A Personal Message from Geoff Goacher,
President and Creative Director of Bungalow Media

My wife Caryn and I have had many rewarding opportunities to serve together in Christian ministries. As we led the weekly Bible study classes at our church, we wondered how we could make our presentations more engaging. We finally found our inspiration as the result of a life-changing friendship with an extraordinary man. Let me tell you the story.

I used to work as an acoustical engineer in the recording industry. One day, back in the 1990s, I got stuck on a project and contacted the Acoustical Society of America. They promptly gave me the e-mail address of an industry veteran who could help me out.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

The man’s name was F. Alton Everest. He was 87 years old, recently widowed, stone-deaf and living in a retirement home. We began chatting by e-mail on a daily basis and quickly became friends.

Despite our age difference (he was my senior by 62 years!), Alton and I realized that we had much in common. Aside from our professional background as sound technicians, both of us were avid writers with a special interest in science as it relates to the arts (in our case, the entertainment industry). Both of us were committed Christians. Even our wives were both of Swedish ancestry! It was like meeting myself 62 years into the future.

After Alton and I met in person and worked on several projects together, I knew I had befriended a remarkable man. But I didn’t realize how remarkable until Alton asked me to help him write his memoir, An Over-My-Shoulder View of the 20th Century. In his words, this book would be his “last hurrah.”

My unforgettable glimpse of a Golden Age

It turns out that from 1945 to 1971, Alton was co-founder and director of the Science Film Production division of the Moody Institute of Science. Though it’s not a household name today, this Christian film studio produced scores of legendary, award-winning science parable movies shown to millions of people around the world. Walt Disney asked for clips of Alton’s amazing work and used them as an inspiration for his own hugely successful True-Life Adventures film series. In the 1960s, American Cinematographer magazine referred to the Moody Institute’s film division as “the Biggest Little Studio in the World.”

If you want to see how legendary these folks were, just google “Moody Institute of Science” or “F. Alton Everest” when you have a chance. Or visit www.moodyvideo.org if you’d like to see some of the studio’s films. (My own favorite is City of the Bees.)

I was instantly drawn to these films and their irresistible style. To see how the studio so creatively used the parable teaching method to make Biblical principles come to life was just as exciting to me as if I had unearthed a buried treasure or found the Rosetta Stone. It inspired me to change my approach to teaching and communicating from that point forward.

Caryn and I played some of the films for our Bible study class. We were delighted to see how enthusiastically the class responded, even though the films were now over 50 years old! We needed no further proof that parables are a uniquely powerful way to teach Biblical principles. (After all, that’s how Jesus taught!)

Our friend’s final gift to us -- and our gift to him

Caryn and I were tremendously excited. We looked forward to creating our own parables to teach in class. The preceding years had been a time of trials and challenges for our growing family. Two stillbirths, health problems and other difficulties threw us off course. Then Alton’s wisdom came through for us. The recurring theme of his memoir was that “God takes his children down a marvelous shining path if only we trust him.” Caryn and I felt as if we had received a priceless gift.

Encouraged by Alton’s comforting wisdom, we began to encourage others at our church with God’s timeless message of hope. We realized that any of us can experience a “Golden Age” at any time, despite any adversity, if we trust God.

Alton’s profound insight became the theme -- the heart and soul, really -- of our own Parables from Pop Culture series. Reaching into the past for story ideas, we started creating our new parables to make Biblical truths come alive for today’s Christian audiences.

It was 2005. I finally finished my work on Alton’s memoir. The book delighted our friend; here was a permanent record of his wonderful life and the many ways in which he was blessed. Soon afterward, he passed away at the grand old age of 95.

Alton had become my mentor and cherished friend. I learned from him that God can use us in great and unexpected ways -- at any age. We truly believed that our friendship had been orchestrated by God.

Fittingly, Caryn and I have dedicated Parables of Pop Culture to the memory of this fine Christian man: F. Alton Everest, legendary scientist, filmmaker, author and friend. I can only hope that he’d be pleased with the series. I hope you are, too.

Sincerely,