Colors of Character (2020) - full transcript

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

[AIR WHOOSHING]

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

[STEVE] Scripture
says, "In all your ways,

acknowledge Him and
He'll direct your path."

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Well, a path is not a freeway
or a road or a boulevard.

A path could be cutting
through anything

where nobody's
never been before.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

My career is the same thing.



[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Doting out of art
business was very tough.

The term starving
artists, is very real.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

I get a lot of sports art, a
lot of University of Alabama.

Then African-American
artists doing artwork

that was sanctioned
by the university.

Nobody had ever done it before.

During a time of my childhood,

when the civil
rights moment was on,

teacher would ask me, what do
you wanna be when you grow up?

You never said artists.

She will tell you, you got
to think of something else.

The thing that's big
to me is non-visual.



The spirit of God that
comes in to the studio

and enables me to do
everything that I do.

That's the most
important part of it.

30 years doing sports art,

artwork in almost every sports
hall of fame in the country.

Everybody's calling, are
you gonna do this painting?

We wanna print on it.

All of a sudden, God
speaks to me and said,

"We're not gonna go that way."

If God says something, I've
learnt you better just go

and do what He says.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

A mutual friend called
me up one day and said,

you've got to meet this
guy, he's got a great story.

I get that all the time.

In this case, it was true.

Over barbecue lunch,
I heard about Steve,

I heard about his
transformation.

I knew that I had to be involved
in helping tell that story.

And I thank the Lord every
day, I got that opportunity.

He's gifted from God.

He is an untrained
artist who looks like

he went to the Parsons or
The Grand Central Academy.

I've never quite seen anybody

paint like that untrained, ever.

Steve Skipper is
an incredible artist.

I mean, breathtaking
art, you know,

God-given talent,
amazing ability.

There's a lot of sports
art out in the marketplace.

And I do think sports art
is very important because

sporting events and memories
from sporting events

are very visual in nature.

Those iconic moments in
time that are captured,

create those lasting
memories for people.

This is still one
of my favorite,

if not my most favorite
pieces of sports art.

The entire concept just
exploded off the campus.

I didn't know who he
was when he sent this

but he got my attention
when he sent this.

Steve Skipper, man, I
didn't know much about Steve

not at all, I mean getting
to really know him,

he did a poetry of
me on the sideline,

and he should know how
to capture the moment

and the individual,
his work is unmatched.

The thing about Steve is
when you can match talent

with passion and
professionalism,

then you go come up
with a good product.

And he comes up with a
good product every time.

I met Steve over 25 years ago

when I've had a number
of pieces art of Steve's

and I'm a fan of his.

Oh, this is Nick Saban, won
the national championship.

He had a very tough
life when he was younger

and he pulled himself out of it

and begins to paint such
extraordinary works.

I don't know how he did it.

You can't explain that.

Explain that, explain that.

I don't know how he
did it, explain that.

[VIDEO REWINDING SOUNDS]

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

I was born in a
place called Rosedale,

which is a part of Homewood.

A very, very special place

where they say it takes a
village to raise a child.

I think they kind of
invented that in Rosedale.

Steve grew up at
a small community

near Birmingham, Alabama
located right in the middle

of a very affluent
area in the city.

Very, very protective parents

and everybody hovering over you

because of the civil rights
movement going on at the time.

I didn't understand
too much about it.

I think that with everything
that was going on,

they did an incredible
job of taking care of us

mentally and emotionally
and not allowing us

to get involved in
what was going on,

which was danger all around.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

I remember vividly one day
I was probably about five

came on the little
black and white TV

that Dr. King had been killed.

[PEOPLE SHOUTING]

I have some very sad
news for all of you.

And that is that, Martin
Luther King was shot

and was killed
tonight [INDISTINCT].

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

I remember the screaming,
not only in the house

in the whole neighborhood,
everything changed.

Negroes of the United
States have demonstrated that

non-violence is not
sterile passivity,

but a powerful moral force,

which makes false
social trends formation.

Sooner or later, all
the peoples of the world

will have to discover a way
to live together in peace

and thereby transform
this pending cosmic elegy

into a creative
Psalm of brotherhood.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

Birmingham has such a
special place for the country

when it comes to civil
rights agitation,

insistence of people,

it's the site of some of
the most horrific events

that showed us who we were.

The civil rights
movement was not just about

marching here and
marching there,

it was about getting
opportunities,

better opportunities
than we had.

At Rosedale, I would have a book

that would be about this size,

but you go to
Edgewood elementary

that same book was like this

and it had a whole lot
more information in it.

Steve was in the fourth
grade at Rosedale School,

which was still a
totally segregated

all black elementary school.

A teacher named
BurnHill Saunders

happened to past his desk one
day and noticed Steve drawing.

She was extremely passionate.

She recognized the fact that
I had something special.

She took him down a hallway
to a tiny little closet,

in that closet
were art supplies.

She sat Steve down and said,

"I'll come back
and get you later."

She went to the principal
of the school and told him,

and wanted to get
some funds allocated

for some art supplies,

but there were no
funds in the school

so she started
paying her own money.

Looking back on it right now,

I know she was trying to get
me to concentrate, focus.

And she brought these old paints

and these beautiful brushes.

And she actually bought
canvas and stuff like that.

I didn't know anything,

but we can know a piece of
paper or something like that

on a notebook.

It would make the story
beautiful if I tell you,

I sat in there and did
some beautiful artwork,

but the truth of the matter is,

I sat there and I
was so intimidated.

Squeezing paint out of a
tube was a new experience,

all these different
paintbrushes.

Why did you have to have
10 different paint brushes?

And then at the same time, I
mean, all these different...

All paints and stuff like that.

All he knew was they smell good.

He still enjoys the
smell of that oil paint.

It wasn't a good
experience for a long time,

but I think that
she kept believing

that something was gonna happen.

She would come to my home and
talked to my parents and say,

"One day your son is gonna
be real special in art."

Well, he didn't put anything
on the canvas that day,

but Ms. Saunders came
back and promised

he could come back
anytime he wanted to

and that's where he really
started putting oil paint

on the canvas.

I had a big brother, Don,

everything he wanted
to do, I wanted to do.

And that got me in
trouble sometimes.

You know, he tends to do some
things that weren't right.

But one thing that he did,
he used to like to draw,

he could do the head of a
man in about five minutes,

I thought that was so cool.

And I had an uncle
that was very good.

And he could look at you
doing whatever you're doing,

take a pencil and
a piece of paper

and make some beautiful sketch.

