"Down Into the Water"

”Down Into the Water” (A.D. Shaw, 1990)

When the St. Cloud Stake was organized in 2009, artwork was selected to hang in the new stake offices located in a small business park on Scout Drive in Sartell, approximately 3 miles north of the now St. Cloud Stake Center. A conscious effort was made to identify artwork that would invite the Spirit, testify of Jesus Christ, and represent stories that increased faith, strengthened testimony, and encouraged unity.

The piece entitled “Down Into the Water” was selected to hang in the stake president’s office as it represented these traits as well as several fundamental gospel principles and truths, such as the importance of baptism, the priesthood, and family unity. The landscape was also reflective of the natural environment found within the boundaries of the St. Cloud Stake. The event captured in this piece of art could have occurred in any of the wards and branches of the stake, which in a way, unified this newly formed stake.

The artwork also unified the stake across generations of its members. A few years after the stake was organized, the stake’s first Stake President, Randal G. Baker, was meeting with the full-time missionaries, when one of the Zone Leaders identified the artist, A.D. Shaw, as his neighbor back home in eastern Utah. He added that on occasion he and his siblings would pose for his paintings. The missionary also shared that Brother Shaw had been particularly excited about his call to the Minneapolis Minnesota Mission, as Shaw had served many decades earlier as a missionary in the Central States Mission.

In short, the painting was created by a missionary who came to this area of Minnesota many decades before the St Cloud stake was created, who, with considerable sacrifice, shared his personal witness of the restoration and invited others to read the Book of Mormon and to come unto Christ. The painting represents the sacrifice of many individuals who have faithfully shared their witness of the Gospel and invited others to “come and see,” exercising faith that someday the church would grow and branches, wards, or perhaps even a stake would be organized here in Central Minnesota. Today the united faith of many individuals and families has resulted in the fulfillment of that aspiration and vision.

Contributed by Randal G. Baker, St. Cloud Stake President 2009-2018