The altar from Clinton orginally did not have an oil painting. Instead, a Bible verse had been printed in large German script on the front. Church members Cora Kopps and Mae Wedlake were aquainted with a German family of one brother and three sisters. They were farmers as most everyone else was at that time. Emma Scherer (1889-1985), one of the sisters, was a painter so Cora and Mae asked her to paint a large picture of Christ in Gethsemane to cover the front of the altar. She agreed and painted the beautiful picture that we now have had on our altar for so many years. Emma painted it for the small price of $15, mostly as a favor to friends.

The painting is likely an interpretation of German painter Heinrich Hoffman's painting "Christ in Gethsemane", which Hoffman created in 1890. Hoffman's original is in the Riverside Church in New York City.