And I will be so
excited, you know,

because he was
beyond my brother.

He could really get
detailed and everything.

It was funny though that
after he would get through,

he would be so sad.

He couldn't be an artist.

They couldn't be
allowed to be one,

but he was just totally
emotionally destroyed,

which caused him to
become an alcoholic.

Steve's uncle left Birmingham
to go back to California,

where he had previously
worked as a sketch artist,

just outside the
Gates of Disneyland.

He was convinced a black man
could never make a living

in the segregated South.

As a little kid you
know you see things,

but you don't really
understand and later on you do,

because when I told my
mom, I wanna be an artist,

she started thinking
about his experience.

I'm gonna have to go through
the same stuff he went through

and she didn't want that for me.

Steve's mother told him,

no black man can make
a living as an artist.

For a long time I thought
she was rejecting my artwork.

I didn't really understand
where she was coming from.

Everything that she was
trying to protect me from

in my passion, my dedication
to go ahead and be an artist,

I experienced every
bit of that anyway.

And she would always tell
me just get a real job,

you know, just make a living.

It's not that important
to make a difference,

just to make a living.

Get an education,
get a real job,

don't do anything
that upset anybody.

At nine years old, I
witnessed some stuff

that I never should
have saw as a kid.

I thought the sun rose
and set with my parents,

at nine years old,
my mom had an affair

and I walked in on her
with this other guy.

And it really just messed me
up in a whole lot of ways.

It filled me with a
whole lot of anger.

And when I say anger,
I mean way past

what a nine year old kid
should ever go through.

I didn't have any kind of
outlet of getting it out.

Couldn't tell anybody
too embarrassed.

So I just held it on the inside.

I saw the relationship
between her

and my dad kind
of deteriorating.

And even though it deteriorated,

they stayed together physically.

He would have his life
and she would have hers.

A few years after that,
we were bust in 1968.

I was a part of
the school system

of kids transferring from
African-American neighborhoods

into white schools, which
traumatic for me because

the only white people that I
saw was the insurance mayor

and we didn't have
a relationship.

So we're going to schools
and the turmoil of going

into that different world
and then the turmoil of them,

receiving us into their world.

It was really traumatic
on both sides.

And so once we get there,

there's a whole lot of
different racial clashing

between students, we
get in fights every day.

My situation stood
out a little bit more

than everybody else, because
I was extremely angry.

I think I got into more
fights than anybody else.

By the time I was 13, this
anger was like a fever pitch.

From nine to 13, all that
anger was inside of me.

One Sunday afternoon,

I had a cousin that
introduced me to marijuana

and on the back porch
of my parents' home,

I smoked my first joint.

It seemed like
every ounce of anger

and every part of the
problems that I was facing,

that was the answer to it.

Because I didn't
feel any other pain.

I didn't feel any time.

I think it was a few
months after that

I was introduced to The Crips.

Steve really didn't feel like
he had a strong family life

at this time.

He turned to some other
source for family.

[ANNOUNCER] Two additional
Crips gang members

were arrested in South Central
Los Angeles this morning.

[WOMAN] The drugs seized
at the border yesterday

are believed to
belong to the Crips,

a street gang rising
in national notoriety.

The Crips are one of the
largest and most violent

street gangs in the world.

They're primarily made up
of young African-Americans

and Hispanics and they
originated in Southern California.

First as black clubs
and then to something

a lot more sinister.

Membership thrived among
those that were most affected

by joblessness poverty,
racial segregation,

after infighting and some
vicious battles with other gangs,

The Crips came under the
influence of the major drug cartels

and they spread their influence
even more to other cities

across the US
including Birmingham.

And so that night that I went in

real late at night,
very, very dark,

you're gonna feel these
all these guys are there.

And then there's a leader
that walks up to you

and asks if you really wanna
be a part of what we entail.

I just stand there and look
him in the eye and say, yeah.

He speaks to this
other guy and said,

"Okay, we're gonna
jump him on tonight."

And so there's 10 other guys
that walk up all of a sudden,

they're all bigger than me,
probably anywhere from 17 to 20,

maybe some are 30 years old.

There are people in the Crips
who were in the military.

They train these guys how to
fight hand to hand combat.

Navy Seals, they can
train you how to kill

with your bear hands.

So the 10 other guys
walk up in front of me.

Then the leader all of
a sudden he says, go.

And all 10 of them
started beating on me.

This draws out this anger
that's on the inside of me

and I look at every
last one of them.

Every last one of them
looks like my mom.

So after a few
minutes of fighting,

I remember having
blood all over me.

I remember all those
guys being on the ground.

I remember blood in my
mouth and everything

and I remember pieces
of skin and everything

all over my face.

And I remember
looking at the leader

and asking him what he next.

And he said, the answer
much worse, "You're in."

So from that point
on life just changed

totally, totally different.

You're not a normal kid anymore.

You're from a serious serious
organization that you ended

run by drug kingpins
from California.

You're not just hanging
out on the corner

with your pants hanging
low or something like that.

This is a totally
different situation

that you've been recruited into.

So he found exactly
what he was looking for.

He found brothers, he found
family, he found a structure.

It just happened
that certain way was

about as bad as it can get.

I used to walk up the
street from my parents' house,

turn the corner where
my mom couldn't see,

there's a limousine that
picked me up took me to school.

I get in the limousine
change clothes

from clothes that was
sent from California

for me to wear in schools.

There's a backpack
full of drugs,

I put a backpack on my
back and go in school,

sell drugs all day.

School teachers,
students, whoever,

come back backpack
full of money,

turn it back over
to them, cycle.

But I'm thinking
limousine, new clothes,

new shoes and everything.

This was heaven.

Steve also became their
chief drug debt enforcer.

He's the guy who went out
and collected drug money.

I've gotten good at it.

I've actually gotten
good at being a crook.

I'm so good at it.

I've never went out to
collect the drug dealers money

and came back without it.

You know what it takes
to get this money.

Even at 16 and 13, we're
dealing with grown people

that own money who cares.

And when it comes to
getting the money back

for the drug dealer, I have
been the best there is.

High school was a totally
different situation from here on.

High school wasn't
high school anymore,

high school was business.

Because of what I focused
on was not lesson,

I didn't care
anything about lesson,

because I always thought getting
your lesson, you graduate,

you want a good job,
I had a good job.

I was making more money
than the teachers.

So high school was business
and it was about selling

as many drugs as I could, to
as many people as I could.

