Hey everyone! I’m David Carl. I am a children’s pastor with a desire to introduce kids and their parents to just how much God loves His children. I have met a lot of folks who try to obey God but do not love Him or believe that He loves them. This is a disaster in the making. Christianity is fundamentally about a loving relationship between God and His children, those who love and obey Him. Paws & Tales exists to invite kids and their parents into this kind of loving relationship with God. We use adventure, humor, and music to delightfully tell stories that welcome the listener to engage with God’s plans as well as resist and even fight the things that would distract or derail us from those plans. Paws & Tales is a whole lot of fun – but it is a whole lot more than just fun.
~ David Carl, Creator of Paws & Tales
Wildwood
Wildwood is a port town encircled by a range of mighty mountains called “Wild Mountain Range.” The time period is 1910-ish. Technology is simple and adventures are to be found in every direction. All of the “people” in Wildwood are animals. Bears, beavers, moose and weasels to name a few. “The Club” consists of five third-graders who simply cannot agree on a name for this club, so it continues to be called simply “The Club.” Official membership includes C.J., Staci, Ned, Marsha, and Gooz. Paw Paw Chuck is a grizzly who is the main mentor/grandfather of the town but especially the members of “The Club.” He is gigantic, wise, and a lot of fun. The kids love to go to him with their troubles and when they need anything fixed.
PAWs & tales mission statement
“Once you can accept that God is just crazy about you, everything in life becomes an invitation to sorta’ lay in the grass with God and look for bugs together.” Paw Paw Chuck
Some things in life can be learned and understood by rote memory. Some deeper abstract ideas require more. More fun, more laughter, and more stories. The bigger and more important a thing is the more we need to use our imagination to soak it in. Jesus taught this way because we are built to learn this way. One of these things is the ability to understand, accept and experience that God is just crazy in love with His children. What if you could imagine God’s love for you personally in such a way so that you could grow to live like it’s true? It would change everything. It’s difficult for some of us to un-learn things like “God is pretty disappointed in me,” but it can be done. Much easier than re-learning – is simply to learn up front, while we are kids, a very deep truth like “God really loves me.” When most kids hear this early and repeatedly, they typically respond “Oh – okay. I love Him too,” and the growth, intimacy, and “looking for bugs with God” can begin. Paws & Tales carefully uses story, fun, and adventure to tell kids and parents many wonderful things about God, but one of the most important is that God really loves His children. So, join us as we work to invite kids and their parents into a delightful, imaginative world where God is good, friends are near, and adults work together so kids can find it easy to imagine God’s love.
Imagine God’s Love
Engaging our imagination is a powerful way to alter our hearts and minds. Few things ignite our imaginations like the arts of story and music. Paws & Tales artfully uses these to take kids and their parents to Wildwood where we experience adventure, mystery and lots of laughter. With all of that going on you might not notice all of the biblical truth coming through. One of these truths that kids and adults need most is the realization that God is just crazy for us. If we cannot receive this truth much of what God has in mind for us is out of reach. So when in Wildwood we love to imagine, hear and experience how much God loves us. A truth this deep is best transported by some specialized and heavy equipment – like imagination. Paws & Tales is committed to sharing the joys of family, all the fun good friends can have together, and participating in the spiritual battle that rages all around us.
