Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Christ Episcopal Church member Tim Shepherd draws cartoon mice every Sunday morning on his church offering envelopes.

Tim Shepherd, a commercial illustrator, was trying to develop an advertising mascot for a cheese shop when he sketched the first mouse during a Sunday service in 2004 and tossed it into the offering plate.

Sitting in a back pew on a recent Sunday morning, Tim Shepherd smooths out his weekly church offering envelope, pulls a Sharpie ink pen from his pocket and begins drawing a skinny, happy mouse wearing sunglasses.

Shepherd's mouse sketching has become a familiar and welcome ritual at Christ Episcopal Church in Old Southwest Roanoke. When he deposits mice-covered envelopes in the collection plate, Shepherd often prompts smiles and laughter from ushers, acolytes and even the Rev. Deborah Hentz Hunley.

"We look forward every week to seeing what he's done," Hunley said. "Sometimes it's seasonal, like the three mouse kings bringing gifts at Christmas. Or it might be related to the sermon."

Or not. "He'll do topical things from secular culture -- like a mouse making a tomato sandwich."

Although Shepherd, 58, is an artist and commercial illustrator by profession, the church mice have become perhaps his best known creation. Since the doodling began in December 2004, he has produced roughly 200 bewhiskered church mouse drawings. The depictions include widely diverse activities such as shooting a basketball, quaffing beers from big mugs at a bar and playing bagpipes.

"As we know, God has a sense of humor, and thankfully so do people at this church," Shepherd said.

Lately the mice have started bringing in hundreds of dollars as the theme of a new calendar, self-published by Shepherd and sold by the church and several local businesses for $10 apiece. All proceeds go to charity, mostly for the Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank.

"It brings me joy to do this, and I'm happy that other people can benefit," Shepherd said.

Yet his artwork has prompted some puzzlement.

"I wondered, 'What is he doing?' " said Matthew Young, who ushers regularly at Christ Episcopal, recalling the first time he saw a Shepherd mouse in the offering plate. The Cave Spring High School sophomore was 11 when he first noticed a mouse sketch among other envelopes and cash in the offering plate. Now the mice are a favorite part of his ushering duties.

The very idea of doodling in church has its critics, such as Chris McPherson, a Baptist minister in Missouri who has a Web site called "Church Etiquette for Children." Among his rules of behavior in the sanctuary: "Leave all 'busy' items at home [such as crayons, drawing pencils, puzzles, etc.] God's House is not a nursery center."

But Cecil Keith, a longtime Christ Episcopal member, disagrees. "This is a way of using the talents God gave us," she said. "His calendar is wonderful and helps a good cause. We want him to publish a mouse book, too."

On Sunday after the service, Shepherd sold calendars in the church fellowship hall when congregants gathered for coffee and snacks. Bill Lindsey, a retired management consultant, asked the artist to autograph his copy and bought two more calendars as Christmas gifts.

Shepherd's mouse doodling began as an outgrowth of his career. During the week before the service at which he drew the first mouse, he had been roughing out ideas on a promotional campaign for a client who owned a cheese shop.

His thoughts in church that December Sunday wandered to the advertising mascot he had been hired to create. "I just started to draw on the back of my offering envelope without really thinking about it," Shepherd recalled. But in mid-doodle, he said, "Maybe there was some divine inspiration." At that moment, he got the idea of portraying the mouse in prayer.

Shepherd was still drawing when the collection plate came by. He tossed in the envelope containing his weekly donation with little thought about anyone seeing the mouse. "I really didn't expect any reaction to it. If anything I probably hoped no one would even notice," he said.

When Christ Episcopal's ushers brought the church's three collection plates to the altar, Shepherd's mouse was in plain view. Hunley, standing there in her vestments, spotted the mouse. "I just laughed," she said.

Shepherd's work is "a great testament to the richness of life in the church," Hunley added. Among the religious themes illustrated with his mice are the singing of hymns, Holy Communion and reading scripture.

His artistic contributions to the church's culture offset any concerns about possible distractions, Hunley said. And no one has complained. In fact, she has started encouraging children to produce art during services by making crayons and paper available.

If there's one thing that annoys the pastor about Shepherd's conduct in church, it's that he's consistently late, she said. On Sunday he arrived 28 minutes into the service.

But, she notes, he never passes the collection plate without contributing.