Based on the beloved children's book, Olives Balloon Adventure, Olive and her friends take fantastic journeys to communities around the globe. In those places she learns the principles of Gospel Missions: Thankfulness, Compassion, and Action.
To encourage and equip a new generation of globally focused missionaries.
Olive, her family, and their dog Patch have just moved to a new town. She is a little lonely and scared due to all of the changes and compensates by insisting that she can do everything on her own.
One day Olive's mother takes her to a local fun park, “The World Fair.” At the fair, she meets Mr. Johnson who helps her on his favorite ride, the Hot Air Balloon. They ride up together and use their imagination to see some wonderful places. Mr. Johnson talks about different cultures and how many people in the world need help, but not all in the same way. Olive wants to help, but doesn't know how.
When they land, Olive realizes her dog is missing. Scared, she knows that she must ask for help. Mr. Johnson is happy to offer assistance. It doesn’t take long and they find her dog with Mrs. Johnson. Olive is happy to have found Patch. Mrs. Johnson prays with Olive, thanking God for Patch, her heart to help others, and to trust in God for help and strength.
All episodes follow the same, familiar, four-movement story arch: Introduction, Exploration, Presentation, Application.
Mr. Johnson helps Olive recognize the best ways that she can help the community sustainably, physically, and spiritually.
They go back home. Olive recaps what happened and Mrs. Johnson leads Olive (and the children watching) in a prayer for the people of that region.
Polly Thatch (Left) and Susan Newcott (Right) created the characters and authored the original source material of Olive’s Balloon Adventure. Both grew up as children of missionaries in Cote D’Ivoire. Polly continues spreading the Gospel through missions work with World Vision. Susan is an artist and mother of five-children in Charlotte, NC..
Chris Himes is the Chief Executive Officer at Last Pew Media. Chris is an Emmy-nominated digital media producer with a passion for curating world-class content. Chris was a Supervising Digital Producer at NBC, working at Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He has produced media for Salem Media in collaborations with Eric Metaxas.