Humble Beginnings...  were found in the rural community of Cable, Wisconsin, with a population hovering around 280. Jeff was born the son of loving parents Walter and Nellie Larson way back in the year 1957, shortly after the glaciers receded from Northern Wisconsin and the last Cheesehead Woolly Mammoth went extinct. 

Jeff's family attended a little white country church in Cable, where, at age six, he accepted Jesus into his Heart. Ironically, sitting in the literal ‘Back Pew’ at Summer Bible School in 1963.

As a child, Jeff loved cartoons and would spend hours at the kitchen table or on the floor in front of the television drawing popular cartoons (his favorite being Popeye the Sailor Man) or cartoons of his own creation. Just think how far Jeff has come. 

After Wisconsin, Jeff changed from working as a logger wielding a low-tech but powerful chainsaw to careers in computers and sports officiating, all while still drawing cartoons.

In the late 1990s, so many years removed from sitting in that literal Back Pew in 1963, Jeff returned to The Back Pew, putting his single-panel faith cartoons in a cleverly ‘The Back Pew’ collection. Then, in January 2000, Jeff launched The Back Pew website to share Clean Humor and God's Truth via cartoons and words.

 This was the very real beginning of Jeff's faith journey. Church and family lived out in the quiet rural setting of Cable Wi, which was a priceless heritage for Jeff. Living in a town of 280 people is about as rural as it gets.

There are NO traffic lights. Rush hour traffic exists between 7:59 AM and 8:01 AM and returns from 3:59 PM through about 4:01 PM. Traffic jams were only mythical folklore shared regarding trips to the big city, told to scare the locals from leaving town. 

Since Jeff neither liked to hunt nor fish, it was time for me to move to the big city, so he crossed the border into Minnesota (border control problem?), where he learned to live amongst both Minnesotans and gophers since around 1980. During this time, Jeff got married, had some kids, owned a pet or two, and now has six grandkids! Life is good!

Jeff explains, "The Back Pew title comes not only from accepting Jesus into my heart in that literal Back Pew in 1963 but also from his experiences as a youth sitting in church with friends, typically as far back in our church as possible. If there was a Back Pew, they were in it."

The moral of Jeff's story is to serve God uniquely as He has wired you. Jeff serves God by coloring between the lines and prayerfully sharing cartoons as a ministry resource for others.  With a cartoon, Jeff daily seeks that sweet spot between God's Glory and Man's Folly.

And to know Jeff, you need to understand adult life has struggled with back pain culminating in two surgeries, one in  August 2021 and the other in April 2022, to repair impingements causing nerve damage/pain and affecting muscle function.  

Next..  after the 2nd back surgery in April, I had a staff infection in the surgery incision, requiring a third surgery to clean things out, followed by a one-week hospital stay to get the infection under control, then another 6 weeks with a pink (or PICC) line feeding me antibiotics 24/7. In August 2022, I turned 65 and believe these surgeries and all the doctor’s care, the king’s horses, and the king’s men. I am feeling much better.  PTL

This is more information than you were looking for, but I have cartoons, just as other people have photo albums.