This transcript recounts Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef Episode 252: How 20 Minutes Can Impact Your Child’s Spirituality: Tyler Van Halteren (Reprise)
[Jonathan]: Tyler, thank you so much for taking the time to be onCandid Conversations.
[02:28] TYLER: Yeah, thanks, Jonathan. It’s a joy to be here.
[02:31] JONATHAN: Well, tell us a little bit about your background, upbringing, and then we’ll transition into how you got into writing and producing kids’ literature.
[02:43] TYLER: By God’s grace, I came from a Christian home. But one of the most significant moments, and I guess most relevant moments to this interview, was when I was beginning to explore the faith more seriously, not just walking in my parents’ shoes but actually considering the weight of eternity, heaven, hell, my own faith, my own walk with God, and in that time I found an old 1975 version of Pilgrim’s Progress, paperback, 95 cents, that was given to my dad when he was about that age, about 15, and it just sat on the shelf. So I picked it up, read it, and that’s the first memory that I have of understanding the Christian life and wanting to follow Christ. That’s the first book I remember reading in that season.
So that led, by God’s grace, to a hunger for His Word, for sharing His Word, and then through various camps I had a great experience in high school. Our Christian high school was connected to a children’s camp. And so I was able to teach there and saw a measure of gifting, a desire to teach, and then went on to Master’s Seminary and then to youth pastor Cambodia. In the midst of all that, had some kids along the way and then started brewing some of these book ideas.
[04:07] JONATHAN: Tell me … You just sort of lobbed Cambodia into that history. Tell us a little bit about that.
[04:18] TYLER: Yeah, for about 10 years before that, my goal and desire and prayer was to go into missions. And so we set the course for that through seminary, and then even as I joined my church there was a sense of telling them we’re going to be here five years and then we want to be sent out to the mission field. So we went. The goal was to teach the Bible at a Bible school there to college students. Had some other cool opportunities, like with some friends had started children’s programs, so I’d go to villages and there would be 30 kids that would just show up, 30 or 40 Buddhist kids would just come. And they listened to some English teaching, some Bible teaching, and just really neat.
But in the midst of all that, COVID happened and that shut a lot of missions down. But thankfully I was able to finish the Little Pilgrims book during that time. And then also during that time, I started having some significant health issues and that sort of ended up—a variety of numbness and extreme fatigue that kind of landed us back in Canada, but trusting God’s providence in all that and encouraged now to see there are some of our books being translated into already in Spanish, but some being considered for the Cambodian language, Khmer language. So there is French, Vietnamese, so encouraged to see how God’s continuing that missionary desire through these books.
[05:44] JONATHAN: Unbelievable. Okay, so you’ve shared with us that it was Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress that set you on a particular path. I’m assuming that’s the connection to wanting to retell it through a child’s perspective. Tell us a little bit about how those pieces came together.
[06:08] TYLER: Yeah, it was a neat few things that came together. So I’ve always had an entrepreneurial bent, always a desire for that. Buying and selling, doing different things. Little businesses on the side. And that gave a skill set that when my son was about three or four I started looking for, oh, is there a good children’s version ofPilgrim’s Progress? And at the time when I looked around, the only version was a 1985 one,Dangerous Journey. I bought that, opened it, and it was the first time I’ve opened a book and my son has sort of screamed and cried in terror at the illustrations. The illustrations were so—
[06:53] JONATHAN: I have been there. Especially for a three- and four-year-old.
[07:00] TYLER: Yes, absolutely terrifying.
[07:01] JONATHAN: Here’s the Christian faith, my child.
[07:05] TYLER: Yeah, I saw that, and I thought, Okay, there’s got to be a way to do a better version, especially for younger kids.
[07:13] JONATHAN: I will say, I have seen one of the—I think it’s more for teenage readers, maybe, and it is very graphic. Apollyon the dragon is very scary and menacing. And you’re right, there’s a lot—I mean, that’s the way Bunyan wrote it, right? I mean, it is dramatic, very. But when you’re thinking about little ones, you’ve got to tone some of that down so they’re not actually terrified but wrestling with the core issues. And I feel like your book does that so well.
