“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” George MacDonald
Last but far from least is Mark Coppenger, #12 on my list of 12 Who Trusted. It’s no exaggeration to say nearly 50% of the projects over my 50+ years as a graphic designer can be linked to Mark, directly or through his influence. Below is a chart to illustrate the point, and I may have overlooked a few.
I met Mark in April 1991, in San Francisco, at the Baptist Public Relations Association’s (now: Baptist Communicators Association) annual workshop. He had recently become VP for Convention Relations for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, and I was there to be inspired by like-minded communicators.
After a brief conversation, Mark asked if I had brought a portfolio. He was interested in looking through it. As usual, I had, so I let it spend the night with Mark. The next morning, he returned it, praised my work and said I might be hearing from him. My thought was “Yea. Sure. You’re in Nashville and I’m in Oklahoma City.” Remember, this was back in the days of expensive long-distance phone calls, no internet and snail mail.
Almost a year later, I received a phone call that began: “Hello, Rick. I don’t know if you remember me, but this is Mark Coppenger.” By the end of an expensive long-distance phone call, I had been hired to design the logo and printed materials for that year’s annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting. It proved to be an assignment I would repeat through 1997. Thereafter, the project was designed in-house.
Later that year (November 1992), Mark contacted me about designing prototypes for the front and inside pages of a monthly newspaper he hoped to publish called SBC LIFE. The next spring, when he got the green light to go into production, he called to share the good news and ask if I wanted to move to Nashville to work for the Executive Committee and design SBC LIFE. I told Mark I didn’t feel God was giving me the freedom to take the job, so he found someone locally to design it.
About 18 months later, Mark called to say he was unhappy with the work of the Nashville-based designer and couldn't we find a way to produce SBC LIFE long-distance. During that span of time, desktop publishing had made significant strides, and the internet was “robust” enough to at least send text documents. With no hesitancy, I said yes, and Mark began emailing articles and FedExing photos, which I scanned and placed into my recently purchased layout software. I would then FedEx proofs and, once approved, overnight the color-separated negatives to the Tennessee printer. (The convenience of PDF files was still years away.)
I continued designing SBC LIFE until 2011, when its production moved in-house. In 1998, I had begun converting each month's issue to webpages for the convention’s website and would eventually work backwards to the first issue I designed for December 1994.
In August 1995, Mark became President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City. The following year, we rebranded the seminary using the theme “Prairie Fire.” I also redesigned the alumni newspaper Heartland and the seminary catalog. Rarely a month went by that I wasn’t working on a logo, brochure or other project. Mark left the seminary in 1999 and started a church in Evanston (north of Chicago) and began a ministry to students at Northwestern University.
After Mark’s departure from MBTS, I continued to work with Gary Ledbetter, VP for Student Development, until he joined the newly-formed Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in 2001 as Communications Director and Editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN. Gary immediately hired me to design the TEXAN, along with the convention’s logo, various brochures and the state missions offering logo.
While pastoring Evanston Baptist Church for 12 years, Mark taught at local universities and commuted to Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville during the last nine years. He was also Managing Editor for the online Kairos Journal. During Mark’s time in Illinois, I completed several projects for Evanston Baptist Church, including the church logo. For Kairos Journal, I designed several brochures, one in French.
In 2011, Mark moved to Nashville and became VP for Extension Education, driving to Louisville or flying to the seminary’s 11 extensions to teach on weekdays. Mark had me design SBTS’s extension education brochure and several course catalogs. Mark held this position until 2014 but continued as Professor of Christian Philosophy and Ethics until his retirement in 2019. Not one to let "retirement" slow down him down, he still lectures and writes prolifically.
From 1992 through 1997, I designed the logo and printed materials for the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting. Pictured are my first logo (1992) and my favorite logo (1996).
SBC LIFE nameplate and two standing heads. Mosaic contained SBC-related photos with captions and From the Clipboard contained press clippings from the media at large.
The first SBC LIFE issue I designed (December 1994), along with a selection of pages through the years.
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary logo
Mark sporting a MBTS cycling jersey. The seminary had a cycling club that participated in long distance rides, such as the RAGBRAI: [Des Moines] Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, which covers 500 miles over seven days. Every time they rode, they shared the Gospel with those along the way. In 1997, at a missionary's request, they completed a three-day ride along the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. While biking through the Nile Valley, the Egyptian government provided an armed escort for the "international bike team" due to recent terrorist activity.