And I had teachers
and I had people

that worked in the school
and I had a lot of students.

And about me being in
Homewood High School system,

money was not the problem.

This is not like
working in a ghetto,

this is a school where
money is flowing everywhere.

And if these kids wanted,

they gonna get mama and
daddy to give them the money

to get it and so we were
in heaven, so I thought.

When I started playing football,

that's when I
started getting high.

Well I took pride
in the fact that

there was a group of guys that
we played football together.

We won a State championship
my sophomore year.

We played one game
we didn't get high

and we almost got beat, we
won that game by three points.

We were high as a kite and we
beat everybody just sell it

because you couldn't
feel any pain.

[LAUGHS]

Throwing our bodies everywhere.

I don't know how we concentrated
or remember what a play was

or something like
that but we did.

Steve was about at the
lowest point you could imagine

any human being getting to.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

Nothing in the world satisfies.

It always pacifies,
but it never satisfies.

Looking back at it, I
can't believe you know

that God brought me
through something like that

because I remember how many
times over and over again,

you come this close
to being dead.

But at 16 years old, I
had begin to become tired,

which was a blessing.

We were doing campus ministry

in Jacksonville State University

and one of the members there

was a member of Steve's
church in Birmingham.

And that's the brother
that is called Big Mike,

that knows Steve.

At that time, I knew
nothing about Steve,

but I knew Mike very well.

And he said, "Let's have a
meeting over at my church."

I'm sitting in a park one day,

we had just got through
robbing this place.

That everybody in
neighborhood knows God,

but can name a big
Mike, real big guy.

We wasn't friends at
that time but I knew him.

Mike had become what
he kept calling, saved,

and he would witness to
everybody and tell them about

that he had come in
contact with Jesus Christ.

And he yells out,

Steve Skipper, you need
to put that stuff down

and give your life
to Jesus Christ.

We're not just in the
park as little kids,

we were the most dangerous
people in the world,

are sitting right here.

And if anybody approaches
that space, anytime like that,

or with the wrong look,
it could be dangerous.

And so all these
guys are packing.

I know that his
life was in jeopardy

and he starts talking
about Jesus Christ

at the top of his lungs.

And I'm supposed to be the
leader that's sitting there.

You know, I'm supposed
to be, you know,

if all these other are German
shippers I'm the Rockwell,

but at the same time,

what they don't know is
everything that he's saying

about Jesus Christ
on the inside,

that little boy that's
on the inside of me,

I'm listening to
everything he's saying

because it's for
me and I'm tired.

And I said, leave him
alone just let him talk.

He's not hurting anybody
just let him talk.

And that's totally against
our cree to let them talk.

I tell Mike, I said, come
here, let me talk to you.

And so they think that
I'm fixing to tell him,

look, I'll kill you
if you don't shut up.

I go over and I talk to Mike

and they can't really
hear what I'm saying.

And I said, "Look, you don't
need to talk to me like this.

"Maybe we can go
somewhere sometime

"I could meet you
somewhere keep talking,

"but not right now."

And he is so bold.

That's one thing that Jesus
gives you, is the boldness.

When you first get saved, bro,

you got a boldness
on the inside.

You could care less what
the devil has to say.

And so Mike says,

"Look, I've been praying for you

"and God wants you to be saved.

"He's going to save you."

I didn't know nobody
was praying for me.

He's got a great
plan for your life

and it's better than what
you're doing right now.

I can see this far

and he was talking about what
God wanted to do with me.

And so it was
sounding good to me,

but I knew this guy
was over there looking.

And I knew at the same
time, you know, man,

you got to go somewhere else
because this is gonna get bad

and it's gonna get bad
quick in a few minutes.

They not scared of the
police, they pay the police.

They're not afraid,
there's nothing, you know?

And so he keeps
talking and I say,

I'll tell you what,
I'll make you a deal.

I go to church with you
one night if you agree,

don't talk to me
about Jesus no more.

He said deal.

He said it too quick
it almost scared me.

I mean, I thought he's gonna
think about it at least.

He said, I'll tell you what,

"I'm gonna get a preacher
to come to that church

"right over there

"and he's gonna preach
a sermon just for you."

That night before
I went in there,

I made a deal with the guy

'cause I thought that
this was, you know

I go in here, I've
been to church before

they started singing,

they start getting
excited and everything.

In about 15 minutes
they get so excited

they won't notice I'm
going out of the door

and I would meet
this guy outside

then I would start
taking speed that night.

Well, I walked into the church
and sat down in the back.

The choir was singing.

And when brother Mincey got
up and he started preaching,

I had never heard
anybody preach like this.

Only thing I'm
used to is pastors,

pastors preached on Sunday.

But there's another
thing that God had

that I didn't know anything
about called an evangelist

he preached everywhere, anytime.

So this guy comes in when
he first started preaching

and he starts talking about
stuff that only I knew.

And then I wonder, did
I tell Mike about this?

Could Mike have told
this guy about this

and I started getting angry
because this was too personal.

And then he started
talking about stuff

that I know I didn't
tell Michael about.

And it was like, there's a
lot of people in the church,

but he was talking
directly to me.

There was a young man
standing to this side

that caught my eye.

And what made me remember him

after the alter call
the next Sunday.

And I pull up a little
late and what he was doing,

he was fussing about something.

They said he wanted to know
why church had not started yet.

He said church was supposed
to have started at 11 o'clock.

It is 10 minutes after 11.

And this is the same man
that I saw in that corner

of the alter call
standing there.

I had no idea
that God cared about

my everyday aspect of my life.

That he cared about what I was
going through as a teenager.

You know, I thought that
religion was for old people.

The same God that was
concerned about Joseph

as a young teenager or
Samson as a young man,

was concerned about me.

Everything that happened
in my childhood,

that he was not only
concerned about it

and he was not only able
to do something about it,

but he's willing.

And all I had to do with
surrender my life to Him, for sure.

This was a no brainer.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

December 23rd, 1976,
9:46 PM, life was good.

I found myself on that altar
giving my life to Jesus Christ.

That 7:15 rendezvous
never happened

because Steve did
not leave the church.

I found out later the
speed that he had it

would have cut right at
me and would've killed me.

So God saved my life
and my soul that night.

And when a person can know
what God has done for them

like that, that put a
different kind of dedication

in that person.

When I gave my life to
the Lord, I was so happy.

One of the additional things

that brother Mincey talked about

was God had given us
all gifts and talents.

And so my mind ran back to the
fact that I knew how to draw,

but I had sealed that you know,

because you're in the gangs

you don't have time to
be drawing anything.

