Teea Goans was singing in church by the time she was three years old
and when she turned eight she was spotted at a talent contest by the Truman Lake
Opry. A year later she became a full-fledged member. She continued to
perform there every week until she was 17 and opened for Grand Ole Opry
acts such as Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens and Grandpa Jones.
After high school, Goans earned her associate's degree at Longview Community College in Kansas City
and remained there after graduation. Teea Goans' primary musical
influence during those early years was her maternal grandmother - the
late Della Lee Faulkner. A locally popular singer in the 1960s, Faulkner
might have pursued a career in Nashville but had to take care of seven
children.
An incident is related to William Duncan, the "Apostle of Alaska":
One day soon after Mr. Duncan had arrived among the Indians there, a fine-looking old Indian chief, Neyashtodoh, one of the chiefs of the Kitlahns, who had three sons, called upon him. "I have heard that you have come here with the letter of God. Is that so? Have you the letter of God with you?" asked the chief. "I have," said Mr. Duncan. "Would you mind showing it to me?" asked the chief. "Certainly." Mr. Duncan placed a large Bible on the table. "This is God's Book." The Indian caressed it reverently. "Is God's letter for the Tsimsheans?" "Certainly. God sent this Book to your people, as well as to mine." "Does that Book give God's 'heart' to us?" "It does." "And are you going to tell the Indians that?" "I am." "It is good--it is good, chief," was the answer of Neyashtodoh.
Phillip Roger Vischer (born June 16, 1966) is an American animator, puppeteer, writer, voice actor and songwriter known for creating the computer-animated video series VeggieTales alongside Mike Nawrocki. He provides the voice of Bob the Tomato in the series. He was born June 16, 1966 in Muscatine, Iowa and grew-up in Chicago, Illinois and attended St. Paul Bible College.
Vischer founded GRAFx Studios 1989, after buying animation software,
in order to produce animated commercials and logos. That same year he
animated and directed Mr. Cuke's Screen Test featuring Larry the Cucumber. In 1993, he teamed up with Mike Nawrocki, whom he had met earlier while working in a puppet club, and started Big Idea Productions (now Big Idea Entertainment) to create VeggieTales.
From 1993 to 2002, Vischer led the company as lead director and writer. In 2003 (after the release of Jonah) Big Idea went bankrupt, and Vischer sold the company to Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) and left the company.
In 2005 he started Jellyfish Labs, a new creative workshop where he produces faith-based projects. In 2007 Vischer expanded the company by launching JellyTelly. Starting in 2010, Vischer produced What's In The Bible,
a direct-to-DVD video series using puppetry and animation to present
biblical material using a news-broadcast format and puppet characters.
Vischer still works on VeggieTales as a scriptwriter and voice actor, as well as serving as Big Idea's president under a contract by DreamWorks Classics. He currently lives in Wheaton, Illinois with his wife Lisa and two daughters, Sydney and Shelby, and his son, Jeremy. Vischer has hosted a weekly podcast discussing life in a post-Christian America since 2012. The podcast, co-hosted by Christianity Today editor Skye Jethani and actress Christian Taylor,ranks in the top 100 podcasts regularly.
Timothy Botts is a noted calligrapher and illustrator. He has published several books containing calligraphic inscriptions of biblical passages. He has taught seminars at such places as Regent College and College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.
Botts is noted for the great diversity of hands (a technical term for different styles or fonts of calligraphy) he has mastered. For example, the cover of his book Doorposts
has the title displayed with each letter in a different hand, giving a
demonstration of nine different hands just on the cover. He has a
preference for illustrating biblical quotations as decorative and
inspirational pieces and has published several books of such works.
However, he has done other projects, for example, a poster for a
business group promoting quality and productivity, doing each quote in a
different hand.
