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Another former employee said several employees have left the company on principle. In the source's opinion, a philosophical shift from stressing quality to maximizing profit led to additional products like Larryboy, a two-dimensional cartoon. "They've changed the product, they've changed the look, they changed the mentality," the person said. "They took out everything that made it VeggieTales."

Because of discontent and layoffs, the former employee said, many of those who made Jonah no longer work at Big Idea.

The source said the hardest thing on the creative staff was that the company represented more than a paycheck. "You are talking about people's lives, not people's jobs, because we bought into that mission lock, stock, and barrel," the former employee said. "These are people who know God brought them to this company to be part of this mission. They gave up their jobs at Disney.

"It isn't just that we have to go to the food pantry or lose a house, it is also that we lost the passion for what we were doing because it was our mission."

One former employee said he still had hope for the company. "The world needs a media company like Big Idea still," he said. "Pray for them. Definitely pray for them. … I am sure God knows what he is doing."

Todd Hertz is assistant online editor for Christianity Today.

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September (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46