And then he said, it's
never too late for you

to pick up what God gave
you, what you put down.

There's no way that Mike
could have told him this.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

And then I started thinking
and start remembering,

there's two different
things I got to deal with.

Saturday morning, I made up my
mind to go talk to these guys

and let them know
I won't be back.

There's a Cree in the group
that the only way to get out,

it's to die.

Boldness came over me that I
had never had before in my life

went up a gang like
this right here,

boldness is your best friend.

And I wanna make it
clear to everybody

in Alabama and California
I won't be back anymore.

This is it, I resigned.

I'm retiring, I'm quitting.

You can keep the
gold watch, I'm gone.

Don't never sell
short the boldness

that comes with
being a Christian.

So when I walked in,

I had a boldness that
actually scared them.

They never seen
anything like that.

Nobody never stood up to them,
you don't stand up to them.

And they backed up in a way
to where I turned around

and I walked out, I've
been walking ever since

nobody said a word.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

I've been addicted to some
drugs that have been taking

And I said," I got to go home

"and I got to go through that."

And so I went home and I
sat up in the bed waiting.

I was afraid 'cause I know
that it was like a train wreck.

All of a sudden it
will come from anywhere

and it would take you over.

And so I sat there
in the bed, you know,

one hour, two hours,
three hours, four hours.

Next thing you know,
that was Friday night.

And next thing you know,
it's Saturday morning.

It never happened.

42 years later,
it never happened.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

My junior year in high
school, I got saved.

I was witnessing to everybody

and I was witnessing
to the janitors.

I was on everybody's nerves.

And instead of
reading the books,

I read my Bible, all the
time reading the Bible.

Only thing I want to
know is about God.

My senior year, we were at
practice, pouring down rain.

We were hitting each other.

We had full pads and everything

and the mud all over the place.

I looked over towards
the high school

and there was a light
on, in one of the rooms.

And I knew exactly which room
that was, that was art class.

And I saw people walking
around in clean clothes,

in no rain and no football gear,

no cuts on your hands or
nothing like that, no pain.

And I thought, you know what?

I know how to do something else.

[LAUGHS]

And that's when God
started really telling me,

that He wanted me
to be an artist.

Nobody in my family at that
time had had a scholarship

or a chance to go to college.

My mom and dad's hopes and
dreams were hanging on me.

I was at one of the best
high schools in the State,

pretty average, you know,
which I struggled to keep,

but I was pretty
good in football.

I knew how to draw and paint.

So the counselors
came and they said,

we got good news for you, you
got three scholarship options.

You got two
scholarships in football

and you got one scholarship
to Florida State, Fine Art.

And I celebrate it
for about five seconds

because in second number six,

the Lord spoke in
my ear and said,

"You don't need to take
either one of them."

And I'd get this
funny look on my face.

And the counselors looking
at me like what, you know,

this is good news.

And the Lord spoke
again and said,

"I'm gonna teach you everything

"you need to know
about art myself.

"So in the end,
I'll be the only one

"that you will have
to give the glory to."

So I told the counselor,

I'm not gonna need
the scholarships,

God's gonna teach me
everything I need to know.

And she looked at me
like I lost my mind.

She said, "How do you
think this is gonna go over

"with your parents?"

This is gonna be world war III.

I went home and told my
parents, they went ballistic.

They thought I'd lost my mind.

After the civil rights movement,

we did all the marching
and everything.

We got the opportunities and
he comes up here and saying,

Jesus is gonna teach me
everything I needed to know?

But even after he had
turned his life around,

after he left the Crips,
after he had rejected drugs

and after he
graduated high school,

Steve's path was not
necessarily an easy one.

Neither was his dream
of becoming an artist.

He soon had a family to feed.

Though he continued
to work at his art,

Steve followed his
mother's advice.

He took a job in one of the
mills there in Birmingham,

American Cast Iron Pipe
Company that made steel pipe.

He had probably one of the
dirtiest jobs you can imagine.

[SOFT JAZZ MUSIC]

Married with a son at the
time and I'm pretty happy,

it's one of the
best jobs there is

as far as benefits
are concerned.

But what people wouldn't
tell me about the other part,

the first time that
I went to work there,

there's fire all over the place.

These huge labels of melted iron

that has been transported
all over the planet.

There's dirt everywhere,
there's filth everywhere.

There's little metal
fragments on everything

and all this kind of stuff.

Before you go home,

you have to take a shower
to get in your car.

I think it's pretty much
any of our idea of hell.

That's where Steve works.

One night the job
that I'm working

is kind of away from all
of the danger I'm thinking.

They tell you always pay
attention to what you're doing

and always stay focused
on what we told you to do.

'Cause you see
people getting hurt,

see people get
killed all the time.

After I get through working,

I used to go home and work
on a painting I'm working on.

Steve had actually started
painting a portrait of Samson,

someone who had
broken his vow to God

and had lost his
talents, his strength.

And that's very apropos
to what's about to happen.

Yeah, I was in this place where

there's a whole lot of
pipe that's on this railing

and you rolling the
pipe down the rail

as they go towards the furnace.

And so all of a sudden, I take
my mind off of what I'm doing

and I'm looking over here,
but the pipe was still rolling

and I don't know it.

So my thumb gets caught
between these two.

When that pipe hit my thumb,
I heard the devil this time.

I heard him tell me,
I've got you this time.

You're never playing again.

I turned around and
I looked at my hand

and all of this was crushed
and it was filled with

looks like hundreds of pieces
of the little metal fragments.

And then it looks so bad,
I can't even look at it.

And so my boss came over

and I had one of the
toughest boss and he said,

"What happened?

"What did you do?"

And I showed him my
hand and he screamed,

you know he's in despair.

By the time we get
to Brookwood Hospital

it's really hurting,
it's hurting bad.

The specialist comes
in and he looks at it

he said we got to
get it cleaned up

before I can do
anything with it.

He puts it in some
kind of solution

and all the dirt in the metal
fragments start to come off.

And it's about like,
stuff like that thin

that was in my hand.

Wrap it up, I go home and
I started thinking about

the painting is half finished.

You'll never paint
again, you forget it.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

My hands wrapped up like this
and I'm sitting in my bed

and all of a sudden,
God tells me,

"Get up, let's go
to the ease room."

Can't you see what's wrong?

Can't you see what's happening?

I go to the ease room.

He said, "Get the paint brush."

My hand is wrapped with gauze.

