Sculptor Bob Willis will speak Sunday at the Grace Chapel in Mustang. (courtesy photo)

By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer
published Jan. 15, 2009

Sculptor Bob Willis coaxes Jesus’ face from soft clay, molding a strong nose, inquisitive eyes, a bushy beard and mustache and a head crowned with a wreath of thorns — in 45 minutes in front of an audience.

As the bust takes shape, Willis shares his favorite scriptures and his wife Lynn Willis sings. The Willis’ call their ministry “Gospel in Clay,” which they will bring to Mustang Sunday at the Grace Chapel, 2335 W. state Highway 152. The service will start at 10 a.m., and 45 minutes later, Bob Willis will put the finishing touches on his sculpture.

“The main message, we get hardened to things,” he said. “We aren’t able to be flexible. It’s a matter of trust. I encourage people to trust God enough to put their lives in God’s hands. He is the potter, and we are the clay.”

Willis said he found sculpture about 15 years ago and the art form has since become his own therapy, a way to work through life’s problems. Willis works as a hospice bereavement coordinator, counseling families and organizing support groups.

“It’s a good balance for me in the grief work I do,” he said. “It’s a good way to get in touch with Bob.”

Like the clay, Willis said he finds people who are able to allow their memories to flow, to laugh and cry, and cope with their grief. Those that are unable to face mourning, who try to avoid it by working or numb their feelings with substances, struggle.

“They try to escape for a while,” he said. “It’s always there where you come back.”

Willis is the author of “The Ultimate Caregiver: Words from the Cross to the Caregiver’s Heart,” which was published in November through Tate Publishing. His wife Lynn Willis works as a secretary at Metro Technology Center, sings and plays the piano. The couple lives in Edmond.

For information about Sunday’s service, call Pastor Rick Ham at 830-5216.