:18

And newly married, and I had to put

17:20

a picture of myself up in the kitchen, so my wife remembered what I looked like.

17:24

I'd say creating a 30 minute version of this is

17:28

another 20 hours. So not really doable. He said, think big.

17:33

And I said, well, digital is coming around.

17:35

He said, what do you need? I said, man, it'd be about 20 grand, a week

17:39

later he hands me to check for 20 grand and says do it.

17:42

I said, okay. So I went to work, very diligent in terms of the shopping, pro

17:46

tools was just coming out. But was

17:51

rift with problems. So I

17:53

was directed to another company called Spectral,

17:57

made it work. We knocked our production time down to 30

18:01

hours and at a 30 minute version that

18:03

we aired in Europe for years Other broadcasters,

18:07

Dave Arnold it focus calls me and says, hey. What you do over there? And I

18:11

said, well, I put together a little thing with the thing and the thing and He

18:14

says show me. So we ended up being

18:17

a broadcast rep for spectral synthesis, a company

18:20

out of Washington. And we put in systems for ventures in

18:24

Odyssey, D James Kennedy, your story our children's bible hour,

18:30

radio stations, Larry Bur.

18:32

And so we were traveling around helping

18:35

these ministries come up to speed, digital And

18:38

that's when I said, alright. I'm just gonna change the name of the company to Gap

18:42

digital, and we really built the foundation on digital technology and the efficiencies that it create.

18:46

These are the kinds of things you find out. I didn't know that you all had

18:49

actually installed those systems. Some of those names

18:52

while Children's Bible hour. It was actually a

18:54

half hour folks, but that's okay. I used to listen to that because it

18:58

was the warm up back for Adventures odyssey

19:00

on Saturday mornings at WJMM

19:03

fm in Lexington Kentucky. Nice. You know, it

19:07

I went to college right at the transition

19:09

of analog to digital for all this stuff. And

19:13

I got on this bus for this student

19:15

orientation program at Texas a called Fish camp.

19:18

Sit next to this guy. And first thing

19:20

you asked me is, you know what M mp threes are? I was like, no. I'd... What is that?

19:25

And he's like, well, it's a way to get the music track from a Cd onto

19:29

your computer. I'm like, oh, that's that's pretty cool. Okay. Go into college next week. Everyone

19:34

has their computer set up on this network, and everyone just doing the whole file sharing

19:39

thing, like, here's this album. Here here's that

19:41

album. 0MP threes. Oh, yeah. This guy in

19:43

the bus told me about that. And this this is, like pre Naps, which is pre

19:47

itunes. It's you know, in high school, I

19:49

had done a bunch of just video and audio projects

19:52

for fun, but it was all tape based. Like you said, you know, making mix tapes

19:56

for friends, or filming things on, like, a 8 millimeter

20:00

camera and then transferring it to a V

20:02

tape. And then in college, we got to

20:04

mess around with mini Tv cameras where you

20:07

could edit on a computer and that was

20:10

just so life changing. But like you said, it kind of takes

20:13

your whole life away because it You think

20:15

it's gonna make everything quicker and easier. Now

20:17

you just get to do more things with it. So you end up spending maybe more

20:21

time on on digital editing and audio. It

20:23

is part of the, lengthening the leash again,

20:26

using the dog retract leash analogy, which is

20:30

so useful in so many areas of life,

20:32

the ability to create some things,

20:36

you can come up with the idea, but to actually execute that

20:40

is difficult. The thing I loved about working

20:43

hut grab program is that 5 segments

20:46

across the hour and a different drama in

20:48

each segment, and we could go any direction.

20:52

And the acting troop that we put together

20:54

ear in Ami. And you're having a fight with a pro z. Go.

20:58

You know, and so you because it's audio,

21:01

you're not restricted by costume blocking lighting, makeup,

21:04

etcetera. Which is your first plus,

21:07

but then you can also incorporate the imagination.

21:10

What would this sound like. I don't know. Let's try a few things.

21:14

When you go to digital, and it's faster,

21:17

you can try more things. So, yes, it does

21:21

unleash you're suddenly drinking out of a fire

21:23

hose. And moderation is important. I just worked

21:26

with a client a little while back.

21:29

Producing drama, where moderation was not 1 of

21:33

their hallmarks, and they were buried in deadlines

21:36

and backlog. As a result. So you do have to

21:39

know when to say when. And that's kind of the balance. Yeah. Now

21:43

the left behind sears, you said allowed y'all

21:45

all to, take the leash off and try

21:48

even more things with this drama, but Todd,

21:51

how did you all get into making

21:53

They left behind audio drama, which I will

21:55

remind faithful listeners is an audio drama, not

21:58

an audio, So it's already got audio

22:00

presumably This is something completely different? Like, was this

22:04

the publisher idea? Was it your idea? What

22:06

is the origin story there? The origin story

22:09

is that as I mentioned and I went

22:11

independent, left moody after 16 years, and I'm

22:14

sitting in my, tiny office We rented some

22:16

office space. I built a 1 room studio, and and I'm sitting in the office,

22:20

just basically, brainstorming, you know, young business? Okay. How do

22:25

I put food on the table? I had

22:28

heard the sc butt about left behind. People were

22:32

starting to talk about it. It was early. In the ascend of that title.

22:36

You know, I borrowed a copy. I took a look, and Read the first chapter and

22:38

I go, well, this would drama ties

22:42

Pretty well. Was still going down to moody on a regular basis and recording folks down

22:45

there and doing projects for them and for others.

22:48

And so after 1 session down there, I

22:51

had about 18 actors and I said this gang. If

22:54

you're willing and have the time, hang out, let's do a demo. I've got an idea,

22:59

I don't know where it's gonna go, but I wanna try something, and that really was...

23:05

Let's... Think outside the box here. And so my

23:09

conception of it was

23:12

more about not word for work.

23:15

Okay. Not word for word, but concepts,

23:19

and concepts driven by sound.

23:22

And so we did a 5 minute demo that may be some of the most exciting

23:26

audio that I have ever produced because it

23:30

was just free form. I mean, it was

23:33

it wasn't a scene followed by a scene.

23:35

It was more, you know, jets, and I

23:38

used movie music. And trailer music and really

23:41

put together you know, this impactful. Now we

23:43

had some voices and actually on the demo,

23:46

the gentleman who ended up playing Nickel carp,

23:50

poised Ra steel

23:53

because I had not yet done any casting.

23:55

So That was interesting.

23:58

Now we had already produced new living translation

24:01

drama amortized bible for Ty day, so I had their phone number. And I called them

24:04

up and said, listen, I got this idea. Can I fly it past you? They said

24:09

sure. Gave of synopsis. I... I've got this

24:11

idea for drama sizing the left behind series. They pulled together all the Big Wig presidents,

24:16

the comp controller, marketing guy etcetera. So forth.

24:19

Put him in a conference room, and I

24:21

wanted this thing to really z

24:24

So I'm rolling my little cart with general

24:26

Studio monitors and I, you know, wow my

24:29

Cd player. I'm not relying on whatever they

24:31

have in their conference yeah. No on this. Now, I've got the gen monitors,

24:36

and I set up in the Conference room and I hit play.

24:39

And 5 minutes ago as by, and they're

24:41

all kinda sitting there, and I'm trying desperately

24:44

to read faces in any ain't work. And finally,

24:48

Paul Matthews, the money guy says, by How

24:50

much. And I slid them a proposal across

24:53

the table. He takes 1 look at it, chuckle and slides it back and says, thanks

24:57

for coming. Oh

24:59

no. No. No. Bud wait.