When you're artists, you
gotta feel that paintbrush.

You gotta be able to feel
it and maneuver it around.

And I put the paintbrush
down in between the gauze

of my thumb and my hand

and it slips out of my hand.

And I'm trying to figure out,

why is God telling
me to do this?

This doesn't make any sense.

And I tell him I cannot do it.

And he said,

"Pick up the paintbrush and
put it back in there again."

He said, "Put your hand
up against the canvas

"and we're fixing
to start painting."

He's saying, we, this time

I put my hand up there and
just in obedience, I'm crying,

'cause I'm thinking,
why is He doing that?

It's over and all
of a sudden I feel

something on top of my hand.

My hand starts to move
and I'm crying so bad,

but I can see what I'm painting.

And the next thing, you
know, I wipe my face

and every color is going exactly
where it's supposed to go.

And it's going better than it
was when my hand was right.

He actually finished
that painting of Samson,

his hand recovered completely.

He's able to use it
obviously very much well.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

From that moment til now,
when I get in the studio,

I can feel His
hand on top of mine

and He's got my hand
across the canvas.

And it takes me probably a
month after I finish a painting

even today to sign
because I know who did it.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Steve got started at sports
art almost by accident.

The first paying job
that Steve talks about

was at one of the primarily
white high schools

in the Birmingham area.

They asked him to come
in and draw sketches

of the baseball team.

Steve would go in and do the
sketches and charge $35 a piece

for those, that's more
money than he would make

making cast iron
pipe at the simco.

He thought, you know what?

There may be money
in this after all.

And that time in Birmingham...

With a local sportscaster
Herb Winches,

one of the players
offered Steve money

to paint a portrait of him.

Steve didn't know how
much to charge him for it.

He was gonna ask for 35 or $40.

Herb Winches said, Steve,
you don't charge enough.

These guys make a lot
of money, charge them.

Steve agreed to charge $250.

And that's where he learned
the value of what he was doing.

One thing I understood
about athletes and coaches,

they all have egos and their
egos are like Mount Rushmore.

When one of them gets something

and the other one
finds out he's got it,

he wants something not
like it, but bigger.

So that was cool,
that was real good

because when Cornelius
Bennett wanted something

Derek Thomas was gonna
want something bigger.

So it was more money.

Derek Thomas had just signed
with the Kansas City Chiefs

and he came over to my house
and he wants to commission me

to do a painting and
he pays me $10,000.

I remember taking that check.

My mom was sick and I
took that check to her.

And I showed her the check
and she set up in the bed

like this was
penicillin or something.

She sat up in the bed and she
said, "You got a real job."

I think that was one of
the best times of my life,

because it's about
two weeks later,

Bobby Humper writes me
a check for $12,000.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

This is gonna be kind
of strange to somebody

that's not a Christian,

but when you have a
relationship with God,

He'll tell you to do stuff
that doesn't make sense at all.

As Steve was beginning
to paint portraits

of a professional athletes,

including members of
the Atlanta Falcons,

he met Mike Schula.

Mike Schula at that
time was the quarterback

for the University of Alabama.

And Mike saw some of the
work that Steve had done

for the Falcons.

He suggested that Steve talk
to the University of Alabama

head football coach at
the time, Ray Perkins.

Perkins had a bad reputation.

He was about as
tough as a $2 State

and he just really
didn't take any guff.

I had just gotten saved.

God had just got
me out of the Crips

and with the attitude
that I had in the Crips

and the attitude that
he has, you know,

this is gonna be a train wreck.

So in my mind, that's
what I'm thinking.

I remember one
night, God telling me

just as clear as I'm
talking to you right now,

I want you to go to Tuscaloosa
and meet with coach Perkins.

Don't have a college degree,
barely got out of high school

and you want me to go to a
university to talk to King Kong.

I had to be just either, truly
in love with God or crazy,

or a little bit of both,
because I went down there.

Turned out to be a
good thing that he did

after giving Steve a rough time,

Ray told him about the
annual senior banquet

for the Alabama football team.

Coach Perkins wanted
a painted portraits

of each one of those players

and have had a
part of the trophy.

He said, "I've got a guy
that's doing it already,

"but he's not as good as you.

"How'd you like the job?"

He said, "I'm gonna fire that
guy in about five minutes

"and I'm gonna
give you the job."

And I'm like, yes.

I mean, are you kidding?

Yes.

He said, I got 22 singers.

I need the portraits done
in two weeks, can you do it?

I said, yes.

[LAUGHS]

And I get in the car and
I'm driving back up the road

and I started thinking,
22 singers in two weeks,

are you crazy?

There's no way I can do that.

God gave me a different
technique of doing pastel portraits.

I could do four in a day.

And so ahead of time, I was
finished with the portraits

that really get him charged up.

That began a long relationship

with the University of
Alabama football team

from Ray Perkins,
through Jean Stallings,

through Mike Schula himself
who became the coach later on

at Alabama, up until the
current coach, Nick Saban.

When going to the
University of Alabama

and you can confirm it by
people who don't want you there.

People who definitely don't
want you there as a fine artist.

You have the nerve
to come in here.

The race you are, without
a college education

and think that you can
actually compete with guys

who are here and who are
so-called the right color

and who have college
education here?

The brunt of the
racism was terrible.

I experienced people
who were determined

with everything in
them to make sure

that I didn't make
it in the business.

We got to the point
where, I mean,

I'm pretty much ready to quit.

In fact, there's a
lot of frame shops

and different galleries I'm
not allowing them right now.

[PHONE BEEPS]

One night I was sitting
there with my kids

and the phone rang.

We had this den where we sit in

and you can look out the window

you could see people
come into the driveway.

And so the phone rang and
there was this eerie voice

of somebody on there
saying this morning

for me not to come
back to Tuscaloosa.

And so we look out the
window and it's dark.

And then there's
cars in the driveway.

They say it on the tape.

You see how easy it is
for us to get to you.

And that's when my
girls and my boys

and all of them who knew how
to draw, wanted to be artists,

but when they
heard that message,

they wanted to do
something else.

At the same time, there
were some people who

were just as determined that
they were gonna do everything

they could to make sure that
they were gonna help me.

And I have people to
come to me and said,

"I don't know why I'm
while I'm doing this,

"but I just feel like
I need to help you.

"I feel like I need
to be on your side

"and I'm gonna make sure you
get everything that you need."

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

We met Steve at
a charity benefit.

They auctioned a
painting that he had

of the Alabama LSU game.

