AMERICAN FORK — Phillip Miner sits in the studio of artist Liz Lemon Swindle, lounging comfortably in an oversized chair. His legs stretch out to display a 3-inch rip in his jeans. His hiking shoes are encrusted with dried mud.
He has donned a long-sleeved T-shirt for the occasion. Sunglasses perch on top of Miner's chocolate-brown hair, which is all one length and reaches to his shoulders. He sports a neatly trimmed beard.
Miner would never pass the Brigham Young University Honor Code.
But to Swindle, he is perfect. Miner is her Jesus model.
Dressed in a robe and sandals, Miner sits for photo shoots and video. Swindle later paints him from the photos.
Last summer, Miner joined Swindle for a photo shoot in Zambia. And what happened that month changed Miner's life forever. An unreligious person, he came back with a new perspective on Christ. He also met his new wife there.
Miner, 35, a general contractor who lives in American Fork, says he was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but hadn't really attended since age 12.
"I am technically LDS but I certainly wasn't in my heart," Miner said.
That was in 2003 when Swindle first asked him if he was interested in posing as Jesus.
"I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in such things," Miner said. "I was not the least bit religious."
Miner was discovered when Swindle's assistant saw him in line at Borders bookstore in Provo. She confused him with Swindle's other Jesus model, Christopher Crofts, and began chatting with him.
Later Swindle got Miner to be an understudy for Crofts and also to play the role of an extra. He didn't officially begin posing as Jesus until summer 2006. He does the work as a volunteer.
"Jesus Christ didn't mean a lot to me, but he means a whole lot to other people," Miner recalls thinking. "If these paintings can impact people's lives, then great, I'll be a part of it."
Then last spring, Swindle, 54, of Orem, asked Miner to do the Africa shoot. Crofts had decided to retire from the work.
Miner decided he had better do some research before the trip, so he read up on Bible stories.
In June, Swindle and Miner traveled to Zambia. The trip was funded by the humanitarian group Mothers Without Borders. The goal was to shoot photos and video of a scene where Jesus would greet African children. Swindle would later create a painting, then sell reproductions with proceeds going to Mothers Without Borders.
When Miner first arrived in Zambia, he became ill with flu-like symptoms. A member of the humanitarian group, a young returned missionary, offered to give him an LDS blessing.
Miner said the man didn't know him at all, but the blessing addressed extremely personal issues for him.
"It just spoke to me," Miner said.
For the shoot, Miner visited an orphanage for African children whose parents had died of AIDS. Some of the children have AIDS.
Zambia is a Christian nation, so the kids are familiar with the figure of Christ.
Crofts had been filmed in 2001 greeting American children. The youngsters had laughed with him, tickled and wrestled.
The scene in Africa was completely different, Swindle said.
The orphans froze and whispered among themselves before approaching Miner.
One 12-year-old girl who has AIDS wept openly. Other kids cried as well. Then they all started hugging Miner, and burst into song in broken English: "Heavenly Father, you are wonderful."
Miner told the children his name was Phillip and he wasn't really Jesus. But the children found it hard to believe.
During the Zambia trip, Miner got to know Kathy Headlee, 54, of Cedar Hills. He saw the work she did directing projects for Mothers Without Borders, such as building homes and schools and digging wells.
Miner and Headlee became close friends. The last night in Zambia the pair stayed up talking for hours.
Miner says he went home, broke up with his girlfriend and then asked Headlee to marry him. They were married in September.
The two have merged their two families. Miner has two sons, ages 12 and 15, from his previous marriage. Headlee has five children, with ages ranging from 18 to 34.
They attend an LDS ward in American Fork.
"I feel this is the first time I have gone to church," Miner says. "I feel I have never known the Lord until now."
The children in his American Fork ward can't help but stare at the new member of the congregation who looks so much like Jesus. Last Sunday, a 3-year-old boy was walking down the aisle while staring at Miner. The boy ran right into a pew, Headlee said.
Swindle says Miner makes a wonderful Jesus, with a fresh perspective.
"He has a light around him," she says. "I can feel the spirit so powerfully when I sketch him."
They just finished shooting a "Last Supper" scene that Swindle is going to paint. Her artwork of Miner in Zambia is called "The Worth of a Soul," and is now completed. It can be found at Deseret Book, Repartee Gallery or the Mothers Without Borders Web site at www.motherswithoutborders.org.
E-mail: astewart@desnews.com