Jesus Painter to appear at Crossroads Sunday

A renowned evangelical artist who paints a full portrait of Jesus Christ in less than 20 minutes will make two appearances Sunday morning at CrossRoads Fellowship in Jackson.

Known as the Jesus Painter, Mike Lewis has traveled throughout the United States and the world proclaiming the gospel of Christ on stage through his artwork during a song. Lewis paints 11 portraits of Christ during each appearance, swirling colors into the face of Christ and ending with red paint splashed into Jesus' face to represent the blood shed at the cross.

Tim Winborne, minister of worship and youth at CrossRoads, said the painter will appear at the church's two morning worship services. Lewis will paint one portrait and speak for 15 minutes during the 8:15 a.m. service and paint three portraits during the longer 10 a.m. service.

Winborne said those who attend the service will come away inspired. The church auditorium, which has one of Lewis' paintings, has room for 600 to 700 people.

"It's art, but it's also worship," Winborne said. "You'll see an accurate depiction about who Christ was and is."

Winborne first met Lewis during a Youth Evangelism Conference eight years ago in Dallas. A youth minister at First Baptist Church of Jackson at the time, Winborne said he was impressed by Lewis' ability to connect with an audience through his paintings and knew he had to bring him to Southeast Missouri.

CrossRoads will be one of about 120 events at which Lewis expects to perform this year. In addition to churches and youth events, Lewis also has performed at the Saddleback Church Purpose Driven Worship Conference, rallies, cruises, seminaries, the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards ceremony and tours with Christian contemporary music artists such as as Mac Powell of Third Day, Shane & Shane and former Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell.

For Lewis, traveling the country to spread the gospel of Christ is a labor of love.

"I love what I do as a performing artist," Lewis said. "There is a lot of work involved when you think of the travel and then painting anywhere from three paintings at a performance and in one event this year I had 12 different performances at the conference."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628