The Road Trip with God: How Sam Butcher Found Carthage, Missouri

In January 1984, Sam Butcher climbed into his car after a trade show somewhere in the Western United States and pointed himself east toward home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He had no mapped-out route. No shortlist of towns to consider. No real estate listings folded in his pocket.

He had faith, and he had a dream he had been carrying for years — the dream of a chapel.

It had started years earlier on a trip to Milan, Italy. Sam had driven up a small hill through a plaza and come upon a little chapel. The moment he saw it, something settled in him.

"When I was in Milan, I drove up a small hill, going through a plaza, and there I saw a little Chapel. Immediately I told myself, 'I'm going to build a chapel just like this one.'" — Sam Butcher

He had told no one except the people who mattered most. Back home, Katie hung a large map on the wall and waited for her husband's nightly calls. Each time Sam checked in, she marked his location and prayed — asking God to lead him to the right place for their new home, for their children, and for a dream that deserved to be real.

A Turn Down a Dirt Road in Mexico

The early part of Sam's drive yielded nothing. He was tired, discouraged, and beginning to wonder whether God was leading anywhere at all. But somewhere in New Mexico, about 20 miles past a small impoverished town with buildings falling into disrepair, Sam felt something — an internal pull to turn around and go back.

He didn't know why. He turned around anyway.

Back at the town, he came upon an old dirt road and followed it to a dilapidated building in the middle of the desert. A weary man greeted him and asked if he needed help. Sam replied, honestly, that he wasn't entirely sure why he was there.

The man offered a tour. As Sam stepped inside, he stopped. On the walls were Precious Moments illustrations. On the tables were coloring books made from materials Sam had created early in his career. The children of this struggling desert mission had been learning with the work of the very man now standing quietly in the doorway — who chose, in that moment, not to say who he was.

Instead, Sam reached into his briefcase for his checkbook — which he had put in his shirt pocket for no reason he could explain — and asked one question:

The minister said $3,000. Sam wrote the check without hesitation. When the man asked who should he praise for this extraordinary gift, Sam replied simply:

"Just tell them a man who came by the way." — Sam Butcher

Under an Overpass Near Carthage

Sam continued driving. He crossed into Missouri feeling no more certain of where he was going than when he had started. And then, approaching an overpass near a small town called Carthage, something happened that Sam spent the rest of his life trying to describe accurately.

"I was going under an underpass near the town of Carthage when I felt this incredible feeling. I really felt something holy in the car. I was so affected by this feeling, I drove off the road and parked. I had such a quiet and amazing feeling. I knew in my heart what was happening. The Lord was showing me this is the town where I would build the Chapel." — Sam Butcher

The following morning, Sam sat in a local diner and sketched the vision — a chapel on a hill, trees in a valley, a creek below. He found a real estate office. Described his dream: rolling hills, a running stream, a cave. The agents were skeptical. One by one they declined to help. Sam started for the door.

A semi-retired agent named Mel Brown stepped forward. "I know the place you're looking for, young man."

On the drive out, they passed a road sign marked "HH." Sam asked what it stood for. "I've always called it the Highway to Heaven," Mel said. Neither man knew yet that they would become lifelong friends.

The Land Where the Chapel Would Stand

When Sam arrived at the property, he knew immediately. Rolling Ozark meadows. A creek cutting through. And yes — a cave. He could see the Chapel on the hillside before a single stone had been moved. Sam moved his family to the stone farmhouse on the property soon after. Construction on the Precious Moments Chapel began in 1985.

"I want people who come to the Chapel to feel the spirit I believe really dwells inside it; that they sense the feeling of the nearness of the Lord." — Sam Butcher