It signified the tornado that
happened in Alabama in 2011,

we ended up winning it.

It was a tornado
behind it, right?

Yeah, there's a
tornado in there.

I heard about Steve
through I think, Ricky Davis,

who was a teammate
of mine in Alabama.

They talked about, you
know, doing a portrait

and I'm not a guy that likes
to do portraits or anything.

And I was kind of
lukewarm about doing it.

But I found out about
how passionate he was,

but also how talented he was.

And he came up with
this photograph

and he used it and it
came out very, very well.

We ran into Steve Skipper
through a friend of ours,

was introduced, just
felt his passion

and saw a little
bit of his work,

strong in his
faith as was David,

just felt comfortable
with Steve before he left

and thought, you know,
this is the guy that

we'd really like to
see do this piece.

The day he brings
it in the office,

open it up and look at it.

You just kind of speechless.

The first thing David did
prior to putting on the helmet

and getting ready
was bow his head,

fold his hands and
say a little prayer.

And I reached out to Steve

because he's just
sent this to me

and to break through all
the clutter of things

that you're constantly
receiving across your desk,

I'm like, wow, man,

we need you to do some
additional work together.

So that began our business
relationship with him.

Very aggressive in
pursuing his goals

in a very understated way.

You know, when he first
came and we met, you know,

here's a guy that
wanna be our artist.

You don't think he can draw
people or paint people.

When you see the picture,

you see more than the
individual in that picture,

you kind of see
where they come from

and you can feel what
he's accomplished in life.

How detailed and in
depth, Steve paints them.

Jenny Steve wore blue
eyes, got blue eyes.

The pieces of grass
coming up from the field

when somebody, like from
the cleat marks, you know,

it's unbelievable
just the detail.

It is beautiful,
it's just gorgeous.

We're running out of
room for wall space.

Like we don't have
anywhere else to put them.

So you gotta slow down.

When I got the opportunity
with coach Saban,

that was an experience.

There were a lot of people
that were very opposed at me

having the guts or the
goal to even talk to him,

to actually have my
company partner with him

in a contract that
was unheard of.

When it all came down to,

I went to Memphis, Tennessee
to meet with his people.

And we have a folder
with recommendations

from all these different people,

including Ozzie Newsome
and Leeward Joe,

and then some other people.

I remember my attorneys
slide in the paperwork

over to the representative
of coach Saban

and sliding it back
over and saying,

"You're not gonna need that."

And then he told
me about this guy

that I was competing against.

And he said, he offered coach
Saban $200,000 up front.

I remember my attorney saying,

you mean you brought him all
the way off here to tell him

that you're gonna give this
opportunity to another guy.

And he said, "I didn't say that.

"I brought you all all the
way up to here to tell you

"that coach Saban
wants to take Steve.

"Coach Saban is sending a
message back to this other guy

"that he's gonna pick Steve

"and the people that he's
got working with him,

"but they wanna have
anything to do with

"the University of Alabama,

"that they're gonna have to
help Steve make it successful."

At that point, I'm
actually past blown away.

Coach Saban understood fully,

and he put his foot down and
said, "I'm taking him anyway."

I cried for probably
a week after that

and realizing what kind
of guy he really was.

It's about content of character,

has nothing to do
with color and skin.

It's about content of character.

My career is the same thing.

There's a lot of people that
were far from African-American

that made sure that they were
gonna do everything possible

for me to make it.

And they were willing
to take the flack

from their own people.

And when I did my research
for the civil rights movement,

I found that the
civil rights movement

wouldn't have lasted at all,

it would have crumble
except for the inclusion

of all the other different
races that made it possible

and made it successful.

Alabama had just won the
national championship.

Everybody is calling
me, asking me, you know,

are you're gonna
do this painting?

We wanna print on it
and stuff like that.

And I'm super happy.

All of a sudden, God
speaks to me and said,

we're not gonna go that way.

And let's say it's sad.

I'm an artist you know,
bill collectors artists,

we don't have a good
relationship at all.

He said, we're gonna just start
doing civil rights artwork.

I've researched this.

The market on civil rights
artwork is terrible.

A lot of times artists
just do the stuff together

and not spending
that much time on it

just doesn't make any sense.

I was in my studio and the
Lord spoke to me He said,

Steve Skipper for posterity.

So I call Steve, the Lord say

you supposed to do
some kind of artwork

that has something
to do with posterity.

God is gonna really
have to be in this

because a lot of people are not
buying civil rights artwork,

but I know he's
telling me to do it.

I've learned I've been
saved long enough,

you better just go on
and do what he said.

A few months later, the
Birmingham city council

asked him to do the
civil rights artwork

for the 50 year anniversary
of the civil rights movement.

And so I started doing research

and it was not something
that was out there,

it was something personal.

I didn't realize that
civil rights movement,

the heat of it was during
that time of my childhood.

Mayor Bale commissioned
me to commemorate

the civil rights
movement in Birmingham.

God showed me the vision of how

He want the painting to look.

Some people of all
these different races

would stand on the porch of
16th street, Baptist church.

And so in the sky across

where they were
looking out of the sky,

you saw different scenes from
the civil rights movement.

Because what I wanted to
show it was all the people

that never were in
front of the cameras

that made it possible for
the movement to be a success.

And I wanted to really put
an emphasis on the fact

and thank the people of
all these other races

that not only participated
in the movement,

but not only made it successful,

but paid the ultimate sacrifice.

So I could go in the doors
of University of Alabama,

NASCAR PGA, the whole lesson.

When I first did the
Birmingham commemorative,

we've got a lot of attention,
met a lot of different people.

And I started to hear about
Bloody Sunday in Selma.

And I was actually embarrassed

that after all the
years that I had lived,

I had never been to Selma and
I had never seen [INDISTINCT].

And I knew very little
about Bloody Sunday.

[ANNOUNCER] Selma
is praying overnight

from an obscure Southern town,

to the front pages
of old newspapers.

This church was headquarters
in the Negro drive

for the right to vote.

And it was here that
Martin Luther King

came to lend his
support to the campaign.

Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama,

it was a key point in the
struggle for voting rights

for African-Americans.

Dr. Martin Luther King
was leading a match

from Selma across the Edmund
Pettus bridge to Montgomery,

all in support of
the voting rights act

that was then pending
before Congress.

Those marchers were attacked
brutally by State troopers

and they were ultimately
turned back across the bridge.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

They were getting
ready to celebrate

the 50th anniversary
of Bloody Sunday

and when you're
driving to Selma,

when you come into
that downtown area,

and you look down the street,

the bridge is
sitting right there,

and it seems like instead
of you getting close to it,

it starts to come closer to you.