25:02

Sitting next to all Matthews is a gentleman. You're familiar with

25:07

by the name of Dan Bay. We just talked to Dan. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

25:11

Yeah. Dan is a lifelong friend for many

25:14

reason but mostly for what he did in

25:16

the next moment. He said, hang on.

25:20

You can turn these into radio, so. Right? That's well

25:23

in essence innocence, that's what they're em is they're their, you know, their 25 minute

25:28

radio episodes, and he said,

25:32

Okay. Why don't we try 12? I'll take it

25:35

out of my marketing budget. Okay. I'm gonna

25:38

give a call to Jim Sanders out an

25:40

ambassador and see if he thinks there'd be any interest in it. About a week later,

25:44

he had 475 stations signed up to air this thing.

25:49

So Dan said, it had to work.

25:52

I said... Wow. Yeah. So I had to

25:55

jump on it because suddenly, all these stations

25:57

are waiting for this thing. While we aired 12,

26:01

send them to ambassador. By this time, they've

26:03

doubled the on stations that are clamoring. Put

26:06

this thing on. And Dan says,

26:10

swing by. I got 2 more contracts, the next 2 books. Right? The first 12 were

26:14

based on left behind. And then we went

26:16

on through the series. He gave me a contract for 2 more books. I'm still in

26:20

this tiny studio where literally, I got my

26:23

mixer, and I've got a space behind me

26:25

where I'm doing foley, and I'm using the studios downtown I'm renting

26:30

moody broadcasting studios to record the actors,

26:33

And, okay. If this thing really takes off.

26:36

So I walked into the local bank

26:39

with, you know, like, 4 bucks in my

26:42

pocket in a couple contracts and said, John,

26:45

I had made friends with a guy who was running the branch. I said John, I

26:49

need to buy a building. S Gospel had run their radio ministry for

26:53

years out of a building in Wheaton that

26:55

I now own, and they had 2 simple...

26:58

Audio studios in the basement of that building.

27:02

And so it presented the opportunity for me

27:04

to take over 1 studio and then upgrade the others.

27:07

And I showed John the contract, Ned said,

27:10

okay. Let's go to work, and he did. And

27:15

the the gentleman in the Sba department did

27:17

an amazing job. I mean, god was orchestrating

27:20

this whole thing, and I walked to the guy who owned the s a sla gospel

27:24

building offered him his list price because he

27:26

had laughed at us 4 years earlier when be offered him less then.

27:30

You know, I was trying to get this building for while, and we were able to

27:32

buy the building. And then the next call

27:34

was to John S. John is a studio designer of renowned.

27:39

He's been doing it for many years, true confession during study hall. In high school,

27:45

I would read Mixed magazine, and I would

27:47

look at his rooms and and really like

27:50

those the best. So this is the lifelong

27:53

dream of yours. That's that's really cool exactly. Coming true now. Absolutely. So I called up

27:57

John, and I said I got this space. And it's 96

28:00

feet from the corner of the building

28:03

to the first rail of the Union Pacific.

28:06

They said, yeah. Alright. We got it. So he built electric

28:09

lady for Jimmy Hendrix in New York over

28:12

the subway. And his claim to fame was, you can't

28:16

tell you're over the subway. Now any building

28:19

in New York where you're over the subway. You know you're over the, electric lady? No.

28:23

Alright. And so he really pioneered a lot

28:26

of his isolation stuff, so he came in. Our live rooms are floated. So in other

28:30

words, you could pick them up and move them

28:34

because they're not bolted to the building if you will, and they're floated on a system

28:38

that some guy with a huge, very active brain does the math on it

28:42

says, okay, This room is gonna weigh this much because you're gonna have these materials in

28:46

it And for that, we're gonna put this system and a custom design a system that

28:49

this sits on. Wow. And and that is

28:54

where we recorded the bulk of the Levy

28:56

series. Now once we bought the building, it

28:58

took us 1 week to move from the small studio over Take over 1, we took

29:03

over studio b of the Slavic Gospel studio

29:07

and went to work, and I've got great video and photos of

29:10

everybody crammed in this tiny little live room,

29:13

and, you know, we did our foley in there. And we had great sessions and so

29:17

good, and then upstairs was the green room

29:19

where amazing things happen. The green room

29:23

may be just as important. As what was going on in the recording

29:28

studio because a, gentleman by the name of Jim To who

29:32

played Zeke was probably the funniest human I have ever

29:36

met. Oh, he steals the show later on,

29:39

especially in the last half of the, audio drama. Yeah. He does. And then

29:43

B, Tom, who was playing Rh, had his church

29:48

praying during sessions, for the conversations would that would take place

29:53

at the table. I was ask you about

29:56

that. Yeah. Yes. Marvelous that I had guys

29:59

marvelous. The guy who claimed Hai Hem Rose

30:03

is, you know, you saying, you know, someday, I may have to explain this role

30:08

to my grandkids. But right now, I'm having a good deal of fun, You know? Because

30:12

it he was going actually Jewish then... He

30:15

was jewish. Actually, Jewish. That's marvelous Wow. Yeah.

30:18

That's marvel. Oh, yeah. Jerry Jerry was phenomenal. And so

30:22

the conversations that were going on, upstairs the

30:25

green. We would do 2 days at a time. So, you know, it'd be like, a

30:29

Thursday fry. A we'd hit it at 08:00,

30:31

we'd go all the way at to 4, 05:00 as necessary. Do the same thing the

30:35

following day. At Chris and Amanda moved out

30:38

to La. We sometimes had to fly them

30:40

back in to be, you know, for Buck

30:43

Chloe to to be part of the sessions,

30:45

but Yeah. It's just, you know, so many so

30:49

many times, I look back and see the

30:51

divine hand just kinda orchestrating the whole thing. That is absolutely wonderful to hear. All over

30:56

again. It's and Todd, I've started re listening

30:58

to the series now, just in celebration of

31:01

that left behind legacy. So we're already talking about how you all

31:04

assembled what I would call the left behind

31:06

adaptation force. So many actors that you all already were

31:10

familiar with, including many Christian actors in that

31:13

area. And for those who still remember, for

31:15

example, that Kirk Cameron is Buck Williams, no.

31:18

My my buck Williams is Christopher Taylor Rant,

31:21

if I member is named correctly. And, no, Raf steele

31:26

is not Nico Carriage, Raf steel is Tom

31:29

Mc miguel. Those humans have never met them. They made

31:33

me cry. Absolutely phenomenal actors. And by the way, the man

31:37

later on played Zeke, as 1 of the

31:39

best death screams ever. I don't know how

31:42

many times he did a death screen. I think he died, the witness the witnesses roasted

31:46

him I I think he died in the earthquake,

31:49

and that was a kid's audio drama series, And then just a absolutely incredible, like, you

31:54

really felt the pain in Anguish of him

31:57

shuffling off this mortal coil several times. I think he died up more times in Sean

32:00

bean. How did you all find all of these

32:04

terrific actors, including several

32:07

who believed in this project. I mean, I've

32:10

I've got that... Hold on. Let tell you what. Before you answer the question.

32:13

Speaking of the actors. Alright. I don't know if you remember this. And and and the

32:17

rest of that can't see this because this is audio, but... Yeah. This is the hundredth

32:22

episode This is the hundredth episode celebration poster.

32:26

This here is carp, lee out from the the laser eyes that

32:32

the Oh, nice. He's about to he's about to light you

32:35

up, K tony heat vision style. But instead

32:38

what he's done is he just gone into the, temple to desk create it, and he

32:41

sacrificed a pig and there was a blood everywhere and it was horrible.