Catalog covers
HEARTLAND nameplate and a selection of pages
Logo for an outreach ministry where wood was cut and bundled from the forest on the east side of the seminary and distributed to nearby families. Each bundle had a Gospel message attached. Between assembling and distributing the bundles, students enjoyed chowder at Mark’s home on campus, prepared by his wife Sharon. The name came from a century-old New England tradition of organizing "Chowder and Marching" societies, which were get-togethers for feasting and parading around, sometimes with musical instruments.
Logo for Midwestern’s FIRST STEP TOWARD TOMORROW campaign to raise $12,000,000 in capital funds for the construction of an academic center with administrative and faculty offices and classrooms, and a convocation hall/family life center.
Mark took the lead in organizing the six Southern Baptists seminaries to form a unified front in proclaiming the Gospel, emphasizing the call to ministry and validating their commitment to the local church. The Cross & The Call was a newspaper-size brochure with a page spotlighting each seminary. Southern Baptists Seminaries Day was a two-page newspaper ad.
The logo is based on an architectural element closely tied to the city of Evanston ‒ the lamp post. It's designed to be a community-friendly, non-threatening logo that would appeal to a largely unchurched, non-religious population. Although there are no overt Christian symbols in the logo, the symbolism of lamps and light is used throughout Scripture.
Logo worn on T-shirts as part of an EBC outreach ministry to clean up the streets and alleys of Evanston while opening doors to share the Gospel. As the The Daily Northwestern reported: “Once the Evanston Baptist Church ‘alley sheep’ have finished cleaning up a road, the only trash visible can be found in boldly stickered bags proclaiming: ‘Serving Evanston in Jesus’ Name.’”
For more than a decade, Mark served as managing editor of the online Kairos Journal. This is one of several brochures promoting and explaining this theological resource.
In 2013, while Mark was VP for Extension Education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I designed a brochure promoting offsite instruction at its 11 locations across the eastern U.S.
In 2021, I designed a logo for The Humanitas Forum for whom Mark is a board member. The logo is an abstract representation of Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.”
While living in Evanston, Mark graciously hosted me in his home (twice); once in 2002 and again in 2010 while I attended the Religious Communicators Congress in Chicago. In recent years, I’ve completed two projects for Mark — illustrations for an article he wrote and a logo and brochure for The Humanitas Forum. From the beginning, Mark has been more than a client. He is a true friend. Through his encouragement and trust, he’s helped me create some of my finest work … and inspired me to do all my work with excellence. To the glory of God!
Clients and projects acquired through Mark's influence
SBC Home Mission Board
Pages from a brochure created in 1996 for the Church Loan Division of the SBC Home Mission Board. This was produced the year prior to the organization’s name change to the North American Mission Board.
SBC Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission
Logo designed in 1996 for the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission based on a sketch by Dr. Richard Land on a napkin. Yes, it really does happen.
HomeLife Magazine
When I started designing SBC LIFE, Jon Walker was the associate editor. In 1998, shortly after he became editor of HomeLife magazine, he had me redesign its nameplate and front cover.
HomeLife nameplate, cover prototype and actual first cover with the new design (January 1998).
Baptist Press
Baptist Press was closely associated with SBC LIFE, providing some of its content. Over the years, I completed several projects for them, including this brochure.
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
In 2001, Gary Ledbetter left Midwestern Seminary to join the staff of The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Together with Mark, Gary and I had worked on projects for the seminary, so it felt natural to continue our working relationship after his move to Texas.
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention logo
Logo for the Southern Baptists of Texas convention's state missions offering
Nameplate and selected pages from the inaugural issue of Southern Baptist TEXAN (February 19, 2002).
Nameplate and prototype cover for monthly magazine
Ginosko Publishing / Life Line Publishing
Shortly after Mark stepped away from SBC LIFE to become president of Midwestern, John Revell became associate editor and would eventually become editor. While still on staff with the SBC Executive Committee, John began writing and publishing through his own company, Ginosko Publishing. Later, he would found and publish through Life Line Publishing.
Getting the Most from God was designed for Ginosko Publishing and the series Yet I Will Rejoice! for Life Line Publishing.
Life Line Chaplaincy
In 2011, John Revell left his position with the SBC Executive committee to become pastor of Stamford Baptist Church in Connecticut. The following year, he was asked to be on-call chaplain for the Stanford Police Department. As founder and president of Life Line Chaplaincy (2014), John resigned his pastorate in 2015 to serve full-time as Chaplain for Stamford Police Department, Stamford Fire Department and Stamford 911 Dispatch; Westport Police Department; Newtown Police Department; and Connecticut State Police.
Life Line Chaplaincy logo and pages from a brochure