Who are the teachers that shaped you the most in life?

On this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with educator Breanna Churchill. Breanna shares her journey from teaching preschoolers to becoming an award-winning children’s author to launching the Brown Bear Book Club, explores practical ways families can disciple their kids at home, and offers advice for people who are interested in becoming teachers.

• [00:07:54] How playful teaching fuels spiritual growth and purpose in raising Christian kids
• [00:10:22] What Breanna’s classroom revealed about God’s patience, creativity, and faith woven through every subject
• [00:13:19] The story behind Brown Bear Book Club
• [00:16:51] Inspiration and practical strategies for parents (and kids) to reconnect with God and nurture faith at home

Resources:

• brownbearbookclub.com
• Recommended Episodes:
  
  • Episode 156 - Jason Raitz
  • Episode 181 - Ryan George
  • Episode 193 - Hayley Arceneaux (astronaut)
  • Episode 213 - Rousseaux Brasseur (The Quester)
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

Clip Finder:

From Stage to Classroom: "I thought I was going to be an actress and singing, but teaching, I felt like teaching was the perfect place to be creative and teach young children."

— Breanna Churchill [00:06:28 → 00:06:38]

Viral Topic: Preventing Burnout in Parents and Teachers: "it's hard for us to be ready to teach our kids or our students if we're coming from an empty, burnt out and overwhelmed place."

— Breanna Churchill [00:15:46 → 00:15:54]

Morning Routines: "One of the things I do is start my day with God. I start my day with Him. And so it's prayer, it's worship, turning on music, sometimes not turning on music, sometimes it's just singing naturally, journaling, writing things down and just being honest and real with God."

— Breanna Churchill [00:16:51 → 00:17:09]

"Nobody feels totally equipped. I mean, even Moses, everybody's like, what, God? You want me to do what?"

— Breanna Churchill [00:19:45 → 00:19:51]

Viral Topic: The Importance of Experience for Aspiring Teachers: "I highly recommend that teachers, anybody thinking about being a teacher get experience. Experience working with children."

— Breanna Churchill [00:20:25 → 00:20:32]

"One thing I love about God is that he is so patient. I think God is so patient with us. But then I also realized God is so creative. Each child he created so uniquely, and they learn differently and they grasp concepts differently."

— Breanna Churchill [00:10:45 → 00:10:57]

How The Brown Bear Book Club Began: "I realized I wanted to take the things that I learned in the classroom, and I'm like, I still want to share this with the world. And so that's how the Bro

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

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What if the power and hope of Easter could transform your family’s faith and purpose, uniting you around the message of Jesus’ resurrection?

On this special Easter episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark welcomes Dr. Esau McCaulley—pastor, professor, and author of “God’s Colorful Kingdom” and “God’s Colorful Easter.” Dive into a dynamic conversation about Christian parenting, raising Christian kids, and how to cultivate joy, discipleship, and spiritual growth through family time and the diverse beauty of God’s story.

• [00:03:32] Esau McCaulley’s journey as a pastor, professor, dad
• [00:06:52] Why writing for kids matters
• [00:08:03] Diversity in God’s colorful kingdom
• [00:10:09] The meaning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and why the hope of the resurrection is the heartbeat of discipleship at home

Resources:

• esaumccaulley.com
• Books: God’s Colorful Easter & God's Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

Clip Finder:

Viral Topic: How COVID Changed My Writing Journey: "Normally I write, like, you know, academic books, but during COVID it was so stressful, and there's. We had kids at home and all of these other things, and I really didn't feel in the mood to write a Big technical, academic book."

— Esau McCaulley [00:06:56 → 00:07:10]

The Meaning of Maundy Thursday and the Love Command: "So on Thursday, we remember the love command, the command that we have to love one another."

— Esau McCaulley [00:11:03 → 00:11:07]

Living With Hope Amid Sadness: "We live in a world that is sad and broken, and we sometimes feel the weight of that sadness, but we never weep as those who without hope, because we trust in the Savior who has come to rescue us."