32:44

Taking off the leash after all. Don't recommend that. Yep. No. Don't Don't don't do that.

32:48

It's bla for me. How did y'all all find all of these people? And just this

32:52

is some of the recruitment of all the talent? I mean, Chris Fa doing the adaptation

32:56

for the first 11 and then Steve Wick with the music and then the actors as

32:59

well. How do you find these folks? So

33:02

Roger Mueller was coming into our studio all

33:04

the time. Okay. Ended up playing Carp.

33:07

And so he was part of this session

33:10

where I said gang. III wanna do a

33:12

demo. Amy Lilly was on staff,

33:16

1 of the most amazing voice talents

33:18

in the world. And so she was hat from the drop

33:22

of the hat. I mean, I was sitting at my desk going. What if

33:26

Okay. Amy Will play Had. Got it. You know, I mean, that was that was probably

33:30

the first role that was cast and locked

33:32

in. I didn't even talk to her. I just so we'll work schedule around her. She

33:36

was fantastic. I did a quite an extensive

33:39

process for... Ray steele for Chris,

33:45

for Buck and Chloe, a lot of audition. And

33:50

Tom, nailed it on the scene... So the scene

33:54

where he comes home and goes up the

33:56

stairs and sees all the photos.

33:59

Yeah. Yeah. When when Tom

34:03

auditioned that, I had to go get the shop vac.

34:08

And vacuum myself up off the floor

34:12

because he absolutely melted the place.

34:16

And, I mean, it was tied because Roger was

34:19

still in contention as Rae steel at a nice edge to

34:24

him but that scene showed me

34:28

what Tom was going to be able to

34:30

give in terms of the arc. Because, you know, good storytelling

34:36

shows us people changing. Right? Good storytelling causes us to

34:41

want the change. There's an arc. There's a

34:43

transition if somebody static and never changes. It's

34:45

boring. But that scene was just...

34:49

So amazing. And so that locked in

34:53

my Ray steel. So I had some people

34:56

within the network that were

34:58

locked in. You're this... You're gonna be a

35:00

part of this. They... You know, and they helped me out in the demo. I said,

35:03

gang, I don't know if this is gonna go anywhere. If it does, I will definitely

35:07

reward your willingness to hang out for another hour and

35:11

help me with this demo. Some of the folks in that room had a

35:14

very nice 6 year run. And

35:17

made a good bit of money and help send kids to college, and I'm so proud

35:21

of that. I I really am am I'm pleased we did that. But the 1 move

35:25

that really lit up our cast was contacting

35:30

comedy sports, improv Olympics and the places where people

35:35

do stuff on the fly with their imagination

35:38

and use their voice. These people are brilliant.

35:42

They have such great imaginations. They have such

35:45

creativity. Okay? Amanda Phillips.

35:48

Chris Rant both out of that world, right?

35:51

Where you can think. Alright? If I had

35:55

an audition and I had a stage actor

35:58

or a video actor, I knew it right

36:00

away. But if I had somebody who had

36:02

to create the scene in their mind and then vocal it

36:05

Bam. Different level. I mean, it's it's it's

36:08

what I tell voice actors all the time. You need to say yes and I understand

36:13

clearly without a shadow of a doubt that you mean know.

36:16

And you need to do it with just your voice, and that was the differentiation. So we pull

36:21

to together a the audition were fun. You

36:24

know, it was a 6 year run. So the audition eventually moved out to Wheaton. Folks

36:28

would come in, we'd cycle them through. We had the whole... Process. We had a runners,

36:33

Brooks Sanford, who was very involved in the

36:36

kids series. Would would sometimes be a wrangler. Right? She

36:40

would she would be taking the audition forms

36:42

and making sure all the information and sending them down, so everybody was getting involved, and,

36:46

you know, that was a lot of fun too. So Great cast. So you're saying this

36:50

took this took 6 years to produce from

36:53

start to finish with. 6 contractors. Yeah. We

36:56

did the rising. And that was kind of the swan song.

36:59

Tin dale did their run and helped us with the 12, and adult,

37:06

books, the 72 episodes, the kids drama,

37:08

and then they said, you know, what we're kinda done. And I said, that's cool.

37:14

I'm gonna give a shot to producing the

37:16

rising. So I did the rising out of my own wallet to see if the sales

37:20

would cover the cost. And it it took about 3 years to

37:25

do so. And so I wasn't in a

37:27

position to do the other pre and the

37:30

sequel, people have asked about that constantly, but

37:33

I I think the rising is fantastic. I

37:35

think it's 1 of my best productions. You know, it kinda came after the bell curve,

37:39

and honestly, a lot of people don't even know it's out there. So... Yeah. So doing

37:43

this over 6 years, so there was a

37:45

behind the scenes thing I watched a long time ago from Star trek Voyager,

37:49

and the actress that played Bo torres Roxanne

37:52

and Dawson. She talked about when she auditioned for that

37:56

show, she realized that she was gonna

37:59

beginning into, like, a multi year multi season

38:02

show and it was, like, this big decision

38:04

for because I think it was her very... It was like, her biggest role she'd ever

38:07

had. And she realized in that moment. Like, if

38:11

I say yes to this, this is like a family I'm joining. It's not just a

38:14

job because I'm gonna be part of this or however for many years is an actress

38:18

and then how many years after that I'd like fan conventions and stuff like that. What

38:22

was that like signing up these actors did they realize that this is gonna be

38:26

a 6 year or beyond commitment like, I

38:29

didn't get people to to sign on to that? What you mean to say?

38:33

Zach. Is... Did I realize this was going

38:35

to be... It does start with you. Yes. You're going

38:40

to live and breathe tribulation for the next 5 to 6 years.

38:45

So not quite years, but... Yeah. The interesting

38:48

the interesting thing about that is that a lot of the folks

38:52

that ended up being core actors came in

38:56

as something else. Alright. There's a voice in episode 1.

39:01

And I believe you have a clip or

39:03

2 from episode 1. We... This might be

39:06

a good place to drop that in because it talks about the velocity video production but

39:10

we can also talk about some of the casting implications. Now, I I wanna move into

39:14

that, after we pause for a second sponsor.

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or at lower dot com slash podcast.

40:33

Let's go to chapter 2 with the clip that Todd already mentioned We actually have 2

40:37

clips that generously provided from the archives of the Gap digital

40:41

studios, chapter 2, herald the end times from

40:44

the eyes to the ears. So, yes, some

40:46

actors that started out with kind of a bit role like, for example, a baseball announcer,

40:51

would later go on to get a much larger platform in the series Main cast. Let's

40:56

go ahead and here 1 little, clip from

40:59

episode 1 of the left behind audio drama

41:02

and see if you using just your ears

41:04

and your imagination can tell what's going on.

41:18

Hello? Still.

41:22

Not at all. Oh it's very nice.

41:26

Right here. I've got the bog on. It's

41:29

iced tea. Alliance. Oh, Chester says hello.

41:35

Hello Okay.

41:42

No. That's fine. Call as late as you

41:44

need to. Well,

41:49

why wouldn't I be here? Right. Talk to you then.

41:56

We're keeping our eye we don't expect it

41:58

to grow due to its massive pressure area,

42:01

which I continues to provide great weather for

42:03

the 7 portion of the country. Moving on

42:05

to our forecast, another beautiful they had that

42:08

for tomorrow. Spend time throughout the day, temperatures

42:11

right around our normal, and our computer modeling

42:13

show at least 4 on until after breakfast tomorrow.

42:19

Don't want you cutting any deals on it. But we do recommend as that you get

42:24

some shut eye. It's a long ride to the camp, and we've got a tough week

42:28

ahead of us. Now, if you can't sleep, please, at least

42:31

keep it down so that others can. You freshman are listening. Right?

