The Friendship That Started It All: Sam Butcher, Bill Biel & the Birth of Precious Moments

There's a version of this story where Sam Butcher leaves Child Evangelism Fellowship quietly, hurt and replaced, and nothing more comes of it. Two men. Two separate lives. No Precious Moments.

God had a different version in mind.

When Sam was told in the early 1970s that CEF was replacing him with someone who could manage the demanding workload alone, he didn't fight it. He asked for something more difficult: the grace to be genuinely kind to whoever took his place. On his final day, Sam met that person. The man had, Sam later said, the kindest eyes he had ever seen. They were strangers for about thirty seconds.

"He truly had the kindest eyes I had ever seen. God brought us together and from the beginning, we were friends." — Sam Butcher, on meeting Bill Biel

The workload no one could handle alone

What happened next has the feeling of a story that was always going to unfold exactly this way. Bill Biel stepped into the role Sam had vacated and quickly discovered what Sam had been trying to explain for years: it was genuinely impossible for one person. Within weeks, Bill went to the organization asking for help. CEF, now understanding what they had let go, reached out to Sam.

Sam came back.

"The work they had demanded of Sam was ridiculous. I have never known an artist who could produce the amount of artwork that Sam can. He is the most prolific artist I have ever known." — Bill Biel

Their friendship deepened through the years that followed. Sam eventually moved his family back to California when Katie's health required them to be closer to family. Distance didn't end the friendship. After two years away, Sam received an offer to return to the art department at CEF — because Bill had left for a new position, creating the opening. Sam accepted. And shortly after, Bill — unhappy in his new role — asked to return to CEF as well. Nothing, it seemed, could keep these two apart for long.

The seed of something larger

One evening, Sam and Bill were watching a film together when an idea began to take shape: visual aids for Christian teaching. A way to communicate faith through art that was personal, accessible, and beautiful. That conversation planted the seed.

By 1974, the seed had become a company. Jonathan & David, Inc. — named for the deep and selfless Biblical friendship between Prince Jonathan and David — was officially founded. Sam was the illustrator. Bill was the designer. The name said everything about what they believed their partnership to be.

"Because of our close friendship, we named our company Jonathan & David, after the beautiful Biblical friends of David and Prince Jonathan. We fit perfectly together — not only as close friends, but as a successful working team. I was the illustrator and Bill, the designer." — Sam Butcher

Bill added with a laugh: "Sam had a left hand and I had a right hand; our talents overlapped. Sam refused to do the bookkeeping so I had to do it."

By 1975, they were creating buttons and Bible flannel graph backgrounds for Sunday schools and taking on freelance work, their clients mostly local. Then came an invitation that would change the direction of everything: a company called Mott Media asked them to attend the upcoming Christian Booksellers Convention in Anaheim, California — and offered them their own booth.

Sam was nervous. He didn't believe anyone beyond his closest circle would respond to his artwork the way Bill seemed certain they would. Bill, who had heard these anxieties before, reminded him gently but firmly: "Look, Sam — before we got here you were the one so convinced the Lord had opened this door for us, and now that we're here you don't believe it! Well, I happen to still believe that God brought us here and He will take care of us. So, quit complaining. We still have a lot of work to do."

The name that said everything

To get ready for the convention, Sam prepared greeting cards featuring children with the distinctive teardrop-shaped eyes he had been drawing privately for years — cards he'd made for friends and family, for people going through hard times, as his quiet way of saying I'm here. Bill looked at them and gave them a name.

Precious Moments.

"And that's how it all began," Sam said.

The response at that first convention exceeded anything either man could have hoped for. By the end, they had written around $10,000 worth of orders — so many that people from neighboring booths came over to help write them down. That night they celebrated with pizza, and then realized, practically speaking, they had no idea how they were going to fund everything they had just promised.

They visited a bank. They were turned down. They went to a Christian Businessmen's Association and were offered prayers and good wishes. Finally, they did what they had always done: they put their trust in God.

The bills were paid. Every one of them. Angels appeared in the form of a building owner who, when told Sam and Bill only had $43, dropped their monthly rent from $300 to $40 and told them to let him know when business got better.

"The Lord always met our needs and at very crucial moments. Not always our wants — but He did meet our needs." — Bill Biel

This is how Precious Moments began: not with a boardroom or a business plan, but with a friendship, a shared faith, a name written on a set of greeting cards, and two men who kept showing up for each other — and for God.

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The story of Sam and Bill was just the beginning. The greeting cards came first, but porcelain was waiting in the wings — and so was a meeting that would change the world.

We are honored to share the legacy of Samuel J. Butcher (January 1, 1939 – May 20, 2024) and the friends who helped him bring his gift to the world.

← Missed part of the story? The Boy Who Drew His World | A Life Changed by Faith

→ Continue the story: The Founding of Jonathan & David — and How Precious Moments Got Its Name