Special-Effects Wizard Takes Whimsy to Church

A self-described "big kid" with an earring, beard and a Hollywood haircut, Barry works out of Wacky World's two-story warehouse and studio in Oldsmar, near Tampa. With 67 employees, including two of his brothers, he brings his artistic and animation talents to a range of projects, most designed to support his Christian faith.

Barry was raised in central New Jersey. Although he described his family as nominally Catholic, he said there was no religion or church-going in the Barry home.

Barry's father taught him sketching and model-making, two skills he would rely on later in life.

After a stint in the Navy, he came to Florida and took jobs with animation studios, doing storyboards for cult favorites such as "Ren & Stimpy" at Last Laugh Studio in DeLand, Fla. He started his Wacky World company doing cartoony, 3-D designs for children's bedrooms.

Then fate -- or, Barry thinks, God -- intervened. A small ad he posted in 1999 on a friend's Internet site caught the eye of Pamela Hudson, wife of Dale Hudson, who at the time was children's minister at First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark. The pastor had $200,000 from the church to build something special for children's worship, along the lines of Toontown, and he thought Barry should build it.

Hudson's call caught Barry off guard. "I didn't know what a children's minister was," he said.

But Barry accepted the commission and flew to Arkansas to supervise the installation. He said he was impressed by the congregation's warmth and kindness and by the fact that they did not try to convert him.

At an alternative Halloween celebration in the church, Barry was led around the room by a 12-year-old girl, encountering illustrated Bible stories that were new to him.

"I'm seeing the Bible for the first time through a child's heart and a child's eyes," he said.

Later, at a men's church luncheon, he said, he felt moved to accept Jesus.

"God opened the door," said Dale Hudson, who later moved from Springdale to Las Vegas. "Bruce got down on his knees and invited God into his life. You could just tell when he got up he was a different person."

The environment he had created was a success, and word of it spread to other churches, especially in the Sun Belt, leading to more commissions.

Now dwarfed by his subsequent creations, the two-room environment in Springdale remains popular.

"The kids still love them," said Michelle Griffey, an associate in the children's ministry. "They look forward to coming in there."