Church's new art gallery honors worldwide photos of Don Rutledge

Bill Bangham

The 10 years Don Rutledge spent in Georgia at the Home Mission Board were the most significant of his career. His visual storytelling set the standard for Southern Baptist communications for the next 25 years. The two publications he is most identified with - the Home Board's MissionsUSA and the Foreign/International Board's theCOMMISSION - were recognized for their excellence in both the religious and secular communications communities.

TEMPLE, Texas (BP) Warm walls, wood floor and generous lighting set the stage for simply framed photographs spaced precisely about the room. People, plates of finger food in hand, circle the exhibit while a string ensemble and keyboard play beneath the murmur of quiet conversation.

It could be a Saturday night gallery opening in the art district of many American cities. But this is Temple, Texas. And the gallery isn't in an art district, but in downtown Temple's First Baptist Church.

Called The Great Commission Gallery, this is a new ministry for First Baptist, and it's the first exhibit related to the church's Fellowship of Christian Artists. The Nov. 20 event focused on the photography of Don Rutledge, whose work documented Southern Baptist mission efforts across the globe for more than 25 years.

The idea for the gallery began last year while First Baptist member Linda Schuchmann was reading Rick Warren's book, The Purpose-Driven Life. Schuchmann is a painter but had become deeply involved in other ministries around the church and it had been years since she applied paint to canvas.

"That book helped me to realize the gift of art God had given me had to be used," Schuchmann said. So she began painting again.

What began as a desire to share her work quickly evolved. Schuchmann began seeking a way to help other Christian artists share theirs. In March of 2003, the first meeting of Fellowship of Christian Artists was held at the church.

Early on, talk began about holding an exhibit, and quickly settled on Don Rutledge's photography. "We had to have Don," said Nan Dickson, a fine art photographer. "The work is beautiful, it's missions-related. It was a no-brainer."

The exhibit drew people from the community, students from the local university and college, photographers and friends of Rutledge, and missionaries he photographed both overseas and in the United States during his 15 years with the International Mission Board and his 10 years with the North American Mission Board.

Bill Bangham

Left to right: Peggy Rutledge, daughter-in-law of Don Rutledge, views the exhibit of his photographs in the Great Commission Gallery at First Baptist Church, Temple, Texas, with his granddaughters, Abigail and Shannon. Behind them is Lillie Rogers, retired International Mission Board missionary to Singapore who was photographed by Rutledge while he was a photographer for the board.

Rutledge and his wife, Lucy, were scheduled to attend, but could not at the last minute for health reasons. But his son, Mark, and daughter-in-law, Peggy, IMB missionaries to Haiti, and granddaughters Shannon and Abigail were there.

The crowd wandered among the 20-plus prints, including images from Rutledge's missions coverage across the globe South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, inner-city America, rural Alabama and Alaska as well as several prints produced for John Howard Griffin's 1950s groundbreaking and controversial book on civil rights, Black Like Me.