He's like the Willard Preacher. Just with a paintbrush.

Yesterday, Penn State students were shocked to see that Gary Cattell, also known as the Willard Preacher, was not standing in front of the steps to the Willard Building.

Instead, a new preacher was using a painting to talk about "great mistakes" that mankind has made.

The preacher, Mark Johnson, is a native of northeast Maryland. He said he normally visits schools in that area, including Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland.

Johnson said he met Cattell about 10 years ago on a visit to Penn State, and he called Cattell a few weeks ago to arrange a visit. Johnson will also be preaching today.

He spent the early afternoon painting four pictures of people whom someone had made a "great mistake" about. For example, he said Albert Einstein's second grade teacher told Einstein that he would amount to nothing.

"I've heard people say it takes 10 words of praise to overcome one word of criticism, so be careful what you say," Johnson said.

Johnson then discussed what he called the "first great mistake" -- when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of Good and Evil, and the "greatest mistake," which he said was not trusting God.

Johnson said he doesn't usually paint, and freely admitted that he was "no artist," but he decided to try it today because it was a good way to connect with a culture he called "very visual."

Many students stopped to watch the new preacher on their way out of the Willard Building. At about 3:45 p.m., a crowd of about 40 people had stopped to listen to him.

"It's just weird not having the Willard Preacher," Vipul Mulani (junior-biology) said.

His friend, Mandeep Jangi (junior-finance) agreed.

"It's kind of like he's stealing the guy's thunder," he said.

Jesse Dominick (senior-religious studies) said Johnson's approach was very different from Cattell's.

"He's just kind of giving the basics of Christianity instead of telling us we're going to hell," he said.

Even though Cattell took the day off from preaching, he still came to the Willard Building and talked to a small group of students near the entrance of the building. He also stayed to listen to Johnson's preaching.

Willard Preacher fans don't need to worry -- Cattell said he will be back to his normal preaching duties tomorrow, and he doesn't plan to use substitute preachers too often in the future.