And it was inspiring to see it,

but then to know
the story behind it

and what happened on it.

It was mind blowing.

I talked to the mayor of Selma

and told them about what I did,

and he had saw the
Birmingham commemorative.

So he invited me to come
down and meet with him.

He's interested in allowing
me to do the commemorative,

painting of Selma.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

A lot people had gotten
involved, it suggested to me,

you need to take this painting

and show it to ambassador
Andrew Young in Atlanta.

I think the thing
about Steve Skipper

is that he gets the
spirituality of the movement.

He's not painting a realistic,

seeing the bridge was realistic,

but in the clouds is
where his work comes in.

It emphasizes what I have said

and that people
refuse to realize

we did not know what we
were doing, we had no plans.

We just knew that something
needed to be done.

And there was like
an old folk say,

if you take one step,
God will take two.

And so the way Steve
paints it in the clouds

emphasizes the spirituality
of the whole movement.

And particularly of
Martin Luther King.

Congressman John Lewis,

who is representative out
of the state of Georgia

he says the first
limited edition print

needs to be in the
presidential library

of president Lyndon Johnson.

He's the one that signed
the voting rights act

was the payoff for
the Bloody Sunday.

[CROWD APPLAUDING]

It just so happens that the
daughter of president Johnson

is in town.

So she request to
see the painting

at a private showing for her.

She sees the thing
and she comes up to me

and whispers in my ear,
"I want the first print

"to be my father's presidential
library, I'll set it up."

It's there right now.

I'd say, it's not a lot of work.

You don't see a lot
of civil rights work.

You know, for some reason,

that's some forgotten
art in America.

And for Steve to wanna
take on that project,

I think is one of
the greatest thing.

Because if there's anybody who
can capture the civil rights,

being from Alabama,
living in Birmingham

and seeing some of the
things that had happened

over the years in
Birmingham and Alabama,

if anybody could do it
and do it from their heart

and from a spiritual
standpoint, I think it's Steve.

I was in Louisiana with
a friend, Bob Baumhower.

I did a painting
of Eddie Robinson,

the night that he broke
Cause Brian's record.

Four or five hours one way

then four or five
hours the other way

you get to know a
lot about people.

When I started seeing
his civil rights art,

I shared some stories
with him about Bimini.

Well he asked me,

did you know that Dr.
King in The Bahamas?

Yeah, he was on an Island, a
little Island called Bimini.

And Bob was like
his history book.

Well, he starts going into
the fact that in 1964,

he had learned that he
won the Nobel peace prize.

And I started talking
to him about Dr. King

and his speech and how part of
that speech came from Bimini.

A lot of people don't
know that he was there

in The Bahamas and don't
know the significance

of both of our countries
coming together.

And the thing about Dr. King

was he was not only
a great leader,

he was not only a great
speaker, he was a great writer.

He wrote all of his speeches.

You know we were
surprised to say the least

when Dr. King won
the Nobel prize.

He thought he was dreaming.

He was just all struck.

Then we decided, how are we
gonna get the speech done?

Normally, Dr. King
went to Jamaica,

but he said, I know
too many people,

I won't get the time, too
many people know where I am.

A friend of his down
in Florida said,

we can take you to Bimini.

And he had to start working
on this speech immediately.

The next morning we got up
and got on a little sea plane.

And so Adam Clayton Powell
lived in Bimini, Bahamas.

Dr. King wanted to go over
there to get Adam Clayton Powell

to help him get the
civil rights bill passed.

And he was getting tremendous

amount of pressure
from J, Edgar.

By the second or
third day we were there.

All of a sudden we saw

this squadron of
helicopters coming in

and we wondered
what was going on.

They told us that J.
Edgar Hoover went off

on Martin Luther King
winning the Nobel prize

and that he was the world's
most notorious liar.

Well, Martin hadn't
said anything to him.

And we had not even
hardly criticized

'cause even though we knew we
were being followed by the FBI

president, John Kennedy
told Martin that

Hoover was claiming that
there were communists

taking over our organization,

supplying us with money and all

and he had okayed
the surveillance.

And so we had no
objection to that.

Dr. King, Andrew
Young, Ralph Abernathy,

they didn't tell anybody they
were going to The Bahamas,

but their wives,

but they didn't realize
that J. Edgar Hoover

had their phones tapped.

He knew they would
want over there.

We found out later that
Hoover had been nominated

by members of Congress
for the Nobel prize.

It upset him for
Martin to get it.

And he'd been wanting
it for many years.

I don't know what is so
important about these prizes.

And J. Edgar Hoover
lobbied in Congress

to get all these
people to speak for him

and to endorse him
and everything.

And all of a sudden this 35
year old black preacher scoop it

you know, gets the
Nobel peace prize.

I think it led Martin
know that this was

of global significance and it
really served to motivate him.

I was with him there
for three or four days

and he hardly ever talked to
me and he was in the spirit.

Adam Clayton Powell figured,

I've got to get him away
from those FBI agents.

And the only way I can do that,

they were gonna get him into
the mangroves of The Bahamas.

And in order to get
into the mangroves,

you had to have a guide.

Because you'd get in
and you can't get out,

you're die inside there.

So they had this guy by
the name of Ansul Saunders.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

Ansul Saunders is a
legendary fishing guide

on the Island of
Bimini in The Bahamas.

He was the one who took
Dr. King into the mangroves

to find peace and inspiration.

And then Ansul is still taking
folks there to this day.

Came to Brighton for the
Nobel prize acceptance speech.

I was sure of this spot.

I went, reach there stop
over there [INDISTINCT]

stuff was running
on the Mangroves.

He woke up and said, "I
believe now more than ever

"in the existence of God."

He said, "Over my hand,
I see freedom here,

"there must be a God somewhere."

He said, "I'm still hoping
people see all this life

and yet not believe
in existence of God."

Someones life on wrongs,
life on the runs.

He looked up and he said,

"I feel as though I
can almost reach out

"and touch the face to good
and touch the face of God."

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

Powell talked to me
about the fact that

wouldn't it be great if you
were able to go to that place,

and said I've been to the
place where Dr. King went

it's beautiful.

He said, "How would you
like to go to that place

"and do a painting of the
same one Dr. King was?"

Well, I thought this
was just a conversation.

And so I said, "Man,
that'd be great."

And all of a sudden he
picks up his telephone

he starts calling somebody.

