Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer shared his insight on business struggles, relationship with God and how to deal with failed dreams when he spoke Tuesday morning at the 2012 Tennessee Prayer Breakfast in Allen Arena.
Phil Vischer, creator of Big Idea Productions and Veggie Tales, was the featured speaker at the event, which annually serves as an opportunity for citizens and officials to pray for Tennessee’s leaders and residents. This was the second consecutive year that Lipscomb has hosted the event.
Vischer spoke about the downfall of Big Idea Productions, which filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and what it taught him about life and his relationship with God.
Vischer said he thinks the company went down due, in part, to his emphasis on huge goals and ideas that weren’t in line with God’s plans.
Vischer said God told Him that he needed to learn to be content resting in God instead of being busy working for God.
“He didn’t call me to change the world; He called me to obedience,” Vischer said of what God taught him.
Vischer said he realized he was so focused on saving the world that he was making himself miserable and damaging his Christian testimony.
“God didn’t let it all fall apart because he didn’t love me,” Vischer continued. “He let it all fall apart because he loved me so much and he wanted to save me from myself.”
Vischer said he realized that doing good things isn’t good if it causes you to sacrifice walking with God.
“The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact; it occurs when we’re pursuing God,” Vischer said.
Vischer said he thinks our culture is obsessed with identifying your dream and holding on to it “white knuckled.” He said he often tells groups that he speaks to that it’s not a good idea to cling too tightly to a dream.
“I tell kids, ‘You know, Hitler had a dream; his dream was Poland first,” Vischer said, “and then it got bigger and bigger.’”
“Just because we say it’s our dream doesn’t mean it’s good,” he continued. “We hurt each other for the sake of our dreams. People are more important than dreams. Hang on to God with white knuckles; hold ideas loosely because they’re not as valuable as people.”
Vischer said his struggles after Big Idea led him to a deeper understanding of his identity and to the next stage of his life—Jellyfish Labs.
Vischer said he developed the idea for his new company because it illustrates how he wants his life to move.
“Jellyfish have to stay in the current and trust that it will take them where they need to be,” he said. “I get my purpose when I’m suspended in the current of God’s will and trusting that his current will carry me where I need to be. And that has made all the difference in the world.”
Through all of the struggles of his career, Vischer said he’s learned what’s most important.
“The only thing I can’t afford to lose,” he said, “is the only thing I can’t possibly lose, which is God.”
In addition to Vischer’s keynote message, the breakfast featured musical performances by The Rev. Lawrence Thomison and The Nashville Choir, prayers by Dr. Eleanor Graves, Pastor Carter Crenshaw, Rabbi Ken Alpren and Trace Blankenship, a Scripture reading by Speaker of the House Beth Harwell, a benediction by Lieut. Gov. Ron Ramsey and remarks from Gov. Haslam.
To conclude the breakfast, Gov. Haslam sat down with Vischer for a brief Q-and-A.