42:38

More importantly, we don't want to bother our

42:40

driver Later tonight, We're gonna be in the mountains and that's no fun the station Wagon

42:44

look alone this big monster. Right? This might also be a good time to

42:48

be praying that some great things will be

42:51

held happening this week. Hey? Right well, and lord willing, we'll see you

42:55

in the morning. That you all had me from that first.

43:01

Episode in that moment to just kind of

43:04

setting the table entering the world of left

43:07

behind a world ready for a rap first

43:10

So much information packed into there, but Tata wanna hear from you about the logic behind

43:14

that scene, which isn't in the book, but which is definitely set in the book. Like,

43:18

what what goes into that adaptation as you're

43:21

thinking about the philosophy and the creative there?

43:24

So this is was me walking into Tin dale with my hair on fire saying, yeah.

43:29

It's gonna be based on your book, but

43:31

it's not gonna be word for word. And I knew they would have to run it

43:34

up full and make sure that, Tim Le

43:38

hey and Jerry Jenkins we're gonna be okay with that. And that's where...

43:42

You know, the risk was, but sound is emo.

43:47

Right? And so what I was displaying with

43:50

that scene and there's elements similar to that

43:53

in the demo that I took Ind is that

43:56

I want this to be as much about sound telling you a story

44:01

as words telling you story because we have that potential

44:06

That's what audio drama does. It allows you

44:08

to use sound to tell a story. So we're layering.

44:12

Okay? If you can listen to 1 of

44:14

any 3 things, and my intent is to get that same

44:19

vibe going. And I do this numerous places.

44:22

Once we're on the airplane heading over, and I believe that's in

44:27

the second clip. This is called before and

44:29

after, and this is

44:32

the way that sound is being used. Now

44:34

some of it is borrowed from the book. Yes, So it connects to

44:39

the book. But it's more about using sound

44:42

to tell the story so the legendary, unbelievable

44:45

actress flo sc, taking the phone call there with Chester the

44:50

cat on her lap, we have crickets.

44:53

Right? A very evo and for many a comforting

44:57

sound. We have a baseball announcer that if you listen to

45:02

him says beautiful night here Buzz feel. Okay?

45:05

That's Greg Lac, who eventually became Sean on

45:08

Judah. That's part of the casting hierarchy

45:11

Fun. But, yeah, Greg was just in doing bit

45:15

parts. 1 other casting note, or in the early

45:19

episodes We used a gentleman by the name of

45:21

Dan Tu, who was in his eighties sounded great as

45:26

a as an eighties actor He said, you

45:30

should you should call my daughter. You should

45:32

call my daughter. His daughter was pam tu

45:35

who had a big run as Hannah peel.

45:39

So a lot of this going on, But

45:41

back to the layering, so we've got all these layers, but then

45:46

1 of the most powerful and fun characters

45:49

that work with is the composer.

45:51

So I told Steve. Yeah.

45:54

Okay. In retrospect, guys, actually, I would have had

45:58

float not hit why wouldn't I be here

46:00

so hard? You know, I just have her kind throat. Why wouldn't I be? Throw that

46:04

away, and let Steve tell the listener,

46:07

what she just said was important, which he

46:10

did with a nice, what else is motive,

46:13

low end. Right? In some of the scenes later in this

46:17

series, there's so much going on, you got apocalyptic

46:21

earthquake stuff falling all all over the place, you can only fit so much into an

46:25

audio landscape before the ear is the ear

46:28

fatigue and the listener checks out. The number 1 way to get that across

46:33

is just pumping the low end, so you get that 50 cycle. And not everybody's gonna

46:37

be able to hear it if they're on cheap earbuds, not gonna be there, but it'll

46:40

lean up into the hundred 20 hundred 50

46:43

cycle. Low end just tells you... Okay. Something's

46:46

going important. Right. And and that's so key

46:49

because, like, I've been listening to these major

46:52

studio produced audio drama podcast.

46:56

Just with with some big name, like A list actors,

46:59

and and they're they're just overwhelming to me.

47:02

Like, it it's there was 1 I listened to. It started

47:05

out as a really interesting concept. It was like, a guide a radio station and there's

47:08

a blackout. And so People are still able to call on their

47:12

cell phones, and he's taking calls into very

47:15

simple format, very very minimal foley.

47:17

But now it's in season 2, and there's like, car explosions and bridges blowing

47:22

up and airplanes crashing, and there's just like, way too much going on. I'm like, Yeah.

47:27

You can't take a Hollywood movie and cram

47:30

it into my earbuds, like, it doesn't work.

47:33

And I really like what you did when that scene there.

47:36

Where there's just the the really simple sounds

47:38

of, like you said, the crickets, the cat, the iced tea, the the Tv and the

47:43

background, it's like, oh, I'm listening to

47:46

a woman in her own home at night talking to someone on the phone. And then,

47:49

like you said that that loan note that drops and goes, oh, I should pay attention

47:53

to this, And I love that part. I... I know it's gonna happen by way like

47:57

oh, this person's gonna get rapture, like, it's

47:59

immediate, but it doesn't tell you that. There's no narrator who's saying a little did she

48:04

know. Yeah. You are feeling it before. Yeah.

48:07

What like exactly... Let's go ahead and finish

48:09

the scene the other half there of this is the after part. Let's go ahead and

48:13

queue that up and you can comments on that before we move on to the rest

48:16

of the tribulation because the guys that wraps only the beginning.

48:26

Something has happened here. I I don't see

48:30

Jacob was on second. Jacob was on.

48:36

Let tell I'm seeing thanks look

48:41

folks some running item.

48:52

Excuse me Trouble man. It's my husband. Yeah, does he

48:56

need something? He's gone. I'm sorry? He he's

49:00

disappears. Ma'am, it he probably slipped off to the

49:03

washroom while you were sleeping. I'm I'm sure he'll be. Would you mind checking and take

49:08

this blanket? Pete he's gone off naked.

49:12

He's a religious person and I know he would be terribly embarrassed.

49:16

He's gone off. See.

49:21

Well, maybe you should ask this fellow. 1

49:24

next to me. The 1 that was wearing that soup.

49:29

I'll I'll be right back. Todd, I don't have to ask you what's happening in that

49:32

scene because we just heard it. There's no

49:34

need for narrator, no need for commentary, but nevertheless, I want to know some about the

49:38

adaptation going into that scene. Yeah. I mean, Zachary you make a good

49:42

point. There's only so much you can take, but at the same time,

49:46

sometimes, chaos is what needs to be communicated. So if

49:51

if you don't pull back and allow... But

49:54

the scene to breathe, you can overdo it.

49:57

But what I wanted was a sense of confusion.

50:00

So if you listen to com. He's doing

50:03

the Ra announcement. We're gonna pass out for

50:05

an entry cards. There's a mom running around

50:09

Jessica, Jessica, and she's got a little panic

50:12

voice. Okay. Mh. Which is adding to it.

50:14

And then you got the conversation if you wanna stay front in center,

50:17

You got Chris, inner talking about the person

50:21

who was just sitting next to them. And the whole thing, and

50:25

then we've got Steve little just a tiny

50:28

bit of low end. Our composer just a little bit of low end and they're telling

50:31

out, okay. Something's different.

50:34

Okay. The other thing is sounds. Okay. An

50:38

unanswered phone. Yes. Subtly saying...

50:43

Lonely. The cat

50:45

troubled. And if you wanna listen to Greg doing

50:48

the aaa ball call I'm almost certain Kobe was on second.