And he said, "Yeah, he's
sitting right here with me now.

"You wanna talk to him?"

And he hands me the phone.

I said, "Who is this?"

He said, "He's the governmental
officials from the Bahamas."

Sounds crazy I dropped
the phone on the floor.

He said, "Pick up the phone."

Well, I've known a
lot of folks in Bimini,

in different places
for a long time.

Actually, since my playing days.

They asked me if I would
like to come over there

and I said, yes.

And would you like to
meet out Ansal's Saunders,

'cause he's still alive?

He took Dr. King and
we have him to meet you

and everything
when you get there.

We going to The Bahamas
that they take me

to meet Ansal Saunders.

We're going, and we
start getting closer

and closer to the mangroves.

And we're turning
like this right here

and I can see a turn over
here and he'll turn this way.

And I looked to my left and
there's above the platform

that's coming up out
of the mangroves.

And on top of that,
there's a bust of Dr. King.

And this was a place
where Dr. King was

never felt the spirit of
God like this in my life.

Steve was just
absolutely blown away by

the stories over there
and Dr. King's presence,

which is still there.

I didn't sleep that night

because I kept thinking
about the experience.

And I remember coming back
and finishing the painting,

taking it to Atlanta, showed
it to ambassador Young,

he went crazy.

He said, I'm going with
you back over there

when you unveil it and he did.

Bimini, beautiful place.

I had no idea where ambassador
Young and I were going,

all I know is something
historic place about Dr. King

and then outcomes during the
ceremony, this gentleman,

by the name of Steve Skipper
about his work, his art

and him doing something
revolutionary for Dr. King

and canonizing his
moment in Bimini.

Low and behold, I
didn't know that

he was the artist that
put the art in our office.

That was the Selma painting.

And so I always marveled
at that painting.

But then now seeing this
particular work about King,

it gave a different perspective

of how to think
about artists for me.

And we went over
and we unveil it,

different people from
Bimini government,

people from the house of
parliament NASA were there

dignitaries wants to put
reproductions of it in the airport

so people could see it.

And it's never been
unveiled here in America.

And so that's what
we're planning now.

I really hope that he continues
doing it what he's doing.

If he can really
get some traction,

I think he make a
huge difference.

I'm a believer that
art moves the culture

and not the other way around.

I think he is an important
figure at the right time

in our history to help clean
up a lot of this nonsense

and get people talking
to each other again.

And his work makes you do that.

And what you're seeing tonight
one of the most important

moments really in 20th
century, American history

is brought to oil and
canvas in a way that

has rarely been achieved.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

When I saw Steve
Skipper's paintings,

the most powerful
thing about them,

he includes people of
all races, genders,

clearly shows that the fight
for civil rights for equality

has always been won by alliances

of people whose voices will
be raised rather than silent.

Whether or not it
is a family portrait,

whether or not it's sports,

whether or not
it's civil rights,

whether or not it's religion,

he's looking at it as an
opportunity to do something

and bring the best at the
end of it that he's painting.

He's a wonder, I
call him a wonder.

Quality of his pictures,
the detail of his pictures,

how many he can put out.

The great Renaissance painters
moved an entire continent.

Steve could end up having
the gift of being a prophet.

If his work can
continue like this,

the power of it is such
that he could bring about

an extraordinary amount
of healing in this land.

And boy, do we need it?

I believe that what
self-centered men have torn down,

men of a Senate can build up.

I still believe that one day

mankind will bow before
the altars of God

and be crowned triumphant
over war and bloodshed

that we shall overcome.

This faith can give us courage
to face the uncertainties

of the future.

It will give out tired feet,

new strengths as we
continue our forward strive

toward the city of freedom.

I still believe.

I was once told by a great
golfer that the game of golf

is filled with great technique.

If you perfect the
technique of the swing,

the ball happened to get
completely in the way.

In 1964, God called Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr

away from the stress, pressure

and laid out the civil
rights movement to himself.

This was a crucial time.

Dr. King using perfected
spiritual swing,

hit the golf ball and
ended up in the face of God

in the mangroves of Bimini.

There in the peace that
passes all understanding,

he took dictation from God.

Added strength and passion
to finish the movement strong

and to feel the great
calling on his life.

Which greater and
amazing grace of God

has allowed me to do a painting
and an unlimited edition

that celebrates Dr. King
sabbatical to Bimini.

I pray that this will inspire
you to find your Bimini

as you perfect a swing
of the Holy spirit.

Bimini was like the golf
ball that got in the way

at the technique

of a perfected spiritual
swing was completed.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

Find your Bimini, I found mine.

[SOFT BEAT MUSIC]

♪ Now I was a sinner,
a whole wrecked soul ♪

♪ The way of this
world, were all I knew ♪

♪ Temptations and sin ♪

♪ were my closest friend ♪

♪ But they left me
so cold and alone ♪

♪ Then I heard about a savior
and the great things He's done ♪

♪ How He suffered all
the clogs, for my sins ♪

♪ When He took my
hand, my new life ♪

♪ My new life began ♪

♪ And I will never ♪

♪ be alone again ♪

♪ I want to walk up in
the way of my savior ♪

♪ I want to live in the
light of this Lord ♪

♪ If I follow in the footsteps,
will lead on to victory ♪

♪ To follow in heaven above ♪

♪ Now I'm still a sinner,
but I know the Lord ♪

♪ I enter His
pastures each day ♪

♪ He's always there
to answer my prayers ♪

♪ And guide me along life ways ♪

♪ Sometimes I still strain,
for the path that He made ♪

♪ I don't live as
He told us to live ♪

♪ But He always finds me
and gently reminds me ♪

♪ What it means to
love and forgive ♪

♪ I need somebody
to tell me that ♪

♪ Walk in the way, I will walk ♪

♪ Walk in the way,
walk in the way ♪

♪ Walk in the way,
with my savior ♪

♪ Walk in the way,
I got to live ♪

♪ Walk in the way,
that I feel the love ♪

♪ Walk, walk, walk,
walk, walk, walk ♪

♪ Walk, walk, walk,
walk, walk, walk ♪

♪ Walk, walk, walk,
walk, walk, walk ♪

When Skipper draw a picture,

you jump out and know who it is.

So we thank God for him.

You know, I think he
won God best drawers.

As a pastor I thank God for
who do you have left here,

I don't know what
else He's gonna bring

come from I don't retire.

But I'm just saying
we thank God him,

I've been in for
a good while now.

I think he won the best.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]