Artwork by Chris

How it came to live here ... by Ruth Windle 

"In August of 2020, Chris’s name came up on Facebook, and remembering that she and her husband Jerry had graduated with us from Prairie Bible Institute, I sent her a friend request.
 

Just before Christmas, Chris saw pictures I had posted of the large new academic library and administration space we were building. She sent me a message asking about us and our ministry, confessing she didn’t actually remember who we were. We re-connected and exchanged website addresses.
 

She said when she saw all the empty white walls, they were “screaming at her”. God gave her the courage to ask if we would have an interest and room for her mural. My first answer was no, I didn’t think we had the space. But, when Larry looked at the content of the painting and the dimensions, he did some quick calculating and said “yes”, we did have a place!
 

The new building is called “The Great Commission Center” which focuses our Bible College – the Seminario Bíblico Rio Grande – one of several ministries of Rio Grande Bible Ministries. Its purpose is to “Train Christ-centered leaders with a biblical world view for the global church”. Our language school serves many missions sending workers to Latin American countries. The large reception area is designed to introduce all of our ministries.
 

But what to do with the large blank wall above the reception desk?!

Larry had dreamed of a mural that would somehow communicate our emphasis on the Great Commission and how God’s plan from eternity was to reach all people of the whole world with the good news. But how in the world would we find someone who could do this?
 

We were amazed to learn how God had been coordinating our dreams in South Texas with Chris’ passion as she painted “The Promise” in BC, Canada.
 

Chris’s masterpiece depicts the Promise of God’s eternal plan from creation to eternity. It was visualized and given to her by God in 1980, as she immersed herself in the Scriptures. But He made her wait 28 years before she put brush to canvas, allowing her time to live the message in her own life first, and to form in her mind how she would portray it.
 

We were even more amazed as we found out that she started painting about the same time as the plans were drawn for The Great Commission Center.

Larry had been asking God, even then, for a way to portray His plan of bringing the Gospel to all nations in the new building’s reception center.
 

We are honored that “The Promise” has found its home here at Rio Grande Bible Ministries and pray that as people see and study this great message, they would be encouraged and challenged to be a part of the Great Commission as well.

​

Promise Story teaching materials are available in English and we are currently in the process of editing and preparing them in Spanish. One of the first projects is to produce the video in Spanish to be used in the Seminary classes."

​