It should have been no surprise that God had His sovereign hand all over the Fundraising Painting results (donated by famous artist Shawna Lewellen). Mark Cahill (a pretty famous Christian author and speaker) won the high bid at a little over $500, as he wanted us at New Hope to choose the subject matter of the painting—because he is donating it back to us!!
There are cool connections between Shawna and New Hope, between Mark Cahill and New Hope, and between Mark and Shawna. I already shared the story with you in our last mailing about Shawna being the artist, who as a young girl did the drawings in the New Hope materials. We met Mark Cahill several years ago when a couple of churches in town got together and had him come to Centerville to speak. I had purchased a few of his books that weekend and after reading them, thought they were so good, I wanted to use them as recommended reading when an unsaved person comes to New Hope for counseling. Upon hearing that in the email I sent to Mark, he immediately sent us a free case of each book!
Mark also met Shawna that weekend he came to Centerville. After finding out that she was an artist, and checking out some of her work, he commissioned her to do the cover of a couple of his new books.
So when Mark learned about the Fundraising Painting Silent Auction set up by Shawna to benefit New Hope, he quickly put in what ended up being the winning bid with the donation of the painting back to New Hope. God just loves to weave a bunch of things all together!
And to top it all off, Shawna suggested that we choose a subject matter for the painting that would be appealing to others, so that we could have it made into prints, and sell then the prints. So it ends up being the fundraiser that keeps on funding!!