[07:46] TYLER: Yeah, that was a real delight and surprise. I was writing with my son, three or four years old, in mind. And we read it 20, 30 times together in the process of writing it, and that was all super fun as we got new illustrations and as we pieced things together to see his excitement and to see things, Gospel truths click for him in that journey.
But I’m coming into this somewhat naïve in a sense. I had no real understanding of the publishing industry and just had this goal. Write this as well as I can, with really great illustrations, for my four-year-old son. And then for whatever reason, the Lord’s taken that, and it seems to have hit that target with a lot of families who say similar things, that these truths are connecting in a special way.
[08:40] JONATHAN: Well, and let’s talk about that. So as a parent, it is hard to find really good—and I know it’s out there and I’ve got a lot of them. But there’s not a lot of really great Christian children’s books. It’s either for an age up, as we just talked about, or it’s kind of delves into more of a moralistic, you know, do this, behave this way, obedience—which are true things, but there are so many better, deeper truths that we need to expose our kids to. I think there’s a longing of parents—
I mean, I hear it from moms all the time, “Hey, if you can think of a kids’ book and write it, like go for it.” Because there’s a real need for that, especially at those young, really vulnerable ages, age category.
[09:44] TYLER: Yeah, and we’ve seen a growing hunger in people, and through our social media and connecting with different people that there is this real longing for those kind of resources, and that’s been an exciting part, too, seeing how much this has resonated with parents, this kind of idea. And there’s other publishers that are doing some really great, like probably in the last five years really there’s been almost a resurgence of good, solid books, Gospel-centered books. But before that it was pretty dismal, and that was about the time I started writing was when I was looking around and saying, “Okay, how do we get really good Gospel-centered books that hit the core of these issues for kids?”
And the fun part of that has been the allegory idea of Bunyan’s allegory and seeing how much that’s resonated with people.
[10:30] JONATHAN: So let’s talk about just the impact I mean, it’s obviously a tradition within … it’s been around forever, right? Either storytelling with your children before bed, or at a particular time, and just the impact that that has of, one, reading, just reading comprehension, storytelling, kids’ abilities to have an imagination and picture things. Have you done any kind of research into that I mean, even in your own life and seeing the way that it relates with your own children?
[11:09] TYLER: Yeah, that’s one of the cool things, I think, for a lot of families, the question of family discipleship, family devotions, those kind of things come up, and it’s challenging in our day and age. Generally, we’re pretty busy people and probably more busy than we need to be, so it’s hard to set aside a time. And sometimes it’s hard to get kids that aren’t wiggling during that time, or moving around, or asking, “Okay, when is it over? When is it over?”
[11:36] JONATHAN: You need to draw them in, right?
[11:38] TYLER: Yeah. So for my personal life it was bedtime. They kids knew, okay, we can read. It became part of the routine. And they are also glad because that time they’re winding down and they know they’re not going to bed yet, so they’re getting a little extension. And so that just became a very simple, practical tool for me. Hey, maybe I can’t do X, Y and Z with my kids, but 15 minutes before bed, that’s a pretty easy thing to do. And I’m seeing how that impacted my son was a real treat and a joy.
I’m thinking of our book, seeing Christian by the cross, his burden falling off, and him saying to me, “Yeah, God …” Or “Dad, that’s what God does. He removes our burden of sin.” I remember reading David Helms’ Big Picture Bible, and him seeing Jesus on the cross and saying, “I want to follow Jesus. I want to be saved from my sin. I want to know Jesus.”
[12:42] JONATHAN: That’s an iconic scene, isn’t it? Bunyan’s … I mean, even people who haven’t read the book are at least somewhat familiar with the scene of his burden falling off his back as he stands at the cross. It’s such a picturesque scene. You have talked about how he’s recognizing some of these things. What are the other things that are coming through the eye of the child as parents and grandparents are probably listening to this and thinking about we’re trying to help formulate in our children and what they’re getting from those 15 minutes before bed.
[13:23] TYLER: Yeah, I think a big one I’ve seen, and I’ve heard from a lot of families, is the reality of death and eternity. And I can’t think of many kids’ books that hit that on the nose.
[13:38] JONATHAN: Yeah, it’s not coming up with regularity, that’s for sure.