50:53

So layering. And, you know, if I feed you 1

50:57

thing, That 1 thing has to be compelling, and

51:01

maybe your world doesn't resonate with whatever that

51:05

1 thing is. But if I put 3

51:07

in, even if none of them are absolutely

51:10

your jam, there's this sense of chaos that's being developed.

51:14

On the fact that you got 3 things coming on. And Zach your point is again,

51:18

very well taken. It can't be overwhelming. Yeah.

51:20

And that's why you try to balance all those things.

51:24

We did this another favorite moment of mine

51:27

is in the cockpit where

51:30

Hat has just informed Ra that people are

51:33

missing and he comes back and gets on the

51:36

radio and his c pilot is listening to a

51:40

speed bird trying to contact our app now

51:42

ng 1 of the things that I'm obsessive

51:45

over is accurate language. So if you're gonna

51:48

do cop, talk cop. If you're gonna do aviation, talk

51:52

aviation, study it and make it authentic.

51:55

You know, as a writer, if you're pho it in,

51:59

10 4 there control, you know, I'm out.

52:03

I I... It's it's not that hard to really go authentic.

52:06

So we really went the extra mile. I

52:09

actually sat on a transatlantic landing flight and talked to

52:13

the spare pilot because flights over x number

52:16

of hours. They gotta rotate. This guy came

52:18

out took a seat. I said, listen I

52:20

know you're gonna catch some shut. And I bend your ear for just 2 minutes. He

52:23

said, oh, sure. And we talked about Rf

52:26

and S wick and all the things that they do on transatlantic crossings because you're

52:31

away from. Radio, you're using Rf, you repeat

52:34

the name twice, and there's all these things.

52:37

And so the Rf radio has a higher degree of

52:40

static. And so when Rae responds,

52:44

and he says, Chan wick S wick,

52:48

Speed bird, Pan heavy

52:51

and there's just that is 1 of my favorite emo sounds

52:56

because people aren't there. Yeah. People are flying the

53:00

plane. It's absolutely absolutely for all we know

53:03

the plane is down in the drink at

53:05

this point. People gone. So emphasize Static.

53:09

Can be motive for listeners in this podcast. This is just

53:13

the first episode. Y'all had to do this

53:15

143 more times,

53:18

not always on a flight, not always at the rapture, but you had even more complex

53:23

special effects happening, and then Todd after a

53:26

while y'all did the first 36 episodes covering the

53:29

end of Nikola nikolai, which really even after

53:32

a world war, you raised the bar there

53:35

with that last episode 36. And I'm I'm

53:37

burning through these things, you know, because the only way to listen. And what was this

53:42

the year 4001, I forget when it was I got

53:45

drama 3. The only way to listen is to have 1 of those big stereo with

53:49

the Cd rack that you carry around and

53:51

no what no no M mp threes, there's no bluetooth at y'all all now I wasn't

53:55

necessarily listening to this on Cassette, but the

53:58

Cds were the the top of the line technology back then.

54:02

And suddenly, there's this earthquake and, wow, I

54:04

cannot imagine, we could have a whole episode just about the challenges of mixing that without

54:08

the advantages of your Hollywood

54:11

special effects there, y'all are doing disaster theater

54:15

and plague after plague after plague. And I

54:18

remember even when I was starting to discover that, hey, y'all were actually pretty accessible.

54:23

I could just email the guy at the top of this studio

54:28

and bless your heart, you know, the servants

54:30

aren't there as well as being very busy with the business.

54:33

You took time to correspond with me back then, And I I was having idea like,

54:37

hey, I think this is what you should do with the demon locusts and I forget

54:40

what I said, but I remember feeling very

54:42

validated when booked... 5 finally came out the

54:45

drama for that. Like, yeah. It sounds basically, like what I thought they should do,

54:49

and I was looking forward to the plagues

54:51

are looking forward to the the meteor, the

54:53

demon locusts, Like, what are some of the post production challenges they are coming up with

54:58

the sounds of the great

55:01

tribulation and the first half, which isn't so great. Well, Steven, momentum is a wonderfully dangerous

55:07

thing. When when we're far enough into the series

55:10

that, you know, Tin said, yeah. Yeah. Okay.

55:14

So we're probably gonna keep going with this. I

55:17

mean, they didn't guarantee it, but after the

55:19

first contract and the success of those episodes.

55:22

2 more contracts, And at that point,

55:25

the president of Tin, mister Mark Taylor

55:29

dropped me a note and said, soft spoken guy,

55:33

a brilliant guy. His father is the 1 who came up with the living bible, riding

55:37

the train down. Kenneth Taylor, of course. Yeah.

55:39

Yeah. So taken over,

55:44

Mark Taylor. He told me,

55:48

you know, Todd, In the first 30 days of these episodes

55:53

airing on radio, our hard covered sales, which were already

55:59

really record setting tripled.

56:02

Oh, my goodness. I never

56:06

we're probably going to keep going. Like...

56:11

Was this good news, Todd or bad news?

56:13

Oh, no. It was Was phenomenal because here's

56:15

the thing momentum. Okay? So we're asking that

56:18

same question, Steven. How do we create this sound. Oh. There's an interesting challenge. How do

56:22

we create this 1. I mean, you know, series. There's all kinds of stuff that you

56:27

just can't dial up and say, wonder what

56:29

that sounds like, I'll listen to it from a sound x library. No.

56:33

1 instance of that was that there a

56:36

scene where chai and buck are trying to get out

56:41

of town, and they ski steal a school bus,

56:45

crash it through a chain link fence where Ken has the lea jet ramped up,

56:50

on the runway and, you know, hail a gunfire through police ball

56:55

blockade all that stuff. They dive in, you

56:58

know, you talk about the opportunity to overdo overdue it, Zach. This was this was primed

57:01

to overdo it. But... So I'm looking at

57:04

all the layers of this very short. Seen.

57:06

I mean, it's not more than 2 and a half minutes, but there's a lot of

57:09

complexity. And I, what if. And so

57:12

that's where, you know, I I checked Bell

57:15

police was still off. I called up some

57:17

folks out in Rock, which is about an hour west of where we're at.

57:21

And they had a they have a race racetrack out there where they raise school buses,

57:25

and they do so in a figure 8,

57:28

I go. Okay. These are my guys. Picked up the

57:32

phone. Hey. Any chance you guys would be willing to

57:35

crash a school bus for? This is such man stuff. I just love

57:40

this. Half a beat and...

57:44

Yeah. There's only 1 way to get the sound

57:48

of a crashing school bus and it's 2. And I said school bus. Okay. Let's go.

57:53

So we bought a station wagon at a junkyard,

57:56

full glass, everything in place, and we put it in

57:59

the middle of the Rock Speedway parking lot. And we drove out there with the team.

58:04

I am bracing myself in the door of

58:07

the school bus, with a fish pole and a stereo shotgun

58:12

microphone over the front bumper of the bus, and

58:15

we ram that poor day for wagon a dozen times with the school bus.

58:19

And, the car

58:21

was barely recognizable. By the time we were done, the school

58:25

bus. At a slight coolant, and that was

58:27

it. Those things are tanks.

58:30

It's absolutely remarkable. And then, for the Lee jet, our composer

58:35

Steve Wick, just happened to know a guy at his church whose job was to sit

58:38

there and wait for the phone to ring. Alright? Some guy with a lot of money.

58:42

Who would occasionally say, I wanna fly my

58:45

friends over to, Michigan to watch the football game,

58:48

fire up the Lea jet. So he had to on a monthly basis, go and make

58:53

sure, you know, do certification process for the

58:55

Lee just to make sure the end is running and everything.

