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The Composition

The “Fisher of Men”® artwork is about Christ’s personal invitation to each of us to salvation and service. It is also a call to follow Him into ministry,to become “fishers of men.”

The composition depicts the time when Jesus recruited Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew to be a part of His earthly ministry (Matthew 4: 18–20). During prayer, the Artist visualized Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee. Seeing the brothers, Jesus reaches down and picks up one of the fishermen’s nets, spread out on the shore. Then, holding it out symbolically He calls to the men. They are knee deep in the water, casting their nets, when Jesus extends His timeless invitation to follow Him. Max has depicted the exact moment when Jesus is waiting for an answer to His question, that we all must ultimately answer.

The Commission

In February of 1994, God used a fisherman to confirm to the Artist that his next Christian composition was to depict Jesus in a fishing situation. Max met the stranger at a sportsmen’s show in San Antonio, TX. Earlier that morning, before daylight, God woke the man up, speaking to his heart about bringing him into a “deeper walk.” A few hours later he met Max and prayed to be empowered with the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit,”(I Corinthians 12), resulting in a much deeper walk with God. Click here to learn about this supernatural "Empowerment."

The following morning, the man came back to Max and said God had spoken again and said to tell Max his next sculpture would be of Jesus in a fishing situation. This prophetic “Word” confirmed Max’s earlier thoughts. The man God used was Jim Grassi, founder of “Let’s Go Fishing Ministry, ” now located in Post Falls, Idaho. God gave Max the exact composition and provided him with a “fishing evangelist,” who was also an expert on Biblical fishing methods, to help him accurately create his “Fisher of Men”® artwork!

The Creation Process

Max accepted God’s divine commission and entered into a season of prayer and research. The net depicted in Scripture and Max’s art is a circular cast net (kela in Hebrew), measuring 6 to 8 meters, with stone weights attached to the perimeter. A single fisherman threw this type of net from a boat, the shore, or in shallow water. Max spent the next 16 months researching and carving the (105%) life-size sculpture out of wax, before delivering it to the Eagle Bronze foundry in Lander, WY, on July 21, 1995.

Hundreds of people, including Dr. Robert H. Schuller and Jesse Duplantis have told Max, they believe the face of Christ on his “Fisher of Men”® sculpture looks like the real Jesus. This is the face Max has used on all of his Christ sculptures, though the expressions are different.