[13:40] TYLER: Yeah, yeah. So that’s not been dodged or snuck in. But reality is … Yeah, people die. Kids are wrestling with some of these hard truths. They have some of these hard questions and they want answers to them. And so having this, again, the beauty of allegory are these spiritual truths told through images. The River of Death, the idea of someone crossing the River of Death, the sorrow of that and yet the joy of that for believers who enter the king’s city, the celestial city.
I’ve heard some very, very sweet stories from people and gotten emails that have brought me to tears where someone’s reading this with their child. Their child is going through cancer and facing death, and that River of Death bringing such a comfort both to the child, the parents, siblings. And for us, when we were in Cambodia, my son would bring that up often. Because we’d left family behind and now we’re going on this journey, in a sense, and that’s all done in light of eternity. So these metaphors of the celestial city and living for the king’s kingdom and things like that were all very helpful.
And then one other story from Cambodia, which was seeing the surprise in Cambodian parents, and especially dads, that I would read to my kids for 15 minutes before bed. To me, it seemed like an obvious things. To them, it was very foreign, in literally true sense. But they were surprised. “You do that with your kids?”
And I said, “Oh, you don’t?”
[15:20] JONATHAN: Culture shock there.
[15:21] TYLER: Yeah, and they said, “No, no. They go to bed when they go to bed, and we’re not too involved with that.”
I said, “Oh, you should try it.” And some of them… one of the pastors could speak English, and I gave him some copies of the book. And he read it and I remember since we’ve left he messaged me saying, “We still do that every night. We still read to our daughter before bed. And we’ve gone through these books these many times and thank you for this.”
I just thought that was a neat way the Lord used that.
[15:53] JONATHAN: So you started with a Kickstarter fundraiser and you blew through your numbers on that. Tell us a little bit about that.
[16:02] TYLER: Yeah, so again this was all kind of a leap of faith and partly the way God’s wired me, willing to take a risk in that sense. So let people know this book was coming out and just kind of asked friends and family to share as widely as they could on social media and kind of leading towards this Kickstarter. So we launched, and then I was just absolutely shocked as it was within the first hour we far surpassed our initial goal. And just watching the numbers just sort of fly in was a shock and delight.
[16:43] JONATHAN: It looks like you got about 500 percent of your funding. So if you were wondering if that was a need for people, that certainly made its case.
[16:56] TYLER: Yes, it was awesome to see. Okay, we put all this work in and got it ready, and then, oh yes, this does resonate with other people. Other people are hungry for this kind of thing. And we’ve seen that tenfold since then.
[17:08] JONATHAN: You’ve talked about how Bunyan’s use of allegory helps bring forth great truths through imagery and picture. Parents are always trying to communicate the Gospel in a way for children at different ages and stages to understand. But sometimes we parents can sometimes if they don’t have theological degrees like you and I, they can be overwhelmed—though having a theological degree doesn’t necessarily help you in this category. It’s not like how to teach children is one of the classes we get.
But how do you take complex truths and break them down for children? This is one of the primary ways of doing that. But just for you as a dad of young ones, what are some of the other methodologies that you use for breaking that down for kids, big concepts that come, whether it’s through Scripture or spiritual conversation or whatever it is. What other methodology do you use in an effective way?
[18:21] TYLER: Yeah, yeah. A lot of at least homeschoolers talk about living books, like this idea of living books being an engaging way to teach ideas. And that’s for anything—science, et cetera—to children. And allegories present this idea of a living book, which means truth is coming through in a very natural sort of conversational way. And again, I feel like Bunyan is just the master of that. So what a privilege to follow in his footsteps and to—
[18:50] JONATHAN: And a good thing he was in prison, right?
[18:53] TYLER: He had a very vivid imagination, and the results of just certain scenes … And he had such a deep theology and understanding of God’s Word. So I love in Part 2, which is less known (his original Part 2) there’s a scene where they’re walking by the cross with Great-heart, and it just goes into four or five pages on pretty technical like substitutionary atonement. But he does it in a way that’s so helpful and clear, and so I loved when I was going through Part 2 to take a piece of that and just simplify it. They just go at the cross and it’s a very clear explanation of what it means that the King’s Son died in our place. He took our sin. He gave us his righteousness.
And then that, combined with different images of Christian’s filthy clothes are removed, his burden is removed. So things like that I found super helpful. And then another big piece is that kids, especially in this generation, are visual, becoming increasingly more visual learners, so that’s our big slogan, Biblically Faithful, Beautifully Crafted. And the idea is to have these really vivid, beautiful illustrations that draw kids in.
[20:19] JONATHAN: But they aren’t too graphic.
[20:20] TYLER: Yes, yes. That are age appropriate. And then also to have text that’s sort of clear, deep but simple and not overwhelming, and to pair that up well. We visited a friend’s house, and they had their range of kids from two to seven, and they had all the books out. They said, “We swear we’re not just…”
[20:44] JONATHAN: Not for you.
[20:45] TYLER: “… because you’re here.”
[20:48] JONATHAN: It’s normally like this. Well, you’d find that at our house, too. We’ve got both book 1 and 2 wide open on some page.
[20:55] TYLER: That’s awesome. And I will see them, just the kids were flipping through the pictures. Like they couldn’t read yet, but—
[21:03] JONATHAN: But they can remember the story associated with the picture, yeah.
[21:08] TYLER: And they just loved flipping through it and looking. And they stare at all the details. And so I think that’s another aspect that I found very helpful is just these vivid images in books.
[21:18] JONATHAN: Apart from story time with your kids, are there rhythms or patterns or activities that you try and work in to family time that you’ve found successful at your home?
[21:34] TYLER: Yeah, I wish I could have more to say. The story book has sort of been my big main one. The other was—
[21:42] JONATHAN: And your big emphasis for sure.
[21:44] TYLER: But the other has been sort of the Deuteronomy type of while you are going, while you are walking by the way to instruct your kids in these things. So where he’s just saying, “Write it on your doorstops. Write it on …” Like everywhere you’re going, just have these moments. So where kids are inquisitive, kids ask. It’s a crazy amount of questions per day, I think when you actually … when you’ve done studies of that, I’m sure.
But if you’re feeding them these biblical things, then they’re going to have questions about biblical things that come up naturally. Which was another little piece. I mean, like maybe my dad [unintelligible] or something. We’d always have at nighttime, it would be like, “Oh, you can watch a show, but it’s going to be a Bible show.”
I know different families have different rhythms and some don’t like shows and some like shows. But first it was an easy switch to just say, “You want to watchPaw Patrol. Instead, let’s watch something else.” And a lot of those ended up being moralistic, as we kind of said. But at least it’s touching on biblical things.
[22:51] JONATHAN: Well, and you’re able to elaborate from that and helpfully redirect them towards a cross-centric faith instead of a duty sort of centrism.
[23:07] TYLER: Yeah, definitely. And so those have led to a neat where they’re just thinking about things and things are resonating. And so my grandma had died last year, and my son said, “Can we call her?” Like after she died. “Can we video call her because I want to see God? Because she’s with God.” And so I was like, oh, that’s such an interesting …
[23:33] JONATHAN: He’s got a deep truth with some confusion.
[23:38] TYLER: “She’s in the presence of God, why wouldn’t she have her cell phone? We used to call her. Now can’t we call her now?” So then you just have these neat opportunities when you’re just there. There’s the input, intentional biblical input, and then they’re going to be inquisitive, asking questions through the day as we experience … “Why does this family do that? Why does my friend have a mom but no dad around?” Or “Why does this cousin not believe in Jesus?” and things like that.
[24:12] JONATHAN: Yeah. Having kids keeps you on your toes. And if you’re a believing family, then there’s a lot of questions that I think even the greatest of us could stumble over and so you really need to be filling your own mind with helpful resources. You need to be in the Word and seeking to grow in understanding and knowledge and faith and bearing that fruit of the Spirit. There’s, you know, as we kind of laughed about, I mean, kids ask a ridiculous amount of questions. And there’s times where I think sometimes I’m like, “I’m done. Done answering your questions. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
And that’s typical selfish mentality of this is about me and not you. But you know, you kind of flip the script a little bit and start thinking, Okay, this could be a really great opportunity for them. And in all their questions there’s usually something under
