That’s the second-most often asked question I get from fans of the Pups. “Where do you come up with the ideas” is THE most asked, but more on that in a moment.
In 2007, I was working on a comic strip idea called “Stinky Shark.” I had written hundreds of gags that I thought were pretty funny and I had designed a great shark character. Now all I needed was a group of supporting characters to round out the strip.
As I worked on the character design of Stinky’s friends Leo, Abby and Star, I began to feel God pressing upon me to use the comic strip format to spread His Word. As I doodled crude characters searching for the right design, I also began reworking the gags to be not only funny, but to also be true to Christian principles.
I quickly recognized that Stinky Shark was the wrong venue for such an endeavor, and began thinking about what the strip should be instead. “Noah’s Critters” jumped into my head and I dove into designing various animals to populate the strip.
Then two events happened that quickly prevented Noah’s Critters from seeing the light of day. First, someone told me that “Noah’s Critters” was a song by Peter, Paul and Mary. That could spell copyright problems. Secondly, I noticed that all of my animals looked like dogs. At that moment, Prayer Pups was born.
The star would be Con, the pug. My wife and I had a precious little pug named Bubu and I wanted to highlight the pug character as not only the leader of the strip, but also as the character who provides the Biblical instruction.
But as I created the test comics and showed them to friends, it became clear that Nim the chihuahua was going to steal the show. His inappropriate statements and wild proclamations made him everyone’s favorite character. And by showing how Christians should NOT act, I was able to add a lot of humor while getting the message across.
I showed these early comics to my Pastor, Dr. Kevin McCallon of Kingwood First Baptist Church and he connected me with the church’s Children’s Ministry team.
Jonathan Brown, KFBC’s former Children’s Minister, and Sharon Wood, their former Children’s Associate, showed me some children’s bulletins they were using and said the kids were bored with them. He also didn’t like that Jesus and other people from the Bible were portrayed as cartoon characters. I gathered their suggestions and I locked myself away writing and drawing. Within a few days, the Prayer Pups had a bulletin of their own.
I was able to quickly sign up more churches across the country as I posted new comic strips everyday to the Prayer Pups website. The Pups’ audience quickly grew in the U.S. and around the world. In fact, we’re visited each month by fans in over 100 countries
The Pups have been featured in magazines and newsletters and bulletins in more than two dozen countries. People send me emails and messages telling me how much they enjoy the Pups and what they mean to the children in their churches. I read every note, and it’s sometimes overwhelming that my little cartoons can touch others to such an extent that they take the time to write a message to thank me for the work I do.
But now it’s my turn to thank you. I want to thank you for supporting something as off-the-wall as a comic strip ministry. I want to thank you for reading the Prayer Pups and for sharing them with your friends and family. I want to thank you for your generous encouragement over the years.
And I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to minister by doing something I love.
I’m truly grateful.
Jeffrey Smith
P.S., I get my ideas from the Bible, friends, family and everything else God has blessed me with.
What I Believe
I believe the Bible is the eternal, infallible, authoritative Word of God.
I believe in the absolute deity of Jesus Christ. I believe He was born of a virgin, walked a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, was resurrected in the flesh, ascended to Heaven to be at the right hand of The Father, and in His future return.
I believe there is only one God, forever existent in three persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
I believe people can receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life only through Jesus Christ.
I believe the meaning of life is to pursue a closer relationship with God through the word of Jesus Christ.
I will never draw Jesus or any other Biblical person as a cartoon character, because I believe doing so offers children the possibility of believing that these are make-believe characters as they grow older. Jesus is real, and should never be portrayed as a make-believe or comic character.