58:58

Invited us along. So I'm on the phone with Mark Jewelry out at focus, working

59:02

working on some odyssey stuff. And I'm following

59:05

Steve, onto the Tar at Bar aurora Airport,

59:09

and he turns around a corner, and here's the hanger wide open, and I swear the

59:13

angels were singing because the lights were on There was this beautiful shiny lee jets sitting

59:18

inside the hanger, and I said, Mark, I'm

59:20

gonna have to call you back and I hung up on it

59:24

because you know, as an aviation geek. Suddenly,

59:27

I'm looking at this. And we got to do everything. Ramping up the engines run and

59:32

I've got video of me running with the

59:35

recording rig towards the l jet as he's

59:38

spool up the engines, I dive in We

59:41

closed the door, and that's what we used in that particular Amazing. There's nothing quite like

59:45

practical effects for a production. That's, like like

59:48

you said, you you could go through all these digital libraries and now, of course, there's

59:52

all this Ai generated stuff, but actually being

59:55

there in physical. Space with an actual jet

59:57

or an actual school bus. Yeah. Just no

59:59

way to top that. That's... Yeah. That's amazing.

1:00:02

That's that's quite a dedication to craft there.

1:00:04

Well, I especially appreciate the time when you

1:00:06

all crashed and meteor, into the Atlantic Ocean in order to get

1:00:11

that sound effect deep impact style. There Yeah.

1:00:13

That a lot work. Yeah. Y'all travel to

1:00:16

Frank Pre door in the Dragons throat, opened

1:00:19

it up and release the demonic locust horde.

1:00:22

In order to bite men for, 5 months

1:00:24

and then have them be tortured for an additional 5 months that that was a bit

1:00:28

inconvenient Yeah. I signed a non disclosure agreement,

1:00:32

but, it's now expired. So Dolores at the

1:00:35

Nsa was huge in making that happen. She

1:00:37

was... You know, I dedicated the scene quietly.

1:00:40

I couldn't put it publicly in the credits, but Dolores at the Nsa. She allowed us

1:00:44

access to... Props the Dolores, was she the voice saying,

1:00:47

dawn. Bought as a un accredited cameo, there a

1:00:51

lot of filters. Now. That was a lot of people who

1:00:53

probably don't want their names associated with that

1:00:56

because there was a lot don't go want to be demon people in a darkened room

1:01:00

around a suspicious burning shape in the floor

1:01:03

chanting the name of Abe but Yeah. Within

1:01:06

a stone throw of the wheaton college campus, we probably don't not talk more about that.

1:01:10

So we could talk so much more about the...

1:01:13

Us assassination, Roger Mueller's performance, all the other

1:01:16

amazing, actors, a Chris Fa adaptation. We already talked with

1:01:20

Chris Some about that. We gotta get to

1:01:22

the end here, Todd because you got places to go, and I I know that you're

1:01:26

working next by the way, on that that

1:01:28

millennial kingdom drama with 1 episode

1:01:31

for each year of the millennial rain... Literal,

1:01:34

millennial reign of Christ on earth, of course. Not a whole lot of killing involved there,

1:01:39

though, because millennial randy Crisis. I don't know where the drama is gonna come from. But

1:01:42

anyway, let's pause for our third sponsor and then get to the get to the close

1:01:45

out here. We are our own sponsor for

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sponsor 3 of this episode, the Lore Heaven

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episode. We've always been at the Realm maker's

1:02:05

bookstore but now our booth is getting ga

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fide. So if you're attending that writer's conference, stop by the bookstore,

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so many amazing creators there, but at the

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1:03:35

Alright. Let's talk about the legacy of left

1:03:37

behind the dramatic audio siri, I cannot say

1:03:40

it like your announcer. And by the way, there was an announcer in the middle, and

1:03:44

then the third announcer was Aqua aquaman. I

1:03:46

remember, he was Scott justice league Scott Rum. Yes. Yeah. I mean,

1:03:50

Aqua aquaman a Christian now. So thrilled to

1:03:52

have Scott help out. Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. And so Yeah a, a cool thing.

1:03:58

We had something we had something else going in the studio Rex Carol came in and

1:04:02

laid down the Guitar lake, and, you know,

1:04:05

early Christian Rocker would know that name. So...

1:04:08

And and then AAA phenomenal of a Trumpet player who is renowned

1:04:12

in the city, David Ge, John Gig had some roles.

1:04:18

He was on, Moody's staff, and he had a few roles

1:04:22

in the drama, but we got his, his

1:04:24

brother to come in and play Trumpet on our theme, which we custom recorded, Steve

1:04:29

of course wrote that. We even had Erwin

1:04:32

Lu, pastor of Moody Church, do the recording

1:04:35

that was left behind, and

1:04:39

you know, okay. Cool. I I gave him

1:04:41

a script for that, and he said, so

1:04:44

what is this? And I said, well, this is the video tape that's left behind at

1:04:49

the church that is to be played out. Oh, I

1:04:53

see. So he took the script and he ran with it. He pasteur the He did

1:04:58

his own pastor it. Yeah. And it sounded

1:05:01

very pastor. It was phenomenal. So we finished

1:05:03

the first 12 episodes, and I saw I'm

1:05:06

a church Julie and I attended, Moody Church. We met

1:05:10

there. He's performed our wedding. And so,

1:05:13

I saw I'm a church on Sunday right after the first set of Cds came out,

1:05:17

and I... Faster. Remember that

1:05:20

tape you did, for our drama

1:05:22

here... Here's the final product. He said, this

1:05:25

this this is Lafayette High book 1. Yes. Oh, praise God. No. I don't have

1:05:30

to read it. It's even better than an audio block. You've

1:05:35

got Yeah. Got it hold. Drama, and then you all go from book 1

1:05:40

all the way through to book 12, which

1:05:43

released, I guess, 20 o 5, because by

1:05:45

then, y'all were having to go faster and faster. And I think pump out 2 of

1:05:49

the pajamas per year instead of 1, I still remember your email, Todd, you're, sending

1:05:54

out to fans or you said faster, faster

1:05:56

you fool. Yeah. It's just feeling that pressure. But book

1:06:00

12 comes out. Those final, 12 episodes adapted

1:06:03

by the way, by Derby Ke, who's been on, this show before and We're gonna have

1:06:07

him back to, right after you. Yep. Jesus comes back in the book in in

1:06:12

20 o 4. So Lia know, They say

1:06:15

no 1 knows the day or hour, but I do. It was in March of 2004.

1:06:18

He comes back, and there's a lot of unique challenges now with adapting that. And I

1:06:22

just wanna hear some about that before we then catch up to where you are now,

1:06:25

and then they'll send you on your way, but what's it like then adapting?

1:06:28

Now, the glorious appearing, the the real final

1:06:31

final second coming of of Jesus Christ. Well,

1:06:34

this is you're you're very good cog

1:06:38

recognizing the dangerous territory that 1 wander into when 1 tries

1:06:42

to po on what the glorious

1:06:46

appearing would actually sound like. And so we

1:06:50

tried to put fences around it and just say, this

1:06:54

is 1 creation of a

1:06:58

possible scenario. This is an imagining. This is

1:07:02

we are not making theological statements. We're not

1:07:05

es experts. We are not po

1:07:09

on how we think it's going to be. This is just our

1:07:13

interpretation. And for the most part, we didn't get any blow bag, it's basically

1:07:17

designed to peak the imagination our What would

1:07:20

it be like? What would that feel like? And mostly,

1:07:24

mostly, what we wanted was the emo content

1:07:27

again right back to episode 1. How does this make you feel?

