On a hot south Texas summer morning, parents and children stream into the Children’s Center at San Antonio’s Trinity Baptist Church for Sunday School. Visitors are greeted warmly, and children are directed to their classrooms: downstairs for the youngest, upstairs for older children. Today’s lesson is from Exodus.
“This morning you’re going to learn how the Israelites were freed to find their own path,” says one greeter, pressing a toy maze into a child’s hand.
It’s a typical Sunday-morning routine at churches around the country. What makes this scene unique is the Children’s Center itself: More than just a building, the center has become what Senior Pastor Les Hollon calls “a canvas to tell the stories of Scripture and hope.”
Throughout the center, bright murals — some three stories high — tell the traditional stories in an innovative way. Paintings on every wall have turned this sizable education building into a life-sized biblical storybook. On the first floor 250 pairs of animals — including Longhorn cattle and paintings modeled after church members’ pets — prepare to board Noah’s Ark. A light-filled three-story rotunda is an artistic aviary where species of birds both exotic and familiar perch.
In one stairwell, a group of men walk up a hill, gazing at the stars. At the top of the stairs is a nativity scene, more crowded with children and animals than in any biblical account of Christ’s birth. The second-floor walls display illustrations from 20 Bible stories. One hallway is for the Old Testament, and another is for the New Testament.
This remarkable project was created over the course of a year by painter and Trinity member Shawn Bridges under the direction of Trinity Children’s and Women’s Pastor Debbie Potter. It’s a reflection of Potter’s belief that children would respond to the stories of the Bible as deeply and enthusiastically as they embrace pop entertainment.
The story of how Bridges came to paint the massive set of murals is as multi-layered as the paintings themselves and shows what can happen when leaders harness imagination in the service of faith.
In 2002, Trinity hired Potter, a former schoolteacher, to be its new pastor for children and women. When Potter arrived, the Children’s Center’s spacious interior was in need of updating. The two-story, 28,000-square-foot center contains nurseries, classrooms and worship spaces for infants through sixth graders.
“The walls were painted bright green and bright orange,” Potter said.
Money for remodeling wasn’t a problem because a family had left a bequest specifically for the building.
But as the church proceeded with changes such as knocking out walls to create larger rooms, adding a stage for performances and plays and purchasing kid-friendly furniture, Potter contemplated what more could be done. The goal was not just to create a kid-friendly space, but to engage children in learning the Bible.
She researched what other congregations were doing, touring Baptist churches in Houston, Dallas and Chicago looking for ideas. On her travels, Potter encountered elaborately decorated spaces, rich in secular imagery and undeniably fun. These were wonderful, but she knew she hadn’t found her model.
“I wanted children to know they were in a church,” Potter said, in contrast to simply an elaborately decorated, child-friendly environment. And she wanted this sacred space to be interactive. “But I didn’t really have a clear picture of how to make that happen,” Potter said. She also was mindful of stewarding the donated funds wisely.
So Potter looked within the church for a solution and ended up meeting with Bridges, a painter and longtime member.
On May 4, 2005, Bridges donned her paint-stained overalls, pulled back her hair and went to work. She quickly sketched a gigantic Asian elephant in the three-story rotunda. Slowly the first floor’s blank walls transformed into a menagerie of animals, ranging from the very large (elephants, camels, gorillas, lions, zebras and tigers) to the very small (birds, fish and small mammals, as well as rodents and insects). Bridges also painted tool sheds and supply rooms, and a smiling image of Noah modeled after the church’s then-pastor graces an entryway.
“The children could not wait to get here every week to see what was new on the walls,” Potter said.
Every day for almost a year, Bridges showed up to paint. And every day she began her work by laying her hands on the walls, thanking God for her talent and praying for the day’s work ahead. She also made a point of including the children in the painting process, giving them small containers of paint and directing them to fill in her sketches.
“We let them pick the colors of Naomi and Ruth’s outfits, and talked about the stories they were painting.” The first time she let the kids help, she gave out large brushes and buckets of paint. “It was disaster,” Bridges said with a laugh. After that, “we learned to give small brushes and baby food jars,” she said.
On the second floor, the Genesis creation story begins with a darkly painted wall before lightening to depict a Garden of Eden. The stories of Moses, Ruth, Hannah, David and Goliath, Daniel, Esther and others fill one long hallway. On the other hallway, there are stories from Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, keeping in mind the primary audience is children. “She tried to keep everything developmentally appropriate,” Potter said.
The children have responded; they often walk up and stroke the animals. Sometimes a child will become deeply interested in one particular part of the mural, returning again and again to gaze at an intriguing scene. Bridges also added an element of hide-and-seek to the paintings by tucking 80 Bible verses, in tiny handwriting, throughout the paintings.
As children’s pastor, Potter often has fielded inquiries from other churches about creating murals similar to Trinity’s.
“What I encourage people to do is go and look in your own congregation and find the gifts that are there,” Potter said. (ABP)
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