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A Christian streaming service is aiming to reach an even broader audience with the gospel as it prepares to offer a cartoon in American Sign Language (ASL).
The media platform known as Minno will launch its first-ever ASL version of its series Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids on Aug. 8.
"Within Christian children's media, there really aren't any shows that are set up with ASL," said Erick Goss, CEO and founder of Minno, in an interview. "The deaf community is probably one of the most underserved communities in regard to Gospel resources."
Bridge Multimedia is partnering with Minno to help get the ASL version on air. The company has helped other corperations enhance their ASL, such as PBS Kids and Google.
ASL has a lot of nuance in its communication, and the Minno team is determined to keep it age-appropriate and at the same time aligned with Christian theological standards. To do this they also invited Christian members of the ASL community to oversee things.
"It's true with any translation that you do," Goss said. "The challenge is that there are little translations, and then there's what people actually say and do in practice."
Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids is a show that shares Bible stories with kids through animation. On top of offering it in ASL, they will also be sharing it in Spanish and Portuguese. There are currently 40 episodes available.
"So while our main mission is to help kids experience Jesus every day through media and technology, we are in the business of selling trust," Goss said.
"And so, we have to make sure as a company that we put processes in place in such a way that, whenever a parent turns on Minno, they can rest assured that we have gone the extra mile to make sure that we're ensuring the content that their kids see is both entertaining, but also completely aligned with a Christian worldview."
Minno currently has over a million subscribers on YouTube, making it one of the most-subscribed-to channels on the platform.
"What we've found is when parents discover us, they're like, 'Wow, I can't believe I haven't heard of this sooner. This is exactly what we need. And in many instances, we have the opportunity to help parents be the spiritual heroes that they want to be in the lives of their kids."