March 15. Phil Saint. Some artists use paint. Some use pen and ink. Others use clay or marble or glass. Phil used chalk. And God used Phil.
Phil learned the fundamentals of art from his father, a stained-glass artist who designed the stained-glass windows in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. And he learned draftsmanship from a famous cartoonist.
At Wheaton College, Phil put his talents to use as a chalk-talk evangelist. Later he moved to Latin America to answer the call for a missionary guest artist. On this date in 1957, he settled in Argentina, where he established a studio and opened a conference center.
In addition to his chalk-talk evangelistic ministry, Phil has published eight books, including his memoir, Saints Alive! His final piece of art was a painting of five missionaries who were killed by armed members of the Waodani tribe on a beach in Ecuador. Phil’s brother Nate was one of those missionaries. Here is Phil’s story.
Got talent? You can use it to make yourself rich for a while or to make others rich for eternity.
Some heroes fly the jet; some carry the luggage. For Phil, as long as it was God who guided his life, Phil was happy. As an artist, evangelist, missionary, and the guy who literally carried the luggage, God used Phil in a variety of ways—which made him every man’s hero. And he wasn’t about to slow down. He made it clear he didn’t want to retire; he only wanted to “re-fire.”
It was Phil’s dad, a successful stained-glass artist, who had steered him onto an artistic path. But Phil was partially color blind.
Even so, his dad believed Phil could do well working in black and white, so he arranged for Phil to meet his old friend, Herbert Johnson, a famed cartoonist for The Saturday Evening Post.
When Phil graduated from business school, he learned the craft of cartooning from the master himself. But he had already been using chalk-art to help other people know about Jesus. This was the real career calling him—and he couldn’t ignore its voice.
So while he worked for Herbert Johnson, Phil delivered “chalk-talks” for various church audiences. The concept was simple—he used colored chalk to illustrate a story on paper attached to a lighted easel. With this prop for the audience to focus on, he would teach a story or object lesson from the Bible.
One scene Phil loved to create was based on a cartoon by E. J. Pace. As Phil sketched in dark tones, a large chasm began to appear with clouds looming on one side and a glorious view of heaven on the other. Then he laid a white cross across the chasm, bridging the gap between God and man. The audience heard and saw how they could—by way of the cross—get to God.
After several months of working for Herbert Johnson, Phil decided to switch career paths and become a full-time chalk artist for Christ. And he told his father.
Dad couldn’t hide his initial consternation. “Son, what are you going to be—a preacher or an artist?”
“I’m going to be both,” Phil said.
It appeared his dad didn’t think a man could do both and be a success. After all, creating a fine work of art was not just slapping an illustration on a sheet of paper in fifteen minutes while you tried to preach.
But Phil wasn’t interested in creating masterpieces. He preferred to “draw” people to Christ with his art rather than to win fame for himself. In spite of his color-blindness, he could carefully arrange the colors on his tray (with help) and still preach a great message.
But his boss Herbert Johnson roared, “You’ll be wasting your time! You’re crazy to want to run around drawing pictures for farmers in country churches.”
Shaken but undeterred, Phil went ahead with his plan to become a chalk-talk artist. His desire to follow God’s calling eventually led him to Argentina with his family in 1957. Through Phil’s creative chalk talks, thousands have come to know Jesus Christ.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls” (Proverbs 11:30 NASB).
What has God called you to do? Got talent? You can use it to make yourself rich for a while or to make others rich for eternity.
“I Have to Get the Luggage!” December 9, 2012. Watcher Times. https://watchertimes.wordpress.com/tag/phil-saint/.
“Phil Saint.” Authors. Accessed October 14, 2020. P&R Publishing. https://www.prpbooks.com/authors/phil-saint.
“Phil Saint Comic Art.” Digital Commons at Biola. Accessed October 14, 2020. Biola University. https://digitalcommons.biola.edu/phil-saint-comics/.
Saint, Phil. Saints Alive! Published by Ediciones SA-BER, Apartado 1602, Guatemala, 1985.
Stevens, Alec. “Christian Comics Pioneers: The Rev. Phil Saint (USA/Argentina).” Christian Comics International. Accessed October 14, 2020. Comix35. http://www.christiancomicsinternational.org/saint_pioneer.html.
Saint, Phil. Testimony: Losing Your Life for Christ. Audio Sermons. September 18, 1988. Brick Lane Community Church. http://www.brick52.org/audio-sermons/3171.
Story read by Daniel Carpenter
Story written by Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1
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