1:07:30

Then, episode 01:44. How does this make you feel?

1:07:34

What happened was the actors, some of whom as I said, we had

1:07:37

to fly in from La. Because they had moved on in their careers,

1:07:42

Chris and Amanda, Chloe and Buck,

1:07:45

predominantly, there was a real joy

1:07:48

at the reunion of the actors,

1:07:53

which dovetail tailed perfectly

1:07:56

with this reunion in episode 01:44.

1:07:59

So that was the primary thing. We didn't wanna

1:08:02

say, well, it's probably gonna happen like this. And then this mountain gonna split open. And

1:08:08

this is what the pit looks like and sounds like. We basically wanna join it.

1:08:13

As the underpinning of the closing episodes. Y'all got it because

1:08:18

I'm thinking now about the sounds scape the

1:08:21

actors of that reunion scene in 144.

1:08:23

So spoilers. There's a little bit more reunion

1:08:26

between characters who have passed on, you know,

1:08:29

Jerry Jenkins found them dead. As he was

1:08:31

a pants of the character growth of the

1:08:33

series, but they all come back at the

1:08:35

end when Jesus comes back because, you know,

1:08:37

you you have a resurrection And then suddenly,

1:08:40

you, Ken r is there. Bruce Barnes is there. Both of Ray wives are there, and

1:08:44

and it's a little awkward, but everybody is

1:08:46

just gonna... Have to work around those things

1:08:48

for the millennial kingdom, and and it works. I remember, I mean,

1:08:53

I I liked to the book. But I remember Todd just listening to the drama, and,

1:08:56

yes, it awakened that sense of longing for

1:08:59

the return of Christ. However you believe that's

1:09:01

gonna happen. Pre amid post millennium, no millennium, you know,

1:09:05

pre, whatever, all orthodox christians believe that he is coming

1:09:09

back and every eye I will see him, and it might

1:09:12

might be a little something like those last 12 episodes of the left

1:09:17

behind audio drama, and then it's on into

1:09:19

eternity when we'll have a lot of our questions

1:09:22

answered, and I think Todd, though, a production

1:09:24

like this will have a place in the kingdom.

1:09:28

For the faithfulness that you all had, and the creative excellence that you all clearly were

1:09:33

pursuing, with the guard rails and everything, but wanting

1:09:37

to illustrate something that many Christians have long

1:09:40

for throughout the centuries. And so just as a

1:09:43

as a fan as a stand, whatever, for

1:09:45

now going on 20 years, something 25 actually,

1:09:48

I just say, bravo, I know you got more stuff sensitive

1:09:51

then. I'll hear about that in a moment, but I just wanted to thank you for

1:09:54

that. Well, I appreciate that, Steven, and and it

1:09:57

was my design from the start yet to

1:10:00

do drama with the leash off. But it

1:10:03

was also my design and my challenge to

1:10:06

the guy is doing the cast, doing the writing the script, that the gospel

1:10:10

was clear, at least once in every book

1:10:13

when this stuff came out. At the time, audible

1:10:16

I mean, back in the day, Audible was

1:10:18

mono, 9 k sampling. Right? So that was... Yeah.

1:10:24

That wasn't gonna work for me. So I needed some other way to distribute it. So

1:10:28

I went to work and I created a site called ear flick dot com.

1:10:33

And distributed it that way. And that was

1:10:37

pretty labor intensive. And so we have since

1:10:41

owned a away to use a, a middleman if you will, that distributes. So

1:10:46

this series is available on

1:10:48

itunes, Apple books spotify now apparently. And I'm getting all these

1:10:54

emails saying, hey. How come the leader episodes aren't on Spotify.

1:10:57

And even know the earlier whoever's were runs Spotify. But, okay. Yeah. The first 48. And

1:11:02

but this is the only way to listen. See the Cds there. Outside Y'all change the

1:11:06

art after but cd. What's that? Yeah. The

1:11:08

Cd compact disc, 4 inches. It is available

1:11:12

and people are still funny. And that I

1:11:14

find so satisfying because again, the gospel isn't in it. And

1:11:19

if even if they don't listen to

1:11:22

you know, Vernon Billings, AKA,

1:11:25

Erwin Lu, explain why

1:11:29

people are watching that video tape? And what has happened? And how to rectify that situation,

1:11:33

which is absolutely clear. They're all... They're being challenged to think about

1:11:37

this scenario and that in and of itself

1:11:40

and is a provocative nudge.

1:11:43

If you will, in and each 1 of the books we have something built in that's

1:11:48

designed to move towards a clear gospel presentation

1:11:51

if not, a provocative nudge to think about

1:11:55

end times issues. And so that's... You know, the fact

1:11:58

that we're talking about this 25 years later is very gratifying,

1:12:01

but I'm also really pleased that these titles are still out

1:12:05

there, they're generating interest people are finding them through library systems. They're finding them through Spotify,

1:12:10

I'm not trying to sell them anymore. Oddly, they are selling like crazy, and

1:12:16

I'm g. You know, I wish that was the case

1:12:19

with the rising because that I could have done more. The other thing in the 25

1:12:23

year rearview view mirror that might need clearing

1:12:26

up is as we wouldn't couldn't necessarily to

1:12:29

the same cast. Quite a few people. In

1:12:32

fact, our tune ben slash triple ball club

1:12:35

announcer no longer with us. Oh,

1:12:39

flow has passed, Of course, a good number

1:12:42

of the folks I'm looking at the glorious

1:12:44

appearing cast list right now. It would be difficult.

1:12:48

Some of those folks are no longer with it. So there was a time and a

1:12:52

place and the hundred episode and the a

1:12:55

hundred 40 fourth episode and the glory appearing

1:12:57

where we flew a lot of people back in to be a part of those episodes,

1:13:01

and that was a good bow on, A And then the rising, we went a different

1:13:04

direction in terms of the casting, but we had some of the regulars back in. Darby

1:13:08

Ke is actually featured in the rising as

1:13:10

well. In a in a scene. So

1:13:13

we're just really blessed that God gave us the opportunity to run this series. Well, besides

1:13:17

the, you know, the clear gospel presentation for listeners that may not know the

1:13:20

lord yet. 1 thing I really appreciate listening

1:13:23

to this is all of the situations that Ray or

1:13:27

a buck or even chloe were in where

1:13:30

they were surrounded by people that didn't share their faith. And they're trying to articulate

1:13:35

what they believe are just sort of navigate these awkward

1:13:39

social or professional situations like we're

1:13:42

On the plane and in in the tribulation force and everyone's listening

1:13:47

to the broadcast from s Judah,

1:13:50

and everyone's kinda laughing at it. And and

1:13:53

he's that he's been out is a Christian. So

1:13:55

they're like, oh, you really think all this stuff is true.

1:13:58

And then, you know Bak he's in the

1:14:00

the newsroom? And same kind of thing like, you know,

1:14:03

why why are you following all these crazy

1:14:05

religious stories? Like that this is all just

1:14:08

bunk. And so they're they're both trying to give,

1:14:12

an answer for their faith while, while trying to stay employed, but but trying

1:14:16

to stay faithful to the Lord. And it just really struck me as I

1:14:20

was listening to that this week, Todd, that, you know, I'm reading a book now It's

1:14:23

life in the negative world by Aaron Ren

1:14:26

And so I've been thinking a lot about how how much the world has changed in

1:14:29

the last 25 years and yet, this is

1:14:32

imagining a much more negative world in the

1:14:35

future. Where believers are

1:14:37

locked up, where they are gui, You know,

1:14:40

in later books, where they absolutely

1:14:43

pushed to the edges and yet, and and they're very young in

1:14:46

their faith having to navigate this. And I

1:14:49

think that's why I originally love this book because I I first read these books. As

1:14:53

missionary in a closed country, where I was people

1:14:57

who had no other Christian friends, no Christian

1:15:00

family members we're trying to put together these, like, sell

1:15:03

groups like they're doing in the book, just very small pockets of believers. Yeah. Yep. And

1:15:09

it just really spoke to me in that moment, and it really speaks to me now

1:15:13

when we're, as as Christians were facing very

1:15:16

different kinds of pressures than we ever had

1:15:18

speaks And I think that's why this book

1:15:21

continues to encourage me because as a christian,

1:15:23

we can see that God will bring us

1:15:25

in fellowship with others. He will give us the words to say

1:15:29

he will give us the courage that we need, and we we can get through it.

