Time to get more ‘Indiana Jones’ about our Bibles

Time to get more ‘Indiana Jones’ about our Bibles

‘Frustrated cartoonist’ Graham Whiteman (above) had ‘made a bit of money and found a bit of fame’ from his skills – but it had never come to much.

So, in 2005 with wife Charlotte, he opened a coffee shop in the centre of Porthmadog in North Wales – and it quickly became a much-visited destination for local residents and holiday-makers.

‘The Big Rock Café started with a heavenly call to put the word of God on serviettes!’ said Graham. ‘Bibles are free to passers-by and scripture remains prominent on the café’s walls.’

The premises also became the meeting place for a church which Graham led for 15 years.

‘Cartoons and illustrations were a handy way to keep the Sunday faithful awake but I wanted to take it further,’ he recalled. ‘Could I present the Sunday sermon to the Monday café customer in the time it takes to drink a cappuccino?’

The result was a sketch-book full of good intentions – ‘with half-drawn ideas and no opportunity to finish the challenge I set myself.’

While reading the Bible daily in 2022, ‘the Lord began to move us on from the café.’ Now with eight children, Graham admits that moving on from the daily commitment of baking bread seemed impossible.

‘Yet the Lord did it,’ he said. ‘First with an un-settling, then with Covid and the death of a loved one – and lastly with a big step of faith.’ After two months seeking a place to rent, the Whitemans ended up in a manse owned by the Church Growth Trust in the Milland Valley, West Sussex.

‘Drawing cartoons inspired by the Holy Spirit suddenly came to life,’ said Graham, ‘and what had been so impossible all those years ago, became possible. After only a few months I had produced a number of “zine” books and panel cartoons, based on scripture truths that had become real to us, personally.’ Don’t Walk in the Dark was born.

‘We have seen the Lord turn a vision into a charity with trustees, a website and opportunities to share more of what has been placed on our hearts,’ he said. ‘We want to help Christians be a little more Indiana Jones about their Bibles – seeking the treasure as if their lives depend upon it, on their knees, following its tunnels and understanding the battle, torch in hand.’

• Don’t Walk in the Dark are on stand S8 at CRE 25