T’S FRIDAY. You take Interstate 75 to exit 76 in Kentucky, go about a half mile toward Berea, and pull into the Mitchell Tolle Art Studio and Gallery. Unless you have an appointment, you probably won’t see Mitchell, who will likely be at work in his private studio. But you will see his beautiful paintings and drawings: “As Free as a Bird,” “Kentucky Wildcat,” “Precious Memories,” and many others. Two days later, you drive 23 miles north of Berea to Lexington, where you take U. S. Highway 25 north to Man O’ War Boulevard. There you find the Man O’ War Church of God. Stepping behind the pulpit to deliver the morning message is Pastor Mitchell Tolle, who “paints” with words instead of his brush. How did this nationally known art- ist become a lead pastor in 2007, at age 57? Teaching the sanctuary Sunday school class at the Berea Church of God for 30 years gave him a strong founda- tion. Tolle says, “I was a teacher whose responsibility ended every week when the Sunday school bell rang; now I have to deal with the stuff people bring to the altar.”


As a Sunday school teacher, Tolle says he was a follower who served to strengthen the pastor; now he is the leader of a growing congregation.


Dreaming Big


Mitchell grew up in Vanceburg, Ken- tucky, where he had serious health prob- lems because of a calcium deficiency. His bones were slow to develop, so he could not sit up or walk before the age of 3. Tolle said, “My dad worked in a saw- mill 16 hours a day. At lunch time he would walk the two miles home, and I would hear him whistling when he


Mitchell TollePastor and Artist I


by Lance Colkmire


reached our front door. I would be sitting in a wooden high chair he had made. Dad would tell me stories and sing songs, and sometimes play his harmonica or guitar. “One day at lunch when I was 3, Dad drew me a picture of Jesus walking on the water. Watching him draw gave birth to a dream inside of me. When I went to first grade, I told my teacher, ‘I am an artist. If you need any pictures, you can check with me.’”


Tolle calls his sickness a gift, saying that God used bad for good, as Romans 8:28 promises to those who love God.


Loving Linda


While attending Church of God youth camp in Kentucky at age 15, Mitchell met Linda Horn, his wife-to-be. He describes himself as being “awkard, wearing black-


“God Bless America”


rimmed glasses, having big elbows and big teeth, not athletic, and always tot- ing a sketchpad.” He told Linda, “I’m an artist, and some day they’ll come from around the world to buy my pictures.” She responded, “Let’s get married then!” Three years later, they did. He was 18; she was 17. Few people thought their mar- riage would last. Their first year together was spent in Cincinnati, where he had earned a scholarship to art school. When he was 19, they moved back to Berea, where their son, Mitchell Jr., was born. Driving a $150 truck with a hole where the driver’s door handle used to be, Tolle did construction work while Linda stayed home with little Mitchell and their second child, Michelle. They rented a little house where the kids’ small toys sometimes fell through the cracks in the floor!


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