— Esau McCaulley [00:12:32 → 00:12:42]

Viral Gospel Connections: "So when God, when Mark was written, Mark was saying, hey, if you don't believe this version of the story, go ask Rufus and Alexander. They're in the church."

— Esau McCaulley [00:18:45 → 00:18:54]

Viral Topic: Surprising Clues About Simon of Cyrene's Family Background: "Yeah, Simon, Rufus and Alexander are Greek names, right? So that probably means that Simon at some point became a Roman citizen and he gave his kids names that were Greek. It probably also means that maybe Simon's wife would have been a Gentile, and that Simon, who's married to a Gentile woman, eventually."

— Esau McCaulley [00:19:13 → 00:19:36]

Viral Topic: The Mysterious Journey of Simon of Cyrene

"It's possible that Simon of Cyrene, who's from Northern Africa, who comes to Jerusalem, who is Jewish, who gets converted to Christianity, possibly to a Gentile woman, then has two Gentile sons who become Christians, who are all in the early church."

— Esau McCaulley [00:19:50 → 00:20:07]

Viral Topic: The Universal Message of the Cross

"It's not just the diversity of what the story of Easter contains. It's what it does. Like on the cross, right? It says in three languages, the King of the Jews, right? And all of the gospel writers make a point of saying it's in three languages. So no matter where you're from, you can see on the cross."

— Esau McCaulley [00:21:03 → 00:21:23]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

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What if creativity isn’t really about talent, at all?

On this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with Brennan McPherson—writer, game developer, and lead producer of the Light of the World animated film. Listen in as Brennan shares his inspiring journey from aspiring rock star to leading a ministry focused on bringing the story of Jesus to kids and families through powerful hand-drawn animation. Discover fresh insights into being a professional artist and why creativity is less about talent than we might think.

• [00:06:12] Brennan’s path from being a professional drummer to leading a media production ministry
• [00:10:09] The heart and vision behind the Light of the World film
• [00:12:10] What it means to be a creative producer
• [00:15:02] Brennan’s real talk about professional creativity and perseverance

Resources:

• Animated Jesus film: www.lightoftheworld.com
• Brennan’s Website: brennanmcpherson.com
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

Clip Finder:

Viral Topic: Transforming Nonprofit Media

"I came into the position of being the president of the organization and decided that we were going to take the nonprofit in a new direction and craft it into a full-blown media company crafting entertainment that makes the gospel simple to understand and impossible to forget."

— Brennan McPherson [00:06:38 → 00:06:53]

Viral Topic: "Why Isn’t There a Great Animated Jesus Movie?": "There's no good animated feature film on the life of Jesus. I couldn't even hardly believe it. For like a couple of years, I was like, are you sure? There's no— I mean, I kept like checking, trying to find if there was one that was, you know, there's a couple that are like really, really, really low budget that no one's ever seen."

— Brennan McPherson [00:10:11 → 00:10:25]

Viral Topic Title: "Reimagining the Disciples as Teenagers"

Quote: "We realized with the research that most of the disciples were likely teenagers. Peter was in his 20s, you know, but he was one of the oldest. So they weren't these old bearded guys that you see in all the representations."

— Brennan McPherson [00:11:16 → 00:11:27]

What Does a Producer Really Do?: "a producer's job is to solve problems before they derail the whole thing and collapse the film. Because if a film— it's like you're starting a business with hundreds of people you've never worked with before."

— Brennan McPherson [00:12:46 → 00:12:56]

The Secret to Creative Success

Quote: "my advice to anyone who wants to be creative is find the thing that you love doing. And then approach it in a systematic way."

— Brennan McPherson [00:17:57 → 00:18:05]

Success at Movie Guide Awards: "We just won Best Children's Film at the Movie Guide Awards and beat out King of Kings from Angel Studios and Zootopia 2 from Disney for that award, and so we're very, very proud of it, but really for us, this film is a long-term ministry initiative."

— Brennan McPherson [00:21:48 → 00:22:06]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

Support the show