1:15:34

Yeah. Man. Pretty I like well said. Well, Todd,

1:15:38

you've got to place at to go, and you also... I saw in my background research

1:15:42

to narrated the end. Higher new living translation

1:15:45

of the bible. So if you fa listener

1:15:48

enjoyed, the tones of Todd dean's voice. You can

1:15:51

get that to narrative reading the entire bible.

1:15:54

We'll put those links in our show notes. But Todd, as you head out, back on

1:15:57

your bike. I mean, what else are you doing? How can folks keep up with your

1:16:01

work? I, I'd sell us some stuff I'm

1:16:03

very willing to buy right now. I'm just

1:16:06

really thrilled that the the series is showing

1:16:08

up on the various outlets, a wonderful little side hustle that developed.

1:16:14

1 of the guys who I'm looking at again on the glory appearing cast list who

1:16:19

came in who was early on, gentleman by the name of Dave Gap as

1:16:22

he walked into the studio 1 day for a session, and he was wearing

1:16:26

the the jacket, of a women's triathlon series, and I said,

1:16:31

well Dave, I'm pretty sure you didn't participate in they said, no. I'm the announcer. And

1:16:34

I said, oh, too early interesting. Yeah. And

1:16:38

He and and that turned into, for the

1:16:41

last 20 years, I've had a nice

1:16:44

opportunity to announce sporting events. And so the Chicago triathlon on the Milwaukee

1:16:49

Marathon, the Detroit Marathon, I'm leaving it a

1:16:52

couple days to do bike race announcing,

1:16:55

and it's been a great opportunity to get out.

1:16:59

And, you know, you can

1:17:01

kind of, pigeon hole.

1:17:04

If all you do is go to the studio, and you work with ministries,

1:17:09

and you're surrounded by Christian, you can lose

1:17:12

touch, And so, the know, allows me to

1:17:15

get out and, interact with people, create great friendships,

1:17:19

put on great events, take the same quality

1:17:21

commitment that I have in my production and bring it to the productions that are live,

1:17:26

and that's kinda fun. We've also

1:17:29

really, I'd love I mean, you know, Paul C writing just

1:17:34

hang on. I'm gonna have to tighten down my Seatbelt belt because he does such creative

1:17:38

things. And we've just finished a, 5 hour

1:17:41

production on the life of Joan of Arc, with Paul that he wrote, and we did

1:17:47

the production on that. Spent 2 weeks in London recording.

1:17:50

And the young lady who did the lead on that just.

1:17:53

Absolutely nailed it. And so still

1:17:56

excited to do drama, still looking at possibilities also working with an

1:18:01

organization called River Cross that's using storytelling,

1:18:04

to help kids that are trafficked in Africa,

1:18:07

and so we tell, the story from the African perspective, We go

1:18:11

to London and have Africans. Do our voices

1:18:14

there. And then we take them into villages with

1:18:17

battery powered and solar powered players and we

1:18:19

get small groups together and play them, and then we just ask the question, do So

1:18:23

what do you I think in the only story? And

1:18:26

through that, we start cracking open some of

1:18:28

these secrets. And oh, kids. Head to freedom. So, again, this power of

1:18:33

storytelling there. That's a... It's

1:18:35

sobering, but rewarding project, as well to be helping

1:18:39

out River cross with air drama production. Todd

1:18:42

gap digital dot com is still running after

1:18:45

all of these years, Are there any other links that anyone needs to go to to

1:18:49

learn more about your work and to that's an analog

1:18:52

site. So you can't actually get to it from a computer. You have to get to

1:18:55

it from a fax machine. I unless that

1:18:57

Unless we updated it to your digital. Maybe we did. Yeah. Okay.

1:19:01

Exactly. I up the modem. I up the.

1:19:03

It's the nineties. Again, it's a Buck Williams

1:19:05

connected to the ground and the For full line. On the back of the

1:19:09

chair. Yeah. That, man. That sound takes me back. So, yeah.

1:19:12

Dot com. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gap digital com

1:19:15

todd dot com is is out there. On

1:19:17

the announcing side as well. But

1:19:20

most Just love people to spread the word

1:19:22

and drop a link for a friend who you think might enjoy the series or and

1:19:26

then start conversations and just say, would you think

1:19:29

of that? I found this drama series. It's,

1:19:31

you know, it's out there. Would you think of it? And see if

1:19:35

it doesn't allow conversations to take a turn that might not

1:19:39

otherwise, be standard for procedure, and, you know, somebody

1:19:42

who might be interested in that, and use it as a tool.

1:19:46

That would that would be super gratifying. God's

1:19:48

used it as a tool know, it's not

1:19:51

me. I'm just doing what I am called to do

1:19:56

graciously gifted to do through the resources that I have.

1:19:59

But now he can use this storytelling

1:20:02

as as a tool to start strategic conversations,

1:20:05

that would be phenomenal. Alright. Well, let's keep the conversation going and

1:20:09

look forward to sharing more about the left behind series as we explore left behind legacies.

1:20:13

So Todd thank you so much for stopping by. Gods speed to you and yours and

1:20:17

all your creative endeavors even after the tribulation.

1:20:20

My pleasure guys real real fun. Steven, I really like what Todd had to

1:20:28

say about good storytelling

1:20:31

shows us people changing. It's not just people doing things. It's how

1:20:36

doing those things changes them. So we would

1:20:39

love to know from you our listener, What are some of your favorite audio stories,

1:20:45

whether cinematic audio or audiobooks,

1:20:48

where you saw someone change Now, we've mentioned

1:20:51

adventures in Odyssey, I imagine a lot of our listeners are already fans of that. But

1:20:55

if you've listened to another cinematic audio story

1:20:58

and you'd love to tell us about that. Send us a note, podcast at laura haven

1:21:02

dot com. And if you have thoughts just

1:21:04

about this whole genre, we'd love to know that too. So send us a note, Find

1:21:08

us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and leave a comment there.

1:21:12

Next on fantastical truth, some Christians think that

1:21:15

in an end times rapture event

1:21:18

Young children would automatically go to heaven. But

1:21:21

what about the older kids? What about the

1:21:23

teen rebels who disobey their parents or won't

1:21:26

go to church? And reject Jesus.

1:21:29

The left behind the kids series explored the

1:21:32

exploits of the young tribulation force

1:21:35

This series also was adapted for its own

1:21:38

fantastic dramatic audio series by our next guest,

1:21:41

Darby Ke. Regardless of your age, whether you like the

1:21:45

grown up series better or the kids series

1:21:48

better, or maybe you've never Even read these

1:21:51

books, we appreciate you going on this particular

1:21:54

ride. We enjoy stories from many different

1:21:57

perspectives within Christianity, and we like to celebrate the people

1:22:02

who you may not even heard of who are faithfully making these stories

1:22:06

and joining us on this mission to continue