With the deft skill of a trained artisan, Terrell O’Brien selects a
With the deft skill of a trained artisan, Terrell O’Brien selects a
sculpting tool and places it on the subject.
As he cuts here, smoothes there, adds clay or takes it away, the design he has in mind begins to take shape.
When he has completed the sculpture in this small
version, he is ready to begin work on a larger-than-life
version. O’Brien is an artist who produces monument-size
sculptures for clients across North America. Subjects may include
historical figures, children, Western themes, biblical characters or
wildlife – his favorite.
“After completing the clay models, I make the molds
which a foundry will use to cast these works in bronze,” he says as he
takes a break from his work.
However, when the phone rings and he begins talking
with church members, his real love comes into play. His calling to
bivocational ministry drives his life, and his love of art provides his
income.
Without Terrell’s studio it would be difficult to
support his wife, Vickie, and family in a state where jobs are hard to
find. The couple live in Wyoming, where they serve as Mission Service
Corps missionaries with the Southern Baptist North American Mission
Board.
“I was raised in West Texas, and attended a rural
church that had a strong heart for missions,” O’Brien notes. “That
church gave to missions, taught missions and participated in
missions. God used all of this to put a call on my life.”
In college, O’Brien studied art and biology because
he wanted to be a medical illustrator. But after graduation, he
returned to farming while keeping in touch with his artistic
side. He says he sees now how God laid a foundation for that
eventually to be his primary source of income.
After marrying in 1976, O’Brien and his wife
participated in several mission trips. He began sculpting in the
early 1980s and eventually decided to leave farming to see where his
art career would go.
“God was at work in this career move in a bigger way
than I knew,” O’Brien says. “I wondered a lot of times why I made that
career shift and was discouraged on several occasions, but I never
quit. Then, my health began to seriously deteriorate with a
hypothyroid condition, and God used that to confront me with his call
to missions.”
During a large sculpting project, O’Brien received a call from a foundry in Wyoming.
“God began to point the way very clearly to Wyoming,” he says.
During the summer of 1995, O’Brien and his wife
applied for Mission Service Corps status as they refined their calling
through lay ministry. That is when they discovered the role
“tentmakers” play in missions – those who provide their own funding in
order to pursue their calling.
When mission board acceptance came, O’Brien moved
his family to live and minister in the small town of Pavillion – and
opened O’Brien Studio in nearby Lander.
Wyoming is a beautiful but harsh land, O’Brien
says. It is a hard place to minister because it is big,
wide-open country with a lot of distance between places.
“I was raised in Texas where Southern Baptists and
other denominations have churches everywhere you look,” O’Brien notes.
“But out here, so many people don’t want to have anything to do with
church. We only have 90 Southern Baptist churches in the entire state.”
Residents of the area come from many different
backgrounds but all share a common western independent mindset, O’Brien
notes. “They feel they don’t need anything or anyone – including God –
to help them survive,” he explains.
The O’Briens have served nine years in Wyoming now –
as church strengtheners and in interim positions. For the last three
years, O’Brien has served as pastor at Warm Valley Baptist Church in
Pavillion.
The church was struggling – down to five
members not so many years ago. It had $1,000 in a building fund and no
Sunday School rooms. Its building consisted of a small sanctuary,
a kitchen and bathrooms.
Now, it has a fellowship hall that doubles as Sunday
School space. The church is averaging 40 persons in attendance each
week and is reaching out into the community with a variety of outreach
programs.
“I believe God is going to do a great work in this place,” O’Brien says.
Vickie O’Brien is part of the ministry at the
church, helping lead a ministry in which the congregation provides
school supplies for Wind River Elementary School students. “Many of
these children come from low-income families, and their parents cannot
afford all of the school supplies, …” she says. “We supply every item
on each child’s list, from crayons to rulers to paper.”
The approach has brought the small congregation much credibility in the community – one pencil at a time.
“We are seeing God move in dramatic ways in our
church,” O’Brien says. “We have begun another addition to our building,
even with our limited resources. God has blessed us every step of
the way.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien continues to follow his dual life – sculpting and serving as a gospel minister.
“It’s truly amazing how God has used my sculpting
business to provide our income in such a rural area. We don’t
receive any funding from the church or any other source, so, we are
totally self-supporting, which is how tentmakers operate. That’s how
the Apostle Paul planted churches, so it’s really not a new idea, is
it?”