Few people would be brave enough to step up to a canvas with a piece of chalk and start drawing in front of a room full of carefully watching eyes, especially having never done a chalk drawing before, but Bill Cox did.
Fifty years have since passed, and Cox now is celebrating a half-century milestone of the “Art to Heart” ministry by doing 50 chalk drawings at churches and other venues.
Today, Art to Heart is more than chalk drawings with special effects lighting, however. The creative arts ministry also includes music by Cox and his wife, Kathy, and dramatic monologues.
Cox began doing chalk drawings as a substitute artist on a mission trip led by Bobby Haley, then youth minister at First Baptist Church, Spartanburg. George Schrieffer, minister of education, was planning to do chalk drawings at each of the 12 churches in Bell County, Ky., where the missions volunteers were serving that year. When Schrieffer was called away by a death in his extended family, Cox stepped up to the board.
Through special effects and lighting, Cox’s creations appear to come to life.
“We had been telling everybody about the chalk drawings as a special end-of-the-week highlight, and I suggested to Bobby [Haley] that I might could fill in for George [Schrieffer] to keep the kids we were working with from being disappointed,” Cox recalled.
Cox stayed up most of the night preparing a soundtrack and a makeshift setup using a paper tablecloth, Crayola sidewalk chalk, a “borrowed” projector, and color-tinted cellophane for “special effects.” Even though he initially was skeptical, Haley was impressed enough by Cox’s handiwork to give the nod: “I don’t believe it. Let’s do it,” he agreed.
Although his drawings were “certainly nowhere near as good as what George had been doing,” the kids seemed to love them, and God used it, Cox recalled. “I never could have dreamed at that point just how many places those chalk drawings would take us,” he said.
In the 49 years since, Cox has had lots of practice and made extensive improvements in lighting equipment for his chalk drawings, which appeal to both youth groups and senior adult ministries. He has done chalk drawings in churches of all sizes, as well as for Baptist Collegiate Ministries, on mission trips, during numerous state and national conferences, and in civic centers and arenas.
“It’s very much a worship experience,” Cox explained. “We focus on Christ, and it is a time to be still and to know that He is God, and to be led by what we see, what we hear, and to be led by His Spirit,” he said. “But the drawing that we do the most — spoiler alert — is a drawing of the crucifixion and resurrection, and it’s a very powerful message.”
While some have asked if, after 50 years of drawing, he has grown used to it, “I honestly haven’t,” Cox said. “I’ve done I don’t know how many hundreds, but it’s still a worship experience for me just to see, even though I’m drawing it, the picture come alive and to hear the message of the music, and to just be praying that God would speak to us. He has been obviously very faithful in doing that consistently over many, many years.”
Still, as one would expect, he has some humorous stories about doing drawings in some unusual places — one, while standing in a puddle of water from a melting ice rink; another, while bugs flew into his mouth and even became part of his artwork at a campground.
Cox’s wife, Kathy, left, has been a big part of the Concoxions’ ministry through the years.
“Art to Heart” is just one of the many aspects of his itinerant ministry, Concoxions. Cox, a former youth evangelism director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, may be remembered by many adults who, years ago, attended youth events such as “Evangelympics” and “That Big Youth Thing.”
He is perhaps better known, however, for organizing Seesalt summer student conferences for 34 years, coordinating Chillipepper Conferences for 25 years in Pigeon Forge, producing 90 shows of “Peace of ’72” at Fantasy Harbour in Myrtle Beach, and directing numerous theatre productions at Cornerstone Theatre in Lyman.
Even so, when he shared with his wife, Kathy, about his goal of doing 50 art drawings in the coming year, she expressed some astonishment. “She’s convinced me that she did not use the word ‘crazy’ in her reaction,” Cox chuckled, adding she did believe that his goal was a “very ambitious” one.
Just a few weeks ago, he launched the celebration by returning to Kentucky for an evening service at New Heights Church in Middlesboro, Ky. Plans now are underway to conclude June 23, 2024, at First Baptist, Spartanburg. In the meantime, there are still plenty of open dates, Cox said.
To book an Art to Heart event, visit Cox’s website, www.concoxions.com, or email billcox@concoxions.com for more information.
“It seriously doesn’t matter that much to us the size of the church,” Cox said. “We love being able to share Art to Heart with as many people as possible, and that’s really what the 50th anniversary is all about — just trying to continue to minister in this way as much as we possibly can.”