citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message precious moments inc. type corporation industry giftware headquarters carthage missouri key people don butcher chairman website www.preciousmoments.com precious moments inc. pmi is an american catalog order company that sells giftware . the company was initially formed in 1979 by the illustrator samuel j. butcher as a licensing company . contents 1 history 2 theme park 3 references 4 external links history edit illustrator sam butcher together with his partner bill biel sold greeting cards at christian book fairs under the company name of jonathan & david . they partnered with enesco corp. to sell giftware . 1 in 1991 the company created a series of seasonal animated specials starting with the christmas special timmy s gift which focuses on an angel named timmy following a star which will lead him to the newborn prince later to be revealed as jesus he has to send a gift to . in 1993 a sequel was made titled timmy s special delivery . other seasonal specials would be made throughout the 1990s including the easter special simon the lamb the thanksgiving movie little sparrow who s who at the zoo and the story of joseph based on the story of the same name seen in the book of genesis . in 2004 pmi and enesco ended the licensing contract due to enesco s falling sales . 2 in addition to its original licensing duties pmi s functions became product design marketing warehousing and distribution . 3 in 2008 pmi launched its new line of precious girls club products . the following september the company was sued by country music singer shannon clemmons for copyright infringement and breach of contract . 4 5 in october 2008 the federal judge assigned to the case dismissed 15 of 18 claims against pmi in the suit and in november 2008 a jury cleared pmi of any wrongdoing with regard to the remaining counts . 6 theme park edit the precious moments chapel in carthage missouri the precious moments chapel in carthage missouri is a theme park run by pmi . the chapel itself is a structure within the park and was completed in 1989 . 7 the chapel features paintings by sam butcher depicting children or childlike figures cast as biblical prophets angels or figures from the parables of jesus . 8 in january 2007 pmi announced the discontinuation of many of its attractions including the fountain of angels due to financial difficulties arising from diminished numbers of paid visitors resulting from higher gas prices and the general decline of the brand . other closures include the wedding island the rv park the gallery and souper sam s . in spring 2007 the gallery was remodeled renamed the samuel j. butcher museum and reopened . 9 the chapel gift shop and visitors center continue to be open to the public . references edit precious moments inc. precious moments history timeline . retrieved dec 12 2006 . jargon julie may 30 2005 ending deal to sell precious moments ; fragile sales of figurines prompt firm to terminate distribution license early crain s chicago business cio insight oct 5 2005 . building a company and its it in 90 days . retrieved oct 5 2005 . united press international inc. sep 20 2008 . clemmons precious moments stole idea . retrieved feb 3 2009 . courthouse news service august 26 2008 . christian entertainment promoters will fight it out in court . retrieved feb 3 2009 . rhonda sholar . lawsuit against precious moments dismissed . christian retailing . precious moments inc. samuel j. butcher story . retrieved 2007 01 18 . frank burch brown good taste bad taste and christian taste aesthetics in religious life oxford university press 2003 ; isbn 0 19 515872 5 pp. 138 141 accessed mar. 4 2009 precious moments inc. precious moments park changes . retrieved 2007 06 29 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title precious moments inc. & oldid 736603740 categories companies based in missouricompanies established in 19891989 establishments in the united stateshidden categories articles needing additional references from march 2010all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 28 august